Buddies (TV series)

Buddies
DVD cover
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Carmen Finestra David McFadzean Matt Williams
Directed by	Paul Lazarus John Pasquin Andrew Tsao
Starring	Dave Chappelle Christopher Gartin Tanya Wright Richard Roundtree Paula Cale Judith Ivey
Theme music composer	Derrick Perkins
Composer	Brian Bennett
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (9 unaired)
Production
Executive producers	Carmen Finestra David McFadzean Matt Williams
Producer	Gayle S. Maffeo
Production location	Burbank, California
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Wind Dancer Productions Touchstone Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 5 (1996-03-05) – March 27, 1996 (1996-03-27)
Related
Home Improvement

Buddies is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from March 5 to March 27, 1996. ^{[1] [2]} It was created by Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean, and Matt Williams and starred Dave Chappelle, Christopher Gartin, Tanya Wright, Jeff Rawluk and Richard Roundtree. It is a spin-off to Home Improvement .

History

Home Improvement connection

Comedians Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer attracted the attention of TV network executives with their guest appearance on the (4th season) March 14, 1995, episode of ABC's highly rated sitcom Home Improvement . ^[3] The storyline had Chappelle and Breuer play friends who appear together on Tool Time to ask Tim Taylor advice on their girlfriends. The characters' single outing on the episode proved so popular that ABC decided to give Chappelle and Breuer their own half-hour sitcom.

Cast changes

After subsequent rehearsals, Breuer was replaced with Christopher Gartin as Chappelle's "buddy". The unique comic timing and chemistry that Chappelle had with Breuer, his real-life friend, was not present with Gartin, and Breuer's abrupt firing exacerbated ill will. This prevented Chappelle and Gartin from developing the rapport and chemistry necessary for the characters' believability and likeability. ^[4]

Broadcast

Buddies premiered on Tuesday, March 5, 1996. The show garnered disappointing ratings. Buddies was cancelled on April 3 after airing only four out of the 13 produced episodes. ^{[5] [6] [2]} Chappelle himself was not proud of his involvement with Buddies in retrospect:

It was a bad show. It was bad. I mean when we were doing it, I could tell this was not gonna work. ^[7]

Cast

• Dave Chappelle as Dave Carlisle
• Christopher Gartin as John Bailey
• Tanya Wright as Phyllis Brooks
• Richard Roundtree as Henry Carlisle
• Paula Cale as Lorraine Bailey
• Judith Ivey as Maureen DeMoss

Episode list

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Andrew Tsao	Carmen Finestra & David McFadzean & Matt Williams	March 5, 1996 (1996-03-05)	17.1 [8]
2	"A Room with a Pyew"	John Pasquin	Trish Baker	March 13, 1996 (1996-03-13)	13.9 [9]
3	"Regarding Henry"	Andrew Tsao	Sharon D. Johnson	March 20, 1996 (1996-03-20)	12.2 [10]
4	"Famous Last Words"	John Pasquin	Mark St. Germain	March 27, 1996 (1996-03-27)	11.9 [11]
5	"Marry Me...Sort Of"	Paul Lazarus	Daphne Pollon	Unaired	N/A
6	"Lights, Camera...Yuck!"	Paul Lazarus	Peter Tolan	Unaired	N/A
7	"Pet Peeves"	John Pasquin	Robert Zappia	Unaired	N/A
8	"The Content of Their Character"	John Pasquin	Lisa DeBenedictis & Daryl Rowland	Unaired	N/A
9	"There Goes the Groom"	John Pasquin	Richey Jones & Todd Jones	Unaired	N/A
10	"The PSA Story"	John Pasquin	Bob Burris & Michael Ware	Unaired	N/A
11	"John, I've Been Thinking"	John Pasquin	Art Everett	Unaired	N/A
12	"Engagement Hell"	Andrew Tsao	Steve Gabriel	Unaired	N/A
13	"Whack and Blight"	Andrew Tsao	Peter Tolan	Unaired	N/A

Home media

Best Buy released an exclusive DVD on May 15, 2005, that contained 10 episodes of Buddies, including all 9 unaired episodes. ^{[12] [13]}

References

1. Cotter, Bill (1997). The Wonderful World of Disney Television. Hyperion Books. pp. 477–478. ISBN   0-7868-6359-5.
2. Kaltenbach, Chris (April 3, 1996). "'Buddies' gets last-minute boot". The Baltimore Sun . p. 9E.
3. Home Improvement episode listing for "Talk to Me." IMDB.com.
4. "Spin Off: Buddies and Home Improvement. Poobala.com. Last accessed November 10, 2007.
5. Buddies page at TV.com. Last accessed November 14, 2007
6. Arnold, Thomas (August 26, 2005). "Disney Gifts Wal-Mart Holiday DVD Exclusive". hive4media.com . Archived from the original on November 22, 2005. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
7. "Chappelle: An Act Of Freedom." CBS News December 29, 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2022
8. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . March 13, 1996. p. 3D.
9. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . March 20, 1996. p. 3D.
10. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . March 27, 1996. p. 3D.
11. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . April 3, 1996. p. 3D.
12. "Best Buy to get exclusive release of Dave Chappelle's 1996 series." Archived 2007-12-05 at the Wayback Machine TvShowsOnDVD.com. April 25, 2005.
13. Best Buy ad for DVD release. Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine Best Buy. Last accessed November 10, 2007.

External links

• Buddies at IMDb