Inside Schwartz is an American sitcom television series created by Stephen Engel, that aired on NBC from September 27, 2001, until January 3, 2002, starring Breckin Meyer as the title character. The show was produced by 20th Television and NBC Studios and first aired on NBC on Thursday Night at 8:30 EST.
| Inside Schwartz | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Stephen Engel |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Ben Vaughn |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (4 unaired) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Stephen Engel |
| Producer | John Ziffren |
| Production locations | 20th Century Fox Studios 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California |
| Cinematography | Peter Smokler |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 27, 2001 – January 3, 2002 |
Plot
editAfter losing a long-time girlfriend, minor-league sportscaster Adam Schwartz's (Meyer) dating life is illustrated by sports highlights (as presented by Fox Sports Net) in which various pro sports personalities appear. For instance, when Adam's date reveals that she has three children a referee appears and makes the call "Too many players on the field".
Cast
edit- Breckin Meyer as Adam Schwartz
- Miriam Shor as Julie Hermann
- Bryan Callen as David Cobert
- Jennifer Irwin as Emily Cobert
- Richard Kline as Gene Schwartz
- Dondré T. Whitfield as William Morris (episodes 2–4, 9)
- Maggie Lawson as Eve Morris (episodes 7–8; recurring, previously)
Recurring
edit- Van Earl Wright as Himself
- Kevin Frazier as Himself
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | Pamela Fryman | Stephen Engel | September 27, 2001 | 1AFP79 | 22.52[1] |
| 2 | "Let's Go to the Videotape" | Pamela Fryman | Stephen Engel | October 4, 2001 | 1AFP01 | 20.59[2] |
| 3 | "The Pinch Hitter" | Gil Junger | Gail Lerner | October 18, 2001 | 1AFP05 | 15.09[3] |
| 4 | "Event Night" | Michael Lembeck | Gail Lerner & Bill Kunstler | October 25, 2001 | 1AFP07 | 16.56[4] |
| 5 | "Comic Relief Pitcher" | Gail Mancuso | Story by : Stephen Leff & Jim Patterson Teleplay by : Bill Kunstler | November 29, 2001 | 1AFP09 | 14.26[5] |
| 6 | "Roommates" | Gail Mancuso | Story by : Michael Gannon & Jon Hotchkiss Teleplay by : Jack Burditt | December 6, 2001 | 1AFP11 | 15.22[6] |
| 7 | "Play-Action Fake Boyfriend" | Gail Mancuso | Story by : Debora Cahn Teleplay by : Gail Lerner | December 20, 2001 | 1AFP10 | 10.57[7] |
| 8 | "Eve's Date with Schwartz's Destiny" | Gil Junger | Jeff Lowell & Marc Sedaka | December 27, 2001 | 1AFP12 | 10.69[8] |
| 9 | "Kissing Cousin" | Gil Junger | Stephen Leff & Jim Patterson | January 3, 2002 | 1AFP08 | 10.51[9] |
| 10 | "It's All in the Footwork" | Gil Junger | Jim Patterson | Unaired | 1AFP02 | N/A |
| 11 | "Service, Schwartz?" | Gail Mancuso | Stephen Leff | Unaired | 1AFP03 | N/A |
| 12 | "Bless Me Father, for I Have Fired You" | Gil Junger | Stephen Engel | Unaired | 1AFP04 | N/A |
| 13 | "He Ain't Funny, He's My Brother" | Gail Mancuso | Stephen Engel | Unaired | 1AFP06 | N/A |
Cancellation
editThe series followed Friends, which was in its 8th and highest-rated season. Inside Schwartz debuted with 22.5 million viewers. Of the 9 episodes to air, 5 followed new episodes of Friends. But despite having an average household rating of 9.8 and being ranked 16th among all programs in the ratings, Inside Schwartz was cancelled as network executives believed that the valuable time slot could get higher ratings.[10]
The time slot was filled with a new series, Leap of Faith, which aired for six episodes, and finally NBC simply aired repeat episodes of Friends which had higher ratings than either Inside Schwartz or Leap of Faith.
Legacy
editProminent television writer and producer Dan Harmon cited the premiere of Inside Schwartz as a watershed moment in the history of television and the end of an era for traditional network programming.[11]
In September of 2001 everything really changed, and the way we perceive television changed, because of a tragedy called the premiere of NBC's Inside Schwartz. It was at that point that we realized television was broken and could never be fixed.
— Dan Harmon, XOXO Festival Keynote (2012)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Top 20 Network Primetime Report". Zap2it. Archived from the original on October 6, 2001. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 1-7)". The Los Angeles Times. October 10, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 15-21)". The Los Angeles Times. October 24, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 22-28)". The Los Angeles Times. October 31, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 26-Dec. 2)". The Los Angeles Times. December 5, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times. December 12, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. December 28, 2001.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 24-30)". The Los Angeles Times. January 4, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 30-Jan. 6)". The Los Angeles Times. January 9, 2002. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present.
- ^ Harmon, Dan (September 2012). XOXO Keynote (Speech). XOXO Festival. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
External links
edit
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