Cracking Up

This article is about the US sitcom. For The Jesus and Mary Chain song, see Cracking Up (song).

For the movie, see Cracking Up (film).

Cracking Up
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Mike White (scriptwriter)
Written by	Dana Baratta Mike White
Directed by	Jay Chandrasekhar Jim Ellis Michael Spiller Lev L. Spiro
Starring	Jason Schwartzman Jake Sandvig Molly Shannon Christopher McDonald Caitlin Wachs David Walton
Theme music composer	Jason Schwartzman
Composer(s)	Rob Cairns
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12 (6 unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brad Grey Peter Traugott Chris Weitz Paul Weitz Mike White
Producer(s)	James C. Hart Denis Biggs
Editor(s)	David Helfand Jan Northrop Mark Scheib
Cinematography	Joe Pennella
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television Brad Grey Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Original run	02011-03-09 March 9 – April 5, 2004 (2004-04-05)

Cracking Up is an American television sitcom created by School of Rock writer Mike White, who also served as the series' head writer. It aired on the Fox Network on Monday nights from March to May 2004. The title of the program and the name of the psychiatrist, Dr. Bollas, are comic allusions to Christopher Bollas, a psychoanalyst, and to his book Cracking UP (Routledge, 1996).^{[citation needed]}

Synopsis

In the pilot episode, a psychiatrist (Henry Gibson) who is sent to examine Tanner Shackleton (Bret Loehr), a child of a Beverly Hills family, only to discover that Tanner doesn't have any problems — his family does. After the pilot episode, the story was about Ben Baxter (Jason Schwartzman), a student who moves into the Shackletons' guest house, interacting with Tanner (Bret Loehr) and his crazy family.

Reception and cancellation

The show did not last out the season due to mixed reviews and mediocre ratings caused by a Monday night time slot. The Bernie Mac Show was moved from Sundays to Mondays along with reruns of That '70s Show in an attempt to boost ratings for Cracking Up, but ratings for both shows suffered, causing Fox to return the shows to their normal nights and cancel Cracking Up. The show was cancelled after six episodes, leaving six unaired.

Special guest stars

• Henry Gibson - Dr. Bollas (Episode 1, "Pilot")
• Zooey Deschanel - Heidi (Episode 2, "Birds Do It")
• Marne Patterson - Eve (Episode 2, "Birds Do It")
• Jack Black - Bruce Philapousis (Episode 3, "Scared Straight")
• Kyle Gass - Naked Man (Episode 4, "Panic House")
• John C. Reilly - Steve Evers (Episode 6, "Prom Night")
• Amy Sedaris - Marla (Episode 6, "Prom Night")
• Bret Loehr - Tanner Shackleton

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	Pilot	March 9, 2004
1-2	"Birds Do It"	March 10, 2004
1-3	"Scared Straight"	March 15, 2004
1-4	"Panic House"	March 22, 2004
1-5	"Grudge Match"	March 29, 2004
1-6	"Prom Night"	April 5, 2004
1-7	"Daddy's Home"	Never aired
1-8	"Learning Disability"	Never aired
1-9	"The Fixer"	Never aired
1-10	"The Pool Man"	Never aired
1-11	"The Bully"	Never aired
1-12	"Come Home Lassie"	Never aired

Main crew

• Paul Weitz .... executive producer (12 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Mike White .... executive producer (12 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Chris Weitz .... executive producer (9 episodes, 2004)
• Dana Baratta .... supervising producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Brad Grey .... executive producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Kim Hamberg .... associate producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• James C. Hart .... producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• David Hemingson .... co-executive producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Alan J. Higgins .... co-executive producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Phil Lord .... consulting producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Christopher Miller .... consulting producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Peter Traugott .... executive producer (2 episodes, 2004-2006)
• Denis Biggs .... producer (unknown episodes)
• Gregg Glickman .... associate producer (unknown episodes)
• Danielle Weinstock .... co-producer

External links

• Cracking Up at the Internet Movie Database
• Cracking Up at TV.com
• Cracking Up at epguides.com