Stark Raving Mad (TV series)

Stark Raving Mad
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Steven Levitan
Starring	Tony Shalhoub Neil Patrick Harris Eddie McClintock Heather Paige Kent Dorie Barton
Composers	Steve Hampton Korban Kraus John Adair
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22 (4 unaired)
Production
Executive producers	Steven Levitan Jeffrey Richman Alan Kirschenbaum
Producers	Pamela Grant Richard Levine
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Steven Levitan Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 23, 1999 (1999-09-23) – July 13, 2000 (2000-07-13)

Stark Raving Mad is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999, to July 13, 2000. The series starred Tony Shalhoub and Neil Patrick Harris.

Synopsis

Shalhoub stars as odd horror novelist Ian Stark, who is obsessed with practical jokes, and whose first book Below Ground was a best seller. Neil Patrick Harris is Stark's reluctant editor Henry McNeeley, who has a variety of phobias and possibly obsessive–compulsive disorder.

On January 10, 2000, the sitcom won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy Series. The sitcom premiered on September 23, 1999, and was officially cancelled by NBC on April 15, 2000, despite being ranked 19th among all programs with an average of 15.5 million viewers, ^[1] as it held poor retention rates from its lead-in, Frasier , and was consistently beaten by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the same timeslot.

Cast

Main

• Tony Shalhoub as Ian Stark
• Neil Patrick Harris as Henry McNeeley
• Eddie McClintock as Jake Donovan
• Dorie Barton as Tess Farraday
• Heather Paige Kent as Margaret 'Maddie' Keller (this role was originally to be played by Jessica Cauffiel who appeared in several early cast photos)

Recurring and Guest Stars

• Harriet Sansom Harris as Audrey
• Chris Sarandon as Cesar
• Dina Waters as Katherine 'Kit' Yate
• Kellie Waymire as the other Tess, Tess Farraday's co-worker in the museum

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired		Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			First aired	Last aired
1	22 [lower-alpha 1]		September 23, 1999 (1999-09-23)	July 13, 2000 (2000-07-13)	19	15.5

