Simon (American TV series)
| Simon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Danny Jacobson |
| Directed by | Ellen Gittelsohn |
| Starring | Harland Williams Jason Bateman Andrea Bendewald Patrick Breen |
| Composer | Stewart Levin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 21 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Harland Williams |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | In Front Productions TriStar Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | The WB |
| Release | September 10, 1995 – March 24, 1996 |
Simon is an American sitcom television series created by Danny Jacobson, that aired on The WB from September 10, 1995 to March 24, 1996.
Premise
[edit]A former Wall Street stockbroker moves to Harlem to live with his simple brother Simon.
Cast
[edit]- Harland Williams as Simon Himple[1][2]
- Jason Bateman as Carl Himple[1]
- Andrea Bendewald as Libby Keeler[1]
- Patrick Breen as Mitch Lowen[1]
- Paxton Whitehead as Duke Stone[1]
- Clifton Powell as John Doe[1]
Production
[edit]Simon began airing on September 10, 1995, and has a 30-minute run time.[1] Its premiere marked The WB's addition of a second evening in the week for airing shows.[3] The WB initially commissioned 13 episodes for the series from the production companies In Front Productions and TriStar Television.[4][5] Ellen Gittelsohn directed the series, which was executive produced by Donald Todd, Danny Jacobson, and Marjorie Weitzman and produced by Walter Barnett. Stewart Levin composed the music, Robert Strohmaier was the art director, Vince Humphrey was the editor, and Alan Walker was the director of photography.[5] The pilot episode featured Peter Dobson as Carl Himple, but later episodes had Jason Bateman in the role.[6]
Reception
[edit]In a mixed review, The Plain Dealer television critic Tom Feran said Simon's television pilot "is slightly overloaded and tries a bit too hard" and called it "a dumb domestic comedy grafted onto a Dumb and Dumber workplace comedy". He liked some aspects of the pilot, writing, "The broadly played workplace scenes offer some real laughs. Simon's so-dumb-it's-smart attitude becomes almost endearing, and there's a real cleverness lurking in the script."[3] Giving the television series 2.5 stars, the Minnesota Star Tribune reviewers Noel Holston and Neal Justin wrote, "Like (Forrest) Gump, WB's Simon is dumb but likable."[7]
Walt Belcher of The Tampa Tribune enjoyed the numerous callbacks to classic television series but found the show to be slightly "silly". He concluded, "Kids will love this one but it's likely to get lost on WB, which has yet to establish itself."[8] The Christian Science Monitor's Judy Nichols found Simon Himple's "lethargic voice" to be "really tiresome" and called the show "cliched humor".[9] The Hollywood Reporter critic Miles Beller praised the performances of Harlan Williams and Jason Bateman but criticized the show's premiere for tending "more toward the indulgent and forced, an effort to wring humor out of everydayness that fails to connect as something based on resonating experience".[5]
Episodes
[edit]| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Watch This" | Ellen Gittelsohn | Danny Jacobson | September 10, 1995 | |
|
Simon gets a job at a cable TV network. | |||||
| 2 | "Simon Goes on a Date" | Rob Schiller | Donald Todd | September 17, 1995 | |
|
Simon and Libby go out on a date. Carl finds a job as a balloon salesman. | |||||
| 3 | "Simon Gets a Butler" | Rob Schiller | Tom J. Astle | September 24, 1995 | |
|
Simon wins a butler in a game of poker. | |||||
| 4 | "Simon Gets Carl a Job" | Linda Day | Charleen Easton & Kurt Schindler | October 1, 1995 | |
|
The owner of a hot dog cart demands payment when Carl destroys the cart. | |||||
| 5 | "Simon's Ship Comes In" | Arlene Sanford | Rick Wiener | October 8, 1995 | |
|
Simon wins a boat in a sweepstakes. | |||||
| 6 | "Simon Says Surprise!" | Arlene Sanford | Bernie Keating | October 15, 1995 | |
|
When Mitch gets depressed, Simon shows him how great life is. | |||||
| 7 | "Simon Has Faulty Pants" | Linda Day | Donald Todd | October 29, 1995 | |
|
Simon marries an immigrant, when she loses her job because of him. | |||||
| 8 | "Simon Plays Carnegie Hall" | Linda Day | Rick Wiener | November 5, 1995 | |
|
Simon gets mistaken for a pianist at Carnegie Hall. | |||||
| 9 | "Simon Hunts a Rat" | Paul Kreppel | Tom J. Astle | November 12, 1995 | |
|
Carl goes to talk to the building's landlord when he is bitten by a rat. | |||||
| 10 | "Simon and the She-Devil" | Unknown | Unknown | November 19, 1995 | |
|
Simon and Carl has to evict a sexy vixen. | |||||
| 11 | "Simon Saves a Restaurant" | Unknown | Rick Ellis | November 26, 1995 | |
|
Simon helps a restaurant that is about to go out of business. | |||||
| 12 | "You Can Run from Christmas, But You Can't Hide" | Paul Kreppel | Bernie Keating | December 17, 1995 | |
|
Simon and Carl is looking for the perfect Christmas gift for Duke. | |||||
| 13 | "Simon Kicks Ass" | Paul Kreppel | Charleen Easton & Kurt Schindler | January 7, 1996 | |
|
Simon agrees to fight a delivery man who has been starting trouble at the office. | |||||
| 14 | "Simon Takes the Helm" | Paul Kreppel | Rick Wiener | January 14, 1996 | |
|
Simon takes over the whole cable network. | |||||
| 15 | "Simon Sinks the Putts" | Paul Kreppel | Mark Ganzel & Josh Goldstein | February 4, 1996 | |
|
Carl and Mitch play a game of golf where the winner wins a month's salary. | |||||
| 16 | "Simon Gets the Goal" | Paul Kreppel | Tom J. Astle | February 18, 1996 | |
|
Simon and Carl buy a hockey team. | |||||
| 17 | "Simon Night Fever" | Unknown | Unknown | February 25, 1996 | |
|
Carl falls for a new employee. | |||||
| 18 | "Simon Makes the Split" | Unknown | Unknown | March 3, 1996 | |
| 19 | "Simon Looks a Gift Horse in the Mouth" | Unknown | Unknown | March 10, 1996 | |
| 20 | "Simon Saves Tinky Town" | Unknown | Unknown | March 17, 1996 | |
| 21 | "Simon Goes to the Dogs" | Unknown | Unknown | March 24, 1996 | |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g McNeil, Alex (1996) [1980]. Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (3 ed.). New York: Penguin Books. pp. 755–756. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8. Retrieved 2025-01-08 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Richmond, Ray (1995-09-09). "WB Debuts New Sitcoms on Emmy's Time". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ a b Feran, Tom (1995-09-09). "New Shows Take On Media". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ de Moraes, Lisa (1995-03-03). "WB says 'Simon' for second night". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 336, no. 13. pp. 4, 97. ProQuest 2393589971.
- ^ a b c Beller, Miles (1995-09-07). "'Simon'". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 338, no. 43. pp. 9, 22. ProQuest 2469246982.
- ^ Wild, David (1995-09-21). "TV: The second coming!". Rolling Stone. No. 717. p. 93. ProQuest 220147542.
- ^ Holston, Noel; Justin, Neal (1995-09-03). "Every Single Night - The new fall season // Prime time '95". Minnesota Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ Belcher, Walt (1995-09-10). "Tube Du Jour". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ Nichols, Judy (1995-09-15). "Weekend Fall TV". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 2025-01-08. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
External links
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