Buddies (TV series)

Buddies

DVD cover
Genre Sitcom
Created by Carmen Finestra
David McFadzean
Matt Williams
Written by Peter Tolan
Directed by Paul Lazarus
John Pasquin
Andrew Tsao
Starring Dave Chappelle
Christopher Gartin
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 13 (8 unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s) Carmen Finestra
David MacFadzean
Matt Williams
Location(s) Burbank, California
Camera setup Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s) Wind Dancer Productions
Touchstone Television
Release
Original network ABC
Picture format NTSC (480i)
Original release March 5 – April 3, 1996 (1996-04-03)
Chronology
Related shows Home Improvement

Buddies is the name of a sitcom starring Dave Chappelle that aired on ABC in 1996.

History

Home Improvement connection

Comedians Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer attracted the attention of TV network executives with their guest appearance in the March 14, 1995 episode of ABC's highly rated sitcom Home Improvement.[1] The storyline had Chappelle and Breuer play a duo of friends who appear on Tool Time to ask Tim Taylor advice on their girlfriends. The characters' single outing on the episode proved so popular that ABC decided to give Chappelle and Breuer their own half-hour sitcom.

Cast changes

After subsequent rehearsals, Jim Breuer was replaced with Christopher Gartin as Dave Chappelle's "buddy". The unique comic timing and chemistry that Chappelle had with Breuer, his real-life friend, was not present with Gartin, and Breuer's abrupt firing exacerbated ill will. This prevented Chappelle and Gartin from developing the rapport and comedic chemistry necessary for the characters' believability and likeability.[2]

Cancellation

Buddies premiered on Tuesday, March 5, 1996. The show garnered disappointing ratings. Buddies was off the air on April 3 after a broadcast history of only five episodes out of the 13 that were produced.[3] Dave Chappelle himself was not proud of his involvement with Buddies in retrospect:

It was a bad show. It was bad. I mean when we were doing it, I could tell this was not gonna work.[4]

Cast

Episode list

Series # Title Notes Original air date
1 "Pilot" No synopsis available. March 5, 1996
2 "A Room with a Pyew" No synopsis available. March 13, 1996
3 "Regarding Henry" No synopsis available. March 20, 1996
4 "Famous Last Words" No synopsis available. March 27, 1996
5 "Marry Me ... Sort Of" No synopsis available. April 3, 1996
6 "Lights, Camera ... Yuck!" No synopsis available. Unaired
7 "Pet Peeves" No synopsis available. Unaired
8 "The Content of Their Character" No synopsis available. Unaired
9 "There Goes the Groom" No synopsis available. Unaired
10 "The PSA Story" No synopsis available. Unaired
11 "John, I've Been Thinking" No synopsis available. Unaired
12 "Engagement Hell" No synopsis available. Unaired
13 "Whack and Blight" No synopsis available. Unaired

DVD release

For a limited time in 2005, Best Buy had an exclusive DVD available that contained 10 episodes of Buddies, including all 8 unaired episodes.[5] The DVD was originally released on May 15, 2005[6] but seems to have been discontinued as Best Buy currently lists the item as "backordered." It is unclear why the DVD did not include all 13 episodes or if the remaining 3 episodes will ever receive a home video release.

References

  1. Home Improvement episode listing for "Talk to Me." IMDB.com.
  2. "Spin Off: Buddies and Home Improvement. Poobala.com. Last accessed November 10, 2007.
  3. Buddies page at TV.com. Last accessed November 14, 2007
  4. "Chappelle: An Act Of Freedom." CBSNews.com. December 29, 2004.
  5. "Best Buy to get exclusive release of Dave Chappelle's 1996 series." TvShowsOnDVD.com. April 25, 2005.
  6. Best Buy ad for DVD release. BestBuy.com. Last accessed November 10, 2007.

External links

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