Duet Open House

DUET (1987-1989) Duet is a largely-forgotten comedy from the original Fox network lineup which first centered on the romance of detective novelist Ben Coleman (Matthew Laurance) and neurotic caterer Laura Kelly (Mary Page Keller). Jane (Jodi Thelan) was Laura's looney sister who worked for her, goofball yuppie Richard Phillips (Chris Lemmon) was Ben's best friend, Linda (Allison La Placa) was Richard's condescending wife, and Reuben (Bo) was Ben's beloved German Shepherd. Some spoilers from here on in. The first two seasons were serialized, with the network largely leaving the crew alone. Initially the show centered on Ben and Laura, but the roles of Jane and the Phillipses were expanded and it quickly developed into a true ensemble. The Fox network was instantly perceived as a joke, but they fought for acknowledgment by the Neilsen ratings, where their programs languished near the very bottom. The show was receiving critical acclaim, but viewers weren't tuning in, so the network intervened in the third season and began eroding the series... Alison La Placa was drawing raves for her portrayal of Linda, so the network decided to Urkel her (before Steve Urkel even existed), keeping her in the spotlight as the newest member of Laura's catering staff. But this simple change wasn't quite enough... Over on ABC, a family sitcom called "Full House" had recently become a sensation thanks in part to the character of a precocious little girl alternately portrayed by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Jumping aboard the bad-network-decision-bandwagon, Richard and Linda's infant daughter Amanda was suddenly being portrayed by 5-year-old Ginger Orsi. The Phillipses sassy, frequently-seen maid Geneva (Arleen Sorkin, who incidentally, was the inspiration for and originally voiced the popular Batman character Harley Quinn) still didn't get a bump up to star status, but she guest-starred in nearly every episode and appeared in a lot of promotion alongside the rest of the cast. Despite the racked-focus, lightened tone, and awkwardly-inserted youngster, the show didn't completely go off the rails. Everyone still got screen time, Linda just hogged most of it. Well, nearly everyone. Bo the dog's starring credit was revoked, and he only made a few appearances. OPEN HOUSE (1989-1990) Although the ratings rose slightly in the third season, Fox made it clear to the producers that they were going to cancel Duet. As a last-ditch effort to keep their cast and crew as intact as possible, creators Ruth Bennett and Susan Seeger crafted the finale as a pilot for a spin-off that centered on Linda, finding her becoming a realtor through a series of unlikely events. Richard worked as the pianist in the restaurant where Linda and her coworkers hung out, and Amanda and Geneva each made a few guest appearances. Meanwhile, Laura was retained, but she devolved into a shell of her former self. Ben divorced her, she dropped her catering business and joined Linda working as a realtor. As for Jane, she was simply never mentioned again. Linda's obnoxious coworker/nemesis, Ted Nichols, was portrayed by La Placa's real-life boyfriend (and later husband) Philip Charles MacKenzie. Whether it was conscious or not, the writers sort of did the "Cheers" thing, in which the characters hated each other so much that it sexually excited them. This eventually led to the dismissal of Chris Lemmon, whose Richard character (in a very un-Richard-like move) divorced Linda off-screen. By the show's finale, La Placa and MacKenzie were romantically involved both in front of and behind the camera. Today, Open House is most noted for being the very first show to costar Ellen Degeneres, who played Margo Van Meter, the office's weirdo receptionist. Margo loved to prattle on about her strange and pathetic life, and generally made everyone around her feel uncomfortable. The late, renowned Las Vegas impressionist Danny Gans played Scott Babylon, whose schtick was deceiving home buyers by impersonating celebrities over the phone. And Space: 1999's Nick Tate portrayed their hard-drinking, womanizing, hardass-with-a-heart-of-gold Aussie boss, Roger McSwain. Also appearing in a recurring role was Ray Buktenica as Dave Hayes, an indecisive client whom Linda and Ted constantly fought to serve. Sometime shortly after cancellation, both Duet and Open House went on to air briefly on the Lifetime network, which was primarily known at the time for their reruns of short-lived sitcoms and TV movies (it would be another few years before the network branded itself "television for women"). To the best of my knowledge, neither show has officially been seen anywhere since the Lifetime reruns (at least in the USA), which probably ended around 1992. MY TAKE I didn't have a nearby Fox affiliate until around the time "Duet" was canceled, and I only caught a few reruns back in the day. Yes, it has that horrendously corny 1980s theme music, but the show holds up better in the 21st century than most '80s sitcoms. The fact that it was in a serialized drama disguised as a sitcom puts it ahead of its time -- a double-edged sword in that it stuck out from other Fox fare of the era, which was becoming notorious for its bawdiness. It was a little shaky as the characters were developed, but they soon hit their stride -- and even the slightly revamped third season had a plenty of fun moments. However, there are WAY too many "very special episodes" in which the creators pushed agendas -- alcoholism, disability, illiteracy, sexual harassment, homelessness... I can't say that any of these stories were terrible (in fact, "Lady on a Grate" was charming, and it's a travesty that Rose Marie never returned), but it sucks to be hammered over the head with a random social issue of the week. Duet had a big heart, relatable moments, and the cast had impeccable chemistry. In the end, it's a shame that Fox didn't give them the creative freedom to truly blossom. Open House is the show that I remembered better, but it doesn't hold up nearly as well. It suffers from the same problem as most TV star vehicles: The camera is never off of the star for long, out of fear that viewers will change the channel. La Placa carried this series with aplomb -- both she and MacKenzie utterly devoured the scenery -- but this left little room for the other characters to develop. Plus, with the ability to be able to binge the show today, redundancy is really apparent. There are occasional glimpses of the Laura from Duet, but she's largely just stuck in the background, taking center stage for two or three lines and then receding. I'm glad she kept getting a paycheck, but it's a little insulting to both Keller and her character. Faring substantially better was Degeneres, who I could have envisioned being spun-off into her own show if this one had been a hit -- the constant stories about Margo's personal life are bizarre and sometimes downright disturbing! Open House does have some genuinely funny moments, but it lacks the depth and some of the heart of Duet, making it feel like just another generic, forgotten early Fox sitcom. Of course, I have a deep affection for all of those. VIDEO INFO Here are virtually all of the episodes of both incarnations of the show. There are two missing episodes of Duet (one each from seasons 2 and 3), plus "Kiss and Break Up" cuts off prematurely. Practically all of these are duplicated from their original broadcasts, most include the Fox bumpers, season 3 largely contains commercials, and I've collected all of the related show/network promos that I could find on YouTube (there aren't many -- and I've searched extensively!). I can't take the credit for any of these recordings (that would go to yuppicide and stevecho), but would like to thank the people who taped and originally shared them! The shows remains under copyright, but are presented here for historical purposes (which is sort of implied by the overlong accompanying series history!). Not only is it a glimpse of the little-seen beginnings before Fox's rapid ascent to popularity, but for anyone researching why network TV executives shouldn't meddle in the writer's room, this is a textbook example! No infringement is intended.

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Fox