David Cassidy in the News
ABC’s Friday sitcom lineup has the flavor of Fridays past.
February 1, 1989
By Kirk Nicewonger
Santa Cruz Sentinel
When it comes to Friday-night scheduling, ABC's strategy traditionally has been as basic as its initials: Snatch the kids. Let CBS sweep Mom away to the romance of New York's sewer system with "Beauty and the Beast," and with the saddle soap of "Dallas." Concede the field of quietly desperate dads imagining themselves in daring escapades for which shaving is optional to NBC's "Miami Vice." ABC is content - and has been successful - in its pied-piper role of tootling the kids to bedtime with "Perfect Strangers," "Full House,". "Mr. Belvedere" and "Just the Ten of Us."
It was ever thus. On which night and network could you find these kiddie classics: "The Flintstones" (1960-66), "The Green Hornet" (1966-67), "The Time Tunnel" (1966-67), "The Brady Bunch" (1969-74) and "The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974)? If you answered, "Fridays on ABC," you're right; ABC's current Friday sitcoms have the flavor of Fridays past.
"Full House" recalls for us The David Cassidy Perfect Shag, which propelled "The Partridge Family" to ABC Friday-night hitdom from . 1970-73. Cassidy played the eldest brother of a musical family and became a teen idol. It was the hair, of course. Conditioned to perfection in those innocent, pre-mousse days, it was worn like a coronet by Cassidy. Other haircut heroes from ABC's Fridays have included Bobby Sherman ("Here Come the Brides," 196970) and Donny Osmond ("Donny and Marie," 1976-78). None approached Cassidy's sculpted glory.
None, that is, until John Stamos, who plays Jesse on "Full House." Stamos's coif was, in every respect, the peer of Cassidy's, thanks to recent technological advancements in hair care. Even though Stamos recently cut his hair, "Full House" thrives, thanks to another ABC Friday innovation, The Awww Factor. ABC recognized the importance of The Awww Factor on Friday with "Webster" (1983-87), in which Emmanuel Lewis's antics elicited loving "awwws" from the audience. "Full House" has lifted The Awww Factor to the level of the Greek chorus, thanks to Mary Kate and Ashley Fuller Olsen. They play the 2-year-old in the care of three young men.
"Full House" certainly owes something to "Three Men and a Baby," no? Of course, no one ever accused ABC of daring to be original on Friday nights. "Mr. Belvedere," in which Christopher Hewett plays a butler for a befuddled family, is based on a series of 1940s movies. Moreover, the domestic is a TV stock figure - just think of "The Farmer's Daughter" (1964-66), "Nanny and the Professor" (1970-71), "Benson" (1980-85) and the immortal "I Married Dora" (1987). They all aired on ABC and they all aired on Friday.
In "Perfect Strangers," Mark LinnBaker and Bronson Pinchot play two single guys sharing a household and indulging in sundry wackiness. Haven't ABC viewers seen this situation before on Friday night? Of course they have if they watched "The Odd Couple" (1971-75), "Bosom Buddies" (1981) or the short-lived "New Odd Couple" (1982). The precedents for "Just the Ten of Us," which focuses on a high-school coach (Bill Kirchenbauer) with a family of sufficient size to be on Zero Population Growth's hit list, are less obvious. "Eight Is Enough" (1977-81) comes to mind. Wasn't that on ABC? Sure - but it aired on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.
We'd like to know this: If Friday night is good enough for Bill Kirchenbauer, how come it wasn't good enough for Dick Van Patten?