1. Episodes 19-22 unaired during original run.

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	Viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	James Burrows	Steven Levitan	September 23, 1999 (1999-09-23)	1ADM79	18.62 [2]
Henry McNeely gets a promotion he doesn't want. He's now the editor for the eccentric horror novelist Ian Stark. Ian's practical jokes are done at the expense of Henry.
2	"The Man Who Knew Too Much"	Ted Wass	Alan Kirschenbaum	September 30, 1999 (1999-09-30)	1ADM01	19.52 [3]
Trying to pull another joke on Henry, Ian learns things he did not want to know about Henry's girlfriend.
3	"Sometimes a Fritter Is Just a Fritter"	Ted Wass	David A. Goodman	October 7, 1999 (1999-10-07)	1ADM03	17.58 [4]
Henry's misunderstanding of a change of a name of a character in Ian's manuscript ruins Ian's morning routine of fritters and long walks.
4	"Four Colds and a Funeral"	Gail Mancuso	Eric Zicklin	October 14, 1999 (1999-10-14)	1ADM05	17.03 [5]
Henry accidentally kills a man named Professor Huggles (a character obviously inspired by Dr. Seuss)
5	"The Lyin' King"	Gail Mancuso	Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	October 21, 1999 (1999-10-21)	1ADM06	18.38 [6]
During Halloween, Ian helps Henry to pay back his cousin Lori for an old prank she pulled on him, while Maddie's date may or may not be a humpback for real.
6	"Fish out of Water"	Ted Wass	Jeffrey Richman	November 4, 1999 (1999-11-04)	1ADM04	16.17 [7]
Everyone is at Audrey's dinner party where a fish needs to be put back into the tank.
7	"Engaged to Be Engaged"	Gail Mancuso	Gayle Abrams	November 11, 1999 (1999-11-11)	1ADM07	15.04 [8]
Henry tries to make a commitment to Tess.
8	"The Stalker"	Ken Levine	Steven Levitan	November 18, 1999 (1999-11-18)	1ADM09	15.23 [9]
Ian's obsessed fan wants to take Henry's place.
9	"The Dance"	Gail Mancuso	Steven Levitan	December 2, 1999 (1999-12-02)	1ADM08	14.71 [10]
Tess attempts to fix up Ian and Maddie.
10	"Coffin to Go"	Ted Wass	Lynnie Greene & Richard Levine	December 9, 1999 (1999-12-09)	1ADM02	16.99 [11]
Ian discovers that the funeral place accidentally sold him a coffin with a corpse in it.
11	"Christmas Cheerleader"	Michael Lembeck	David A. Goodman	December 16, 1999 (1999-12-16)	1ADM10	20.85 [12]
Tess tries to cheer up Christmas for a bunch of social outcasts.
12	"The Crush"	Michael Lembeck	Eric Zicklin	January 6, 2000 (2000-01-06)	1ADM11	18.80 [13]
Ian has a crush on a woman, but Jake cannot be trusted with letters.
13	"My Bodyguard (a.k.a. Guarding Tess)"	Steven Levitan	Gayle Adams	January 13, 2000 (2000-01-13)	1ADM12	15.79 [14]
Henry, Ian and Tess get mugged. Ian head-butts the mugger and saves the day. Henry soon feels sexually inadequate when he learns that Ian's heroics caused Tess to have an erotic dream about Ian. Ian sets up a similar incident, designed to make Henry look like a hero in Tess' eyes.
14	"The Hypnotist"	Michael Lembeck	Alan Kirschenbaum	February 3, 2000 (2000-02-03)	1ADM15	15.58 [15]
Ian professes to be a hypnotic expert and the situation gets out of hand. Note: Ian claims to have once suffered from OCD, but cured it with hypnosis. Tony Shalhoub would later find success in Monk, playing a detective with OCD.
15	"Therapy"	Sheldon Epps	Eric Zicklin	March 2, 2000 (2000-03-02)	1ADM16	12.91 [16]
Ian and Henry go to a therapist. After the session Henry wants to know what the therapist told about him. Ian lies that she thinks Henry is paranoid.
16	"Secrets and Lies"	David Lee	Jeffrey Richman	March 9, 2000 (2000-03-09)	1ADM18	11.66 [17]
A Yale student turns up some shocking secrets about where Ian was nearly twenty years ago.
17	"The Grade"	Steven Levitan	Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	March 16, 2000 (2000-03-16)	1ADM21	12.55 [18]
Ian helps Maddie by writing a book report for her, but then is furious when her professor only gives her a "B".
18	"The Pigeon"	Sheldon Epps	Joe Piscatella & Craig A. Williams	July 13, 2000 (2000-07-13)	1ADM17	6.68 [19]
Ian accidentally knocks a pigeon's nest filled with eggs off his balcony's ledge. Later he becomes paranoid, thinking the mother pigeon is back with vengeance.
19	"He's Gotta Have It"	Joyce Gittlin	Lynnie Greene & Richard Levine	Unaired (Unaired)	1ADM13	N/A
Tess' sister visits and Ian becomes uncontrollably attracted to her.
20	"Dog Gone"	Gail Mancuso	Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	Unaired (Unaired)	1ADM14	N/A
Henry loses Edgar, and when he finds him, new problems arise.
21	"The Psychic"	Jeff Melman	Dana Gould	Unaired (Unaired)	1ADM19	N/A
The gang gets their fortunes read.
22	"The Big Finish"	Robert Egan	Richard Levine & Lynnie Greene	Unaired (Unaired)	1ADM20	N/A
Henry tries to retrieve Ian's latest manuscript.

International airings

In some countries the series was renamed: Loco enloquecido (Latin America), ^[20] Stark, loco de atar (Spain), Splitter Pine Gal (Norway), Kreisi kynäniekka (Finland) and "En förläggares mardröm" (Sweden).

References

1. Quotenmeter.de - Das Online-Fernsehmagazin (2002-05-30). "US-Jahrescharts 1999/2000". Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
2. "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 20–26)". The Los Angeles Times . September 29, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
3. "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 27–Oct. 3)". The Los Angeles Times . October 6, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
4. "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 4-10)". The Los Angeles Times . October 13, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
5. "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 11-17)". The Los Angeles Times . October 20, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
6. "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 18-24)". The Los Angeles Times . October 27, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
7. "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 1-7)". The Los Angeles Times . November 10, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
8. "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 8-14)". The Los Angeles Times . November 17, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
9. "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 15-21)". The Los Angeles Times . November 24, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
10. "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 29-Dec. 5)". The Los Angeles Times . December 8, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
11. "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 6-12)". The Los Angeles Times . December 15, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
12. "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 13-19)". The Los Angeles Times . December 22, 1999. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
13. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times . January 12, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
14. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 10-16)". The Los Angeles Times . January 19, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
15. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 31-Feb. 6)". The Los Angeles Times . February 9, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
16. "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 28-March 5)". The Los Angeles Times . March 8, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
17. "National Nielsen Viewership (March 6–12)". The Los Angeles Times . March 15, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
18. "National Nielsen Viewership (March 13–19)". The Los Angeles Times . March 22, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
19. "National Nielsen Viewership (July 10–16)". The Los Angeles Times . July 19, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
20. Canal Fox - Tandas Comerciales (6 feb. 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=WL48F336ACFA093FBB&feature=player_detailpage#t=422 at 7:07

External links

• TKtv info
• Stark Raving Mad at IMDb
• Stark Raving Mad at epguides.com