Thursday, April 28, 2011

Because You Wanted To Watch An Episode Of Holmes & Yoyo

YouTube currently has one episode of the shortlived sitcom HOLMES & YOYO available for streaming, so if you have an extra 25 minutes or so, you might want to see how crazy television could get in 1976.

A combination of GET SMART and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, the Arne Sultan production starred John Schuck (just off MCMILLAN & WIFE) as Greg Yoyonovich, a somewhat dimwitted detective who was actually a 400-pound robot. His boss, Captain Sedford (Bruce Kirby), teams "Yoyo" with Alex Holmes (Richard B. Shull), a good cop with a talent for getting partners hurt. Only Sedford and Holmes know that Yoyo isn't a human being, which leads to allegedly wacky incidents like Yoyo taking English idioms literally or attracting wayward metal objects with his magnetic powers. Basically, it was thirteen episodes of Maxwell Smart and Hymie jokes from GET SMART.

Like GET SMART, HOLMES & YOYO tended to take its crime plots seriously, which strengthened the slapstick somewhat by basing it in reality. It certainly wasn't the worst sitcom ever made, but the adults were watching THE JEFFERSONS on CBS and the kids were watching EMERGENCY! on NBC, so no one was left to dial in HOLMES & YOYO on ABC.

Series creators Lee Hewitt and Jack Sher wrote "The Dental Dynamiter," which was the third episode aired by ABC. GET SMART's Leonard B. Stern directed. ABC canceled the show after eleven episodes, then burned off the remaining two in the summer of 1977. Dick Wolf and NBC later polished off the concept by making the robot cop a hot chick (played by WITCHBLADE's Yancy Butler), but MANN & MACHINE was also a flop in 1992.

So. Here's part one of "The Dental Dynamiter." If you're interested in the rest of the episode, the other two parts are also on YouTube. Dick Halligan wrote the theme, and Leonard Rosenman composed the episode score. Enjoy.

3 comments:

Robert said...

Considering FUTURE COP debuted on ABC in 1976 the network must have had some faith in the concept of a robotic law enforcer. COP bowed first, and I think some episodes were still finding their way to air in 1977. As HOLMES & YOYO followed I wonder if it was conceived as a parody of that show?

Temple of Schlock said...

I remember watching a couple of episodes of this, but it must've been during the summer because I never missed EMERGENCY.

Anonymous said...

Almost Human.