Bosom Buddies was one of my favorites back in the day and I was ticked after they decided to cancel it.Wikipedia says "It starred Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari created by Robert L. Boyett, Thomas L. Miller and Chris Thompson. It ran from 1980 to 1982 on ABC and in reruns in the summer of 1984 on NBC.The series was originally conceived by Miller and Boyett as both a takeoff on the movie Some Like It Hot and a male counterpart to their hit farce show Laverne & Shirley. After the cast had been chosen, Miller and Boyett asked Chris Thompson, one of the writer-producers of Laverne and Shirley, to write the pilot and be the series showrunner. Thompson (who would go on to executive-produce such shows as The Larry Sanders Show), said later that he took the job purely for the money, but unexpectedly found it to be "my completely favorite experience in show business," because the network left him and his young cast free to experiment. "We were left alone," he recalled. "Nobody was paying attention to us. We were all really young, but it was like we had daddy's Porsche. We had $500,000 to play with every week." [1] The show became known for its quirky humor and its frequent use of improvisation, especially between stars Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. Though the show started out with good ratings, it failed to hold the public's interest and was canceled after two seasons".
Bosom Buddies aired for two seasons from 1980 to 1982. The premise was pretty unique in those days.
Henry and Kip are two advertising designers who had a real problem with finding a place to live. At the beginning, the sole place they could afford was condemned, but they only found out when the wrecking ball was smashing up the place while they were sleeping. A female friend suggested they stay at her building, but the snag is that the place is for women only. In desperation, they assume the identities of the women Hildegard and Buffy in order to rent a room. Now as they pursue their dream of success in the ad business, they also struggle to keep their deception at the apartment building so they won't be evicted, but the beautiful neighbours they have are a constant temptation.
I for one LOVED the show and had NO idea at the time that Tom Hanks would go on to be one of the power players in Hollywood. Here are some cool trivia facts from IMDB and Wikipedia.
· Main characters named after two bars in Berkeley, CA: "Kips's" and "Henry's."
· 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.
· The advertising agency where Kip and Henry worked in during the first season was Livingston, Gentry & Mishkin.
· The pilot episode was shot on film, the rest of the series was shot on videotape.
Bosom Buddies was taped on Stage 25 at Paramount Pictures. Stage 25 was also the home of The Lucy Show, Cheers, and Frasier.
Bosom Buddies reruns also aired briefly on NBC in the summer of 1984. Ratings were respectable and talks to bring the show back were mentioned; but by that time, Peter Scolari was on Newhart and Tom Hanks was just starting his film career.
· 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.
· The advertising agency where Kip and Henry worked in during the first season was Livingston, Gentry & Mishkin.
· The pilot episode was shot on film, the rest of the series was shot on videotape.
Bosom Buddies was taped on Stage 25 at Paramount Pictures. Stage 25 was also the home of The Lucy Show, Cheers, and Frasier.
Bosom Buddies reruns also aired briefly on NBC in the summer of 1984. Ratings were respectable and talks to bring the show back were mentioned; but by that time, Peter Scolari was on Newhart and Tom Hanks was just starting his film career.
You can still get the show on DVD and in my opinion....its worth the money.
