External links
 | This article relating to a comedy television series in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| Oh, No! Not THEM! | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Mirkin |
| Starring | Nigel Planer Jackie Earle Haley Robert Bundy Shari Shattuck Kristi Somers |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | David Mirkin |
| Original release | |
| Release | October 29, 1989 |
Oh No, Not Them was an untelevised 1989 television pilot for an American television series remake of the British television show The Young Ones , commissioned by the Fox network. [1]
It starred Nigel Planer as Neil (reprising his Young Ones role) and Jackie Earle Haley as Rip, a take on the Vyvyan character that had been portrayed by Adrian Edmondson [2] Robert Bundy played Todd, a character based on Mike, previously played by Christopher Ryan. The character of Rik, created by Rik Mayall, was not included, though both Rip and Todd share traits of Rik's. It was directed and produced by David Mirkin [2] and featured an animated opening credit sequence set to music by Danny Elfman that Planer has compared in his autobiography to the title sequence of The Simpsons which David Mirkin went on to work on and Elfman scored. Fox did not pick up the series.
Robert Llewellyn wrote in his book The Man in the Rubber Mask (1994):
The Young Ones was taken over the Atlantic in the mid eighties, and Nigel [Planer] was the only member of the British cast to go. He had experienced a fairly hideous time, worried sick that he was going to have to stay there for six years with a group of people he hated who managed to make The Young Ones into a sort of grubby Benny Hill Show . He was hugely relieved when the pilot was a flop and he was released from his contract.
In Planer's 2025 memoir Young Once, he recalls that a lot of material from the original was replicated, alongside sequences involving a gunfight between the characters. He also reveals that he has remained good friends with Bundy.
In November 2025, Planer announced that he had digitized his personal VHS copy of the pilot, and would be releasing it onto his Patreon page in support of Young Once, with viewers being charged £10 to access the file.
The pilot revolves around Neil being mugged by a man dressed up as a grandma. Scared that the mugger will arrive at their house to rob and kill them, the trio arm themselves with guns, only to turn on themselves. Inevitably, Rip declares the downstairs Ripland and, in a nod to The Young Ones episode "Bomb", protects himself with a nuclear bomb, which accidentally detonates. Miraculously, everyone survives and, having learned their lesson, rid the house of weapons just as the mugger arrives. The pilot closely follows the style of the original Young Ones series, with brief random cutaway gags and cameos from other recognisable comedians such as Bob Newhart.
| | This article relating to a comedy television series in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |