Normal Life (TV series)

Last updated
Normal Life
Genre Sitcom
Created byIan Gurvitz
Starring Dweezil Zappa
Moon Unit Zappa
Josh Williams
Bess Meyer
Jim Staahl
Max Gail
Cindy Williams
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production company Brillstein-Grey Entertainment
Original release
Network CBS
ReleaseMarch 21 (1990-03-21) 
July 18, 1990 (1990-07-18)

Normal Life is an American sitcom television series that aired from March 21 until July 18, 1990.

Contents

Premise

This series was based on the real unconventional home life of the Zappa children and their rocker dad Frank Zappa. [1]

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"The Big Game" Don Mischer UnknownMarch 21, 1990 (1990-03-21)
Simon tries to beat Jake's legendary basketball game. Tess decides to join the neighborhood watch.
2"Please Releash Me"Don MischerUnknownMarch 28, 1990 (1990-03-28)
Max is ticked off when Simon brings home a stray dog.
3"Two Timin'" Greg Antonacci UnknownApril 4, 1990 (1990-04-04)
Tess and Prima suspect that they are dating the same man.
4"Losing Isn't Everything"Greg AntonacciSteve StoliarApril 11, 1990 (1990-04-11)
Simon goes up against the school bully. Anne and Tess help each other with a diet.
5"It's Only Rock 'N Roll"Greg AntonacciIan GurvitzApril 18, 1990 (1990-04-18)
Jake decides to play with his band instead of going to college.
6"P.O.V."Greg AntonacciUnknownApril 25, 1990 (1990-04-25)
Anne's father, a gambler, shows up at their doorstep.
7"Birth of a Notion" Gerry Cohen Phill Lewis May 30, 1990 (1990-05-30)
Anne decides to run for the school board.
8"Facial Attraction"Greg AntonacciUnknownJune 6, 1990 (1990-06-06)
Simon dates two girls at once.
9"Prom?"Greg AntonacciUnknownJune 20, 1990 (1990-06-20)
Tess considers dating a high school student. Anne wants the police to find the one who bent her fender.
10"And Baby Makes..." Gary Shimokawa UnknownJune 27, 1990 (1990-06-27)
Jake's girlfriend leaves her baby in his care.
11"Freefall"Greg AntonacciUnknownJuly 4, 1990 (1990-07-04)
Jake has to give Prima some bad news. Max decides to go sky diving.
12"Transition"Don MischerUnknownJuly 11, 1990 (1990-07-11)
Tess decides to leave the nest. Simon comes up with a moneymaking plot at school.
13"Critique"Don MischerUnknownJuly 18, 1990 (1990-07-18)
Tess wants Max and Anne to review her short story.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Zappa</span> American musician (1940–1993)

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dweezil Zappa</span> American rock guitarist and actor

Dweezil Zappa is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Zappa developed a strong affinity for playing the guitar and producing music. Able to learn directly from guitarists such as Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, Zappa released his first single at the age of 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild Man Fischer</span> American musician

Lawrence Wayne "Wild Man" Fischer was an American street performer known for offering erratic, a cappella performances of "new kinds of songs" for a dime on the beaches and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Most of his life was spent homeless or institutionalized, and he later became regarded as "the godfather of outsider music".

Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police drama television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from January 31, 1993, to May 21, 1999, and was succeeded by Homicide: The Movie (2000), which served as the series finale. The series was created by Paul Attanasio and based on David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991). Many of the characters and stories used throughout the show were based on events depicted in the book.

Moon Unit Zappa is an American actress, singer, and author. She is the daughter of musician Frank Zappa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmet Zappa</span> American musician and writer

Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa is an American musician and writer, and trustee of the Zappa Family Trust.

<i>Hot Rats</i> American rock album

Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Willie the Pimp", features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears".

