Holmes & Yoyo

Last updated
Holmes & Yoyo
HolmesAndYo-Yo.jpg
Genre Situation comedy
police comedy
Created by Jack Sher
Lee Hewitt
Starring Richard B. Shull
John Schuck
Bruce Kirby
Andrea Howard
Theme music composer Dick Halligan
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producer Leonard Stern
Producer Arne Sultan
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesHeyday Productions Inc.
Universal Television
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseSeptember 25 (1976-09-25) 
December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)
August 8, 1977 (1977-08-08)

Holmes & Yoyo is an American comedy television series that aired on ABC for 13 episodes during the 1976-1977 season. The series follows police detective Holmes and his new android partner, Yoyo, on their misadventures investigating crimes.

Contents

Premise

Detective Alexander Holmes is a down-on-his-luck cop who chronically injures his partners. The department gives him a new partner, Gregory "Yoyo" Yoyonovich, who is clumsy and naive, but good-natured and very strong. During one of their first cases together, Yoyo is shot, and Holmes discovers that his new partner is an android, a sophisticated new crime-fighting machine designed by the police department as their secret weapon. Over the course of the series, Holmes teaches Yoyo how to be more human, while trying to keep his quirky partner's true nature a secret, from both criminals and fellow cops.

Cast

Production

Development

The executive producer was Leonard Stern, a former staff writer for and executive producer of Get Smart, which featured an android character named Hymie who was largely a prototype for Yoyo. Several episodes of Holmes & Yoyo were directed by John Astin . [2] John Schuck also appeared as SFPD Detective Sgt. Charles Enright in the McMillan & Wife made-for-television films that starred Rock Hudson alongside Susan Saint James, of which Stern was also creator and executive producer.

Yoyo's abilities

Besides super-strength, Yoyo's other abilities include speed reading, and the ability to analyze clues at the scene. Yoyo had a built-in Polaroid camera: each time his nose was pressed, a Polaroid photograph of his view would be taken and ejected from his shirt pocket. Yoyo's control panel was built into his chest, which could be opened by pulling his tie. The level of Yoyo's batteries was critical, because if they ran down his memory and, effectively, his being would be erased. In one episode his batteries came very close to running down completely, and he was charged by being pushed against an electric fence with his arms extended. Yoyo weighed 427 pounds, and his heavy build could absorb the shock of a bomb.

Much of the show's comedy was derived from Yoyo's constant malfunctions. Some of his common problems included:

Another running gag involved Yoyo's ability to read an entire book by simply fanning its pages; his invariable comment after doing so was, "Thanks for the book! I really enjoyed reading it."

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"Pilot" Jackie Cooper Jack Sher & Lee Hewitt & Leonard Stern September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25)
An experienced, but accident-prone, detective is paired with a new partner: a not-quite perfected humanoid robot.
2"Funny Money"Leonard SternLeonard SternOctober 2, 1976 (1976-10-02)
After Holmes unwittingly tries to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, officials throughout the police department discover their wallets are filled with bogus money.
3"The Dental Dynamiter"Leonard SternJack Sher & Lee HewittOctober 16, 1976 (1976-10-16)
Holmes and Yoyo set out to investigate the bombings of dentists' offices all over town.
4"The Last Phantom" Jack Arnold Earl Barret,
Arne Sultan
October 22, 1976 (1976-10-22)
Holmes and Yoyo have a difficult time finding a suspect who is attempting to kill a movie producer.
5"Yoyo Takes a Bride" Reza Badiyi Earl Barret,
Arne Sultan
October 23, 1976 (1976-10-23)
Yoyo and Maxine go undercover as a pair of honeymooners at a resort hotel, but the computerized Yoyo isn't programmed to respond romantically and Maxine isn't aware he's a robot.
6"The Thornhill Affair"Jack ArnoldJonathan KauferOctober 30, 1976 (1976-10-30)
Holmes and Yoyo go undercover to thwart a plot to steal a world-famous gem.
7"The K-9 Caper" John Astin James RitzNovember 13, 1976 (1976-11-13)
Holmes and Yoyo go after a purse snatcher who is described as about 30 inches in height, weighing 80 pounds and covered with brown hair.
8"The Hostages"John AstinBruce A. TaylorNovember 20, 1976 (1976-11-20)
While Holmes and Yoyo are being held hostage, Yoyo realizes that his battery is going dead, his circuits have shorted and his cooling system has broken down.
9"Key Witness" Richard Kinon Earl Barret,
Arne Sultan,
Len Uhley,
John Landis
November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27)
Holmes and Yoyo are sent to protect a frightened informant, but they end up scaring the witness even more than the prospect of a reprisal by the mob.
10"Dead Duck"John AstinJack Sher,
Lee Hewitt
December 4, 1976 (1976-12-04)
Holmes and Yoyo set up to break up an extortion ring by testifying against the leader, but Yoyo can't testify because he's a robot and Holmes is afraid of the Mob.
11"Connection, Connection II"John AstinLeonard SternDecember 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)
One of Holmes' reliable contacts reveals that an important person with City Hall connections is bringing in "stuff" from abroad.
12"The Cat Burglar"Reza BadiyiRichard Freiman,
Stephen Young
August 1, 1977 (1977-08-01)
Someone is stealing precious felines for ransom from prosperous ladies, and Holmes and Yoyo set out to catch the catnapper.
13"Bye, Bye Bennie" Noam Pitlik Earl Barret,
Arne Sultan,
Jonathan Kaufer
August 8, 1977 (1977-08-08)
Holmes and Yoyo are waiting as "Big Bad" Bennie Brown, who is wanted by the Kansas City police, arrives in town.

