Interesting. I'd love to learn who's so eager to keep it under wraps - perhaps one of the cast alumni who've gone on to much bigger things? Or maybe someone in the production company. I assume some of those involved feel embarrassed by it and don't want it out there. Personally, I don't remember the show with fondness, but it'd be interesting to see again after 25 or so years...
The best thing about this show was the musical acts. I remember seeing the Clash and the Pretenders , and a lot of other 'New Wave" acts from the early 1980s
From http://www.tvparty.com/80fridays.html. Highly recommended reading for those wanting an excellent history of the show and/or to walk down nostalgia lane.
I'm sure that Richards is not happy with many of the Fridays episodes. Having watch the extras from the first three seasons of Seinfeld, he seems to be a little too much of a perfectionist. Funny as anything, but probably a little annoying to work with as well. There were a couple of out-takes that he seemed genuinely mad at Julia Louis-Dreyfus when she broke out laughing during filming. Here's to hoping that the popularity of Seinfeld sways him a little. He's truly one of the funniest physical comedians today. It would be a great loss to not be able to re-live my teen years' Fridays.
According to the legend behind the Kaufmann Incident, Richards was one of the few who was in on the prank with Kaufmann. So the "steamed-ness" Richards showed on camera was all part of the act.
I am resurrected this thread since it was brought up in the Star Trek thread in the movies forum. The Shatner episode was mentioned. I would hope their might be something new on a possible release of this show. :frowning:
The whole thing was faked. SNL did that "something going wrong on live TV" bit every week. If Richards is a hold out, they should just release the musical performances. That's all most people are really interested in.
Agreed. His skit at the table with Melanie Chartoff was really interesting. To this day, I don't know if he was serious or not. And watching Ms. Chartoff, I'm not sure she knew either. If she did know, then she was a terrific actress.
Michael Richards was wonderful in this show. I watched it faithfully during its original run.
They should at least release a 'best of' of this show and, if necessary, elminate the Richards appearances (at which point he might change his mind or at least consider the legacy of other performers on the show). Impersonator John Roarke is a good friend of mine and his Reagan impression was the best of that era, and "The Ronny Horror Picture Show" take-off was classic television at its boldest and most outrageous.
You should ask Shout about just releasing a music package, but you would have to clear a lot of bands like The Clash and I guess they wouldn't allow themselves to be on The Tomorrow Show's punk DVD release.