Mon, November 15, 2004
Go ahead with your own life...—8:27 AM
Thanks to alert reader (and adorable family... haver) Brandon, I became aware that TBS is now running a pair of Bosom Buddies reruns in the middle of the night every Saturday morning. Before TiVo crashed, I had a Wish List set up for Bosom Buddies but it had never found anything (conventional wisdom held that an embarrassed Tom Hanks had used his newfound clout to squash reruns of the old sitcom), so I kind of forgot to add it to the resurrected TiVo after all the trouble.
Anyway, like most things from my childhood, the quality of Bosom Buddies is wildly exceeded by my memory of its quality. However, it's still a remarkably watchable sitcom, if only for the tremendously lucky casting of Hanks and Peter Scolari, to whom Hanks has been throwing a bone as often as he can ever since. I wonder if, in the mid-1980s, people thought Scolari was the rising star of the pair. He was spectacular on Newhart and Hanks was pursuing a movie career and getting cast in things like Bachelor Party. Sure, Splash, Volunteers, and Big were in there, but by the time Newhart was wrapping up, so were Punchline, Nothing in Common, The 'Burbs, and Turner & Hooch. Anyway, their careers could not have taken more divergent paths, and now Hanks is keeping Scolari fed and shod with walk-on roles in everything from That Thing You Do! to From the Earth to the Moon to The Polar Express.
I've always loved Scolari, though. (It's clear Hanks has, too.) I think they're both excellent comic actors, and the show would be nothing without them. It's their crackling chemistry and bursting energy that lifts the implausible situations and predictable jokes above the level of the script. Even with them, it's still a lame '80s sitcom with very little substance. And this week, a cameo from Bruce Vilanch. (If this is the price I have to pay to relive fond memories and watch Hanks cut his comedy teeth, the cost may just be too high!) It's amazing how it all comes flooding back, though. The sexy allure of Donna Dixon in shimmery day-glo spandex. The sass of Wendie Jo Sperber. And, oh, the hair! The massive, towering hair! Plus, Holland Taylor's Ruth Dunbar positively framed my idea of the powerful career gal – and the advertising industry in general.
Brandon — Mon, 11/15/04 10:15am
Yeah, it definitely doesn't hold up to any memories of quality, but it's still fun to watch Hanks and Scolari because they're so good. The rest of the cast is a study in the over-the-top-style sitcom acting that was so prevalent in the 70s and early 80s - Hanks and Scolari are the only ones talented enough to ground their characters with some recognizable human emotions.
In your list of Hanks's early films, you neglected to mention the 1982 TV-movie "Mazes and Monsters," which, at age eleven, I thought was pretty awesome. (And talk about something where the actual quality would never hold up to memory...)
And check out this trivia tidbit from IMDB:
"Theme song to the show was "My Life" by Billy Joel and is sung by the cast of the show. Tom Hanks is the foreground singer."
!! I could tell that it wasn't the Billy Joel version, but I would have never guessed that was Tom Hanks's voice I was hearing. Pretty crazy.
Bee Boy — Mon, 11/15/04 1:44pm
Additional Tom Hanks trivia: his character in Bosom Buddies, Kip Wilson, is named after variety TV show host Flip Wilson, who often dressed as a woman on The Flip Wilson Show. His imaginary friend in Cast Away was also named in honor of the "Jackie Robinson of Laugh In," whom Hanks has idolized since childhood – so much so that he forced his second wife to change her last name to Wilson.
Also, his name is an anagram for Otm Shank.
Brandon — Mon, 11/15/04 2:38pm
Ahh yes, Otm Shank - India's answer to Brian Dennehy.
Finally watched the Vilanch episode (not that it's his episode, he's there for what, all of two minutes) - I can't figure out what he was doing there, as it's well before he achieved noteriety. I thought maybe he was a writer on the show, but no. So maybe he was friends with one of the show's writers or he was on the same lot that day and they wanted a freaky looking guy.
Uh, I'm not sure where that was going... a dissection of the why's and wherefore's of Bruce Vilanch's career?? Is this what happens when the election stops being a major source of discussion material?
Bee Boy — Mon, 11/15/04 3:15pm
Before he achieved notoriety?! Come on! By '81, he'd already worked with Barry Manilow and Bette Midler (twice!) plus helped architect the notrious Star Wars Holiday Special. And, by the way, I'd like to take issue with your use of the term "notoriety" in regards to Vilanch in the first place.
The strangest thing for me is that when he walked up to the hot dog cart, I thought to myself "Is that Bruce Vilanch?" and immediately figured, "No, it can't be. Must just be someone doing the standard Disheveled Stranger bit. Maybe Vilanch got the idea from him." But as time went on, I couldn't deny it. And, there it was in the credits. Proof.
Remarkable.
Bee Boy — Thu, 12/1/05 1:12pm
AC writes in to note that Wendie Jo Sperber has passed away. Sad indeed. And, check out the simple, heartfelt statement from Tom Hanks. His introduction at Steve Martin's Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize ceremony was great, too. Does he ever not say the exactly perfect thing?