Reception

The series performed poorly and was cancelled after 11 episodes, with the 2 final episodes produced shown the following August. It ranked number 33 on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time. [4] A few series with similar premises but varying treatment followed, including ABC's Future Cop with Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Shannon the following year, the 1993 series Mann & Machine, and the 2013 series Almost Human.

Home media

Holmes & Yoyo was released in France on Region 2 DVD in 2016 under the title Holmes et Yoyo - Intégrale de la série. The audio is French only, with no English option.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cop Rock</i> 1990 American crime drama musical television series

Cop Rock is an American police procedural musical television series created by Steven Bochco and William M. Finkelstein for the American Broadcasting Company. It premiered on September 26, 1990, and broadcast eleven episodes before concluding on December 26. It was both a critical and commercial failure when it originally aired.

<i>NYPD Blue</i> American television police procedural (1993–2005)

NYPD Blue is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble cast. The show was created by Steven Bochco and David Milch, and was inspired by Milch's relationship with Bill Clark, a former member of the New York City Police Department who eventually became one of the show's producers. The series was originally broadcast by ABC from September 21, 1993‚ to March 1, 2005. It was ABC's longest-running primetime one-hour drama series until Grey's Anatomy surpassed it in 2016.

<i>McMillan & Wife</i> American police procedural television series

McMillan & Wife is an American police procedural television series that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971, to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the series premiered in episodes as part of Universal Television's wheel series NBC Mystery Movie, in rotation with Columbo and McCloud. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original lineup was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. For the final season, known as McMillan, numerous changes were made that included killing off St. James' character of Sally McMillan.

Mann & Machine is an American science fiction/police drama television series that aired for nine episodes on NBC from April 5 to July 14, 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Schuck</span> American actor (b. 1940)

Conrad John Schuck Jr. is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for his role as Sgt. Charles Enright in the 1970s crime drama McMillan & Wife. He also played Herman Munster in the late-1980s/early 1990s sitcom The Munsters Today, playing the role originated by Fred Gwynne in the 1960s sitcom The Munsters.

<i>Showtime</i> (film) 2002 film by Tom Dey

Showtime is a 2002 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tom Dey. The film stars Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in the lead roles alongside Rene Russo, William Shatner, Pedro Damian and De Niro's real life daughter Drena De Niro. The film was released in the United States on March 15, 2002. The film received generally negative reviews, with critics lamenting its lackluster humour and poor attempt to satirize the buddy cop genre. It received two nominations at the 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Actor, and Worst Screen Combo.

<i>Brooklyn South</i> Television series

Brooklyn South is an American ensemble police drama television series that aired on CBS for one season from September 22, 1997, to April 27, 1998. It was aired during the 1997–98 television season. The series was co-created by Steven Bochco, Bill Clark, David Milch, and William M. Finkelstein.

Leonard Bernard Stern was an American screenwriter, film and television producer, director, and one of the creators, with Roger Price, of the word game Mad Libs.

