The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
| The New Adventures of Beans Baxter | |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure/comedy |
| Starring | Jonathan Ward |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Original run | 1987 – 1988 |
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter is an adventure/comedy television series that aired between 1987 and 1988 on the Fox television network. It was created by Savage Steve Holland who also wrote and directed most of the 17 episodes. The title character is played by Jonathan Ward, who won a "Best Young Actor Starring in a New Television Comedy Series" Young Artist Award for the role.
The show revolves around the spy activities of Benjamin "Beans" Baxter Jr., a Kansas teenager who just moved with his parents and younger brother to Washington, D.C., as part of his father's reassignment as (Beans assumed) an employee of the US Postal Service.
Beans witnesses his father's (presumed) assassination via a bomb placed in his postal vehicle, then gets hired by the mysterious "Number Two" (played by Jerry Wasserman), an agent/second-in-command of The Network, a secret spy agency.
The main nemesis of The Network is the evil organization UGLI (the Underground Government Liberation Intergroup), headed by the equally evil Mr Sue (played by Kurtwood Smith) and comedian Taylor Negron as his second-in-command henchman.
Shortly after settling in his new hometown, Beans struck up a friendship with an all-around guy nicknamed "Woodshop" (Stuart Fratkin) and his love life began in earnest when he later met a beautiful student nicknamed "Cake Lace" (played by Karen Mistal). In one episode, former Miss Universe Shawn Weatherly played herself (the opening scene was Beans catching her in the shower naked and trying to escape from UGLI's chief henchman, who wanted to kidnap her as part of an unknown experiment).
The cast included: Rick Lenz as Beans' dad (Benjamin Sr.), former child star Elinor Donahue (Father Knows Best) as mom Susan, Canadian teen actor Scott Bremner as Scott (aka "Scooter", Beans' younger brother), and occasional guest appearances by Wendy O. Williams (lead singer of the NY-based punk-metal group the Plasmatics) as Beans' part-time friend/enemy in the spy world.
[edit] Episode list
- Beans' First Adventure (Part 1)
- Beans' First Adventure (Part 2)
- Beauty and the Beans
- Beans for President
- Beans and the Satanic Backwards Masking Conspiracy
- Beans' Wicked and Awesome Adventures
- Beans in Ski Heck
- No Place Like Omsk
- Beans Finds His Dad But... (Part 1)
- Beans Finds His Dad But... (Part 2)
- Beans' Unpleasant Introduction to Modern Science
- Beans Goes to Camp
- A Nightmare on Beans' Street
- Beans' Home Life Gets UGLI
- Beans' Under the Weather
- Beans Gets His Driver's License (And It Isn't Pretty)
- Beans in Jungleland
The series was filmed mostly in and around metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as seen in the "Driver's License" episode, where the CN Tower is in the background. The show's theme and soundtrack was performed by jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