<i>Chungas Revenge</i> Album by Frank Zappa

Chunga's Revenge is the third solo album, and eleventh album counting the work of his band The Mothers of Invention, by Frank Zappa, released on October 23, 1970. Zappa's first effort of the 1970s marks the first appearance of former Turtles members Flo & Eddie on a Zappa record, and signals the dawn of a controversial epoch in Zappa's history. Chunga's Revenge represents a shift from both the satirical political commentary of his 1960s work with The Mothers of Invention, and the jazz fusion of Hot Rats.

<i>Weasels Ripped My Flesh</i> 1970 studio album with live elements by The Mothers of Invention

Weasels Ripped My Flesh is the eighth album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by Burnt Weeny Sandwich. In contrast to its predecessor, which almost entirely focused on studio recordings of arranged compositions, Weasels Ripped My Flesh consists of a combination of live and studio recordings and features more improvisation.

<i>Quaudiophiliac</i> 2004 compilation album by Frank Zappa

Quaudiophiliac is a compilation album featuring music by Frank Zappa, released in DVD-Audio format by Barking Pumpkin Records in 2004. It compiles recordings he made while experimenting with quadraphonic, or four-channel, sound in the 1970s. Zappa prepared quadraphonic mixes of a number of his 1970s albums, with both Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe (') (1974) being released in discrete quadraphonic on Zappa's DiscReet Records label.

<i>Roxy & Elsewhere</i> 1974 live album by Frank Zappa / The Mothers

Roxy & Elsewhere is a double live album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, released on September 10, 1974. Most of the songs were recorded on December 8, 9 and 10, 1973 at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California.

<i>Bongo Fury</i> 1975 live album with studio elements by Frank Zappa and The Mothers with Captain Beefheart

Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa and the Mothers, with Captain Beefheart, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Bozzio</span> American rock and pop vocalist

Dale Frances Bozzio is an American rock and pop vocalist. She is best known as co-founder and lead singer of the '80s new wave band Missing Persons and for her work with Frank Zappa. While with Zappa, she performed significant roles in two of his major works, Joe's Garage (1979) and Thing-Fish (1984). Bozzio has released four solo albums and one EP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Gail</span> American actor (born 1943)

Maxwell Trowbridge Gail Jr. is an American actor who has starred on stage, and in television and film roles. He is best known for his role as Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz on the sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nominations. Gail also won the 2019 and 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mike Corbin on the soap opera General Hospital.

<i>The Lost Episodes</i> 1996 compilation album by Frank Zappa

The Lost Episodes is a 1996 posthumous album by Frank Zappa which compiles previously unreleased material. Much of the material covered dates from early in his career, and as early as 1958, into the mid-1970s. Zappa had been working on these tracks in the years before his death in 1993.

The Geena Davis Show is an American sitcom television series created by Terri Minsky starring Geena Davis. The show aired for one season on ABC from October 10, 2000, to July 10, 2001, during the 2000–01 U.S. television season.

As an icon of counterculture and underground rock the American rock musician and composer Frank Zappa has been featured and referenced in various different media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley Girl (song)</span> 1982 single by Frank and Moon Zappa

"Valley Girl" is a song by American musician Frank Zappa and his then-14-year-old daughter, Moon Zappa. The song appeared on Zappa's 1982 album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch and was released as a single, becoming his sole Top 40 hit. Though Zappa intended it to be a mocking satire of San Fernando Valley teen culture, the success of the song inadvertently popularized the "valley girl" stereotype and its associated mannerisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Bennett (musician)</span> American jazz bassist

Max Bennett was an American jazz bassist and session musician.

<i>Women of the Sun</i> Australian TV series or program

Women of the Sun is an Australian historical drama television miniseries that was broadcast on SBS Television and later the Australian Broadcasting Company in 1981. The series, co-written by Sonia Borg and Hyllus Maris, was composed of four 60-minute episodes to portray the lives of four Aboriginal women in Australian society from the 1820s to the 1980s. It was the first series that dealt with such subject matter, and later received several awards including two Awgies and five Penguin Awards following its release. It also won the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award and the Banff Grand Prix in 1983.

References

  1. TV Guide. "Normal Life Cast and Details". TV Guide. Retrieved 2013-02-16.