Future Cop is an American crime drama science fiction television series that starred Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Shannon. It was based on the TV movie of the same title and predated RoboCop by ten years. The series was aired on ABC in 1977 and was re-piloted as Cops and Robin on NBC in 1978. A veteran street cop gets an experimental android that has been programmed by the police lab for his new partner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Stern</span> American television screenwriter

David Michael Stern is an American television screenwriter. Among his first work in television was writing episodes of The Wonder Years in the late 1980s. He then proceeded to write several episodes of The Simpsons in the 1990s. In 2010, he developed the animated television series Ugly Americans. Stern is the younger brother of actor Daniel Stern, who served as the narrator of The Wonder Years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David H. Steinberg</span> American screenwriter

David H. Steinberg is an American writer, director, and producer for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for American Pie 2, Slackers, National Lampoon's Barely Legal, and American Pie Presents: The Book of Love and Girls' Rules. He is currently the Executive Producer and Showrunner on No Good Nick, which streamed on Netflix in 2019.

Richard Bruce Shull was an American character actor.

<i>Danger Theatre</i> American comedy anthology TV series

Danger Theatre is an American half-hour comedy anthology series for television, produced by Universal Television and originally aired on the American Fox network from July 7 to August 22, 1993.

Steven L. Marmel is an American television writer, producer, and stand-up comedian who has worked on many animated television series, including The Fairly OddParents, I Am Weasel, Danny Phantom, Family Guy and Yin Yang Yo!. During his work on The Fairly OddParents he frequently co-wrote episodes with Butch Hartman. Marmel also created the series Sonny with a Chance, So Random as well as the series Mech-X4.

TriBeCa was a television drama anthology series created by David J. Burke and co-produced with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal for TriBeCa Productions in 1993 that aired on the Fox Network. The series theme song, "Keep It Going," was performed by the alternative hip hop artist Me Phi Me.

"Cops and Roger" is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season and the ninety second overall episode of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on April 11, 2010, and is written by Erik Durbin and directed by Tim Parsons.

The Return of the World's Greatest Detective is a 1976 American made-for-television mystery comedy film starring Larry Hagman as an inept motorcycle cop named Sherman Holmes, who, after sustaining a head injury, became convinced that he was actually Sherlock Holmes and as a result of his injury acquired formidable powers of observation and deduction. Dean Hargrove and Roland Kibbee wrote the film's story directly for television, intending it to be a pilot for a series that would have been titled Alias Sherlock Holmes. The film originally aired on NBC on June 16, 1976.

Tim Burns is a Canadian writer and producer for Canadian and American television; more popularly known as the show runner/executive producer of the Teletoon-Disney Channel shared, supernatural comedy-drama series, My Babysitter's a Vampire and for writing its TV pilot film. He was also supervising writer of the third season of Crank Yankers and was a composer on The Sunny Side Up Show.

<i>Almost Human</i> (TV series) 2013–2014 American science-fiction TV series

Almost Human is an American science fiction/crime drama that aired on Fox. The series was created by J. H. Wyman for Frequency Films, Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with Wyman, Bryan Burk and J. J. Abrams as its executive producers. It stars Karl Urban as a police detective in 2048 who is reluctantly paired with an android partner played by Michael Ealy. The series premiered on November 17, 2013, and aired through March 3, 2014. After a single season, Fox cancelled the series on April 29, 2014.

<i>No Activity</i> 2015 Australian TV series or program

No Activity is an Australian comedy television series which streams on Stan, about two detectives on a stakeout. The show was the first commission for the Australian streaming service. It comes from the production company Jungle Entertainment, a partnership between Trent O'Donnell, Jason Burrows, Chloe Rickard and Phil Lloyd. It is written and directed by Trent O'Donnell with Executive Producer Jason Burrows and Producer Chloe Rickard. The first season, consisting of six episodes, premiered in its entirety on 22 October 2015. The second season was released on 26 October 2016.

References

  1. ""Holmes and Yo-Yo" (1976)". IMDb .
  2. "BBC - Comedy Guide - Holmes And Yoyo". Archived from the original on 2004-05-23.
  3. "Holmes and Yo-Yo".
  4. "TV Guide's 50 Worst Shows of All Time". IMDb .