The Weird Al Show

Infobox Television
show_name = The Weird Al Show


caption = "The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series" DVD cover
format = Live action/animation
runtime = 23 minutes
creator = "Weird Al" Yankovic
starring = "Weird Al" Yankovic (Host)
Brian Haley
Gary LeRoi Gray
Judy Tenuta
Paula Jai Parker
Danielle Weeks
country = United States
network = CBS
first_aired = September 13, 1997
last_aired = December 6, 1997
num_episodes = 13
imdb_id = 0118513
tv_com_id = 917

"The Weird Al Show" is a short-lived television show starring "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions, it aired Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network from September to December 1997. The show was released on DVD on August 15, 2006.

Al's television set is called "Al TV", which shares the name of another Weird Al show.

CBS' interference

Major creative conflicts occurred between CBS, which considered the show an educational children's series, and Yankovic, whose humor style was more adult-oriented. The show was cancelled after one season, along with several other series in the CBS Saturday morning lineup.

CBS sent various notes to the writers of the show after reviewing the scripts, asking the writers to "Yankocize" (i.e. make funny) the commercial-break bumper announcements that the network wrote to reinforce each episode's lesson (or as Al put it, make them suck a little less), as well as remove any "imitatible behavior" from the scripts that children might want to mimic after seeing on TV. The writers were often surprised not at what the censors took out, but what they left in — for example, a sketch (written and submitted as a joke) in which Baby and Papa Boolie commit suicide after listening to one too many of Fred Huggins's songs was being seriously considered by the network for use on the show. (The sketch was later rewritten to have Papa Boolie call a mental hospital to take Fred away.) The unused script of the unedited Fred Huggins sequence is role-played in an audio commentary for an episode on the DVD.

Theme song

The theme song can be found on Yankovic's album "Running with Scissors" (1999) as "The Weird Al Show Theme". The song, which contains roughly as much text as the other songs on the album crammed into little over a minute, includes musical quotations from Jurriaan Andriessen's "Sciarada Spagnuola". It tells the story of how Al came to live in a cave and get a television show, including references to the fabricated life story in "The Compleat Al", such as having worked in a nasal decongestant factory. Also referenced is playing on the company bowling team, which may be a reference to "Generic Blues".

Cast

* Eddie Deezen as The Guy Boarded in the Wall
* Donavan Freberg as Baby Boolie
* Stan Freberg as Papa Boolie, J. B. Toppersmith
* Gary LeRoi Gray as Bobby the Inquisitive Boy
* Brian Haley as The Hooded Avenger
* Harvey the Wonder Hamster as himself
* Ed Marques as Varna the Squirmese Cook
* Paula Jai Parker as Val Brentwood, Gal Spy
* Patricia Place as Mrs. Fesenmeyer
* Jack Plotnick as Uncle Ralphie
* Judy Tenuta as Madame Judy the Psychic
* Danielle Weeks as Cousin Corky
* Mary Yankovic as Mom (herself)
* Nick Yankovic as Dad (himself)
* "Weird Al" Yankovic as himself, Fred Huggins, Tony Malone, Fatman, various other characters
* Billy West as the show's narrator/announcer, voice of Harvey the Wonder Hamster in "Fatman" shorts

Gedde Watanabe's character, Kuni, also appeared in Yankovic's film, "UHF". David Bowe, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, and Emo Philips also starred in the film.

Episodes

In the "Al Gets Robbed" episode, the Hooded Avenger walks over to Al delivering him his tabloid papers. The paper is called "Midnight Star", referring to the same-titled song about the tabloid off ""Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D". The main headline, "Incredible Frog Boy on the Loose", refers to a lyric in the song.

=Bite Me=

After the end credits of each case, a 3 second version of the Bite Me track can be heard. Bite Me originally appeared a hidden track on "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1992 album Off the Deep End, only it was six seconds long. The track appeared after 10 minutes of silence of the final track (You Don't Love Me Anymore). However, Bite Me wasn't included on the cassette version of the album (It was on the CD version only). The track was included to scare listeners who neglected to turn the CD off.

DVD release

Shout Factory, a company known for bringing cult series to DVD, released The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series [ [http://www.hometheaterinfo.com/the_weird_al_show.htm The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series] ] on August 15, 2006. It is a 3-DVD set of all 13 episodes of "The Weird Al Show", plus bonus features. [ [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5677 tvshowsondvd.com] ] The episodes are presented in broadcast order.

It was released in Canada on September 26, 2006, alongside the U.S. release of his new album, Straight Outta Lynwood.

Before the DVD set release, a compilation of the short music video segments for "Lousy Haircut", "Lasagna", and "Livin' in the Fridