The John Larroquette Show

The John Larroquette Show
Series intertitle from the first season.
Format	Comedy
Created by	Don Reo
Starring	John Larroquette Liz Torres Gigi Rice Daryl Mitchell Chi McBride Lenny Clarke Elizabeth Berridge John F. O'Donohue Bill Morey Alison LaPlaca Jazzmun
Opening theme	"Skrewy St. Louis Blues" by David Cassidy (1993–1995)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	84
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Junger Witt Don Reo Tony Thomas
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 2, 1993 – October 30, 1996

The John Larroquette Show is a situation comedy that ran on the NBC network from 1993 to 1996. The show, created by Don Reo, was a vehicle for John Larroquette following his run as Dan Fielding on Night Court. The series took place in a seedy bus terminal in St. Louis, Missouri and focused on the people who worked the night shift. TV Guide onced referred to the series as a 'sitcom noir'.

Plot

The show revolved around John Hemingway, a recovering alcoholic newly appointed to the role of night shift manager of the St. Louis bus depot.

Much of the show revolved around John's attempts to stay sober, and the first season roughly corresponds to to one episodes per the AA program's Twelve Steps. John constantly struggled to keep control of the station, with regular conflicts with his secretary, Mahalia, the janitor, Heavy Gene, and most strongly with sandwich bar attendant, Dexter, who had been turned down for the position that John was appointed. Sexual tension happened with prostitute Carly.

One regular guest star was David Crosby, who played Chester, John's sponsor for AA meetings. Another episode guest starred Bobcat Goldthwait, who played an assistant to John who was constantly a mess but became suddenly efficient and 'normal,' as soon as he got drunk. Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman appeared as himself in a jail cell.

Pressures from above

The show received early favorable critical reviews, but finished the first season 96th overall, in part due to its airing at the same time as Roseanne (which was fourth overall during the same season). There was talk of cancelling the show after the first season; in response the creators removed much of the dark humor and much of the bus depot setting for a more "toned-down" look.^{[citation needed]} The sets were brighter. The cast got transferred from the night shift to days. John's dingy boarding-house room was traded for a nice apartment. Oscar, the old bum who lived in one of the bus station phone booths cleaned up and became a shoeshine boy, and the prostitute character Carly (Gigi Rice) went "straight" and bought the bar at the bus station. The producers also decided to give John a romantic interest (Catherine Merrick, played by Alison LaPlaca).

Cancellation

The John Larroquette Show was canceled abruptly only one month into its fourth season. John and Carly got married in the third season finale while Catherine was seemingly pregnant with John's child. It was revealed that Catherine was experiencing a phantom pregnancy and left the show. The show's last episode aired on October 30, 1996 showing John and Officer Eggers on a date at a Halloween party. Six episodes remained unaired until being shown on the USA Network years later.

Main cast

• John Larroquette .... John Hemingway
• Liz Torres .... Mahalia Sanchez
• Gigi Rice .... Carly Watkins
• Daryl Mitchell .... Dexter Walker
• Chi McBride .... Heavy Gene
• Lenny Clarke .... Officer Adam Hampton
• Elizabeth Berridge .... Officer Eve Eggers
• John F. O'Donohue .... Max Dumas (1993–1994)
• Bill Morey .... Oscar (1994–1996)
• Alison LaPlaca .... Catherine Merrick (1994–1996)
• Jazzmun ... Pat (occasional, 1993–1995)

Recurring characters and guest stars

• David Crosby .... Chester
• Omri Katz .... Tony Hemingway, John's son. Katz would be replaced in an unaired fourth season episode with Ryan Reynolds.
• Mayim Bialik .... Rachel, John's illegitimate daughter
• Ted McGinley .... Karl Reese, Carly's boyfriend and future ex-husband

Production

The show was videotaped, but processed by NBC to make it look like it was recorded on film. Network promos even showed "unprocessed" clips. When it was rerun on the USA Network, the processing was gone and the show had the look of a videotaped sitcom.

Theme song

The series' theme song, "The Skrewy St. Louis Blues", is a bluesy tune performed by David Cassidy on acoustic guitar with a scat vocal. A version of the performance lasting approximately one minute was used in the opening and closing sequences of the show during its first season. A much shorter edit of the song (lasting less than ten seconds) was heard only during the opening logo during the later seasons. An upbeat, jazzy instrumental tune was occasionally used for the closing theme in seasons three and four.

Steve Cochran, a popular radio host on 560 WIND from Chicago, uses the Cassidy song as the theme music for his own radio program.

External links

• The John Larroquette Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The John Larroquette Show at TV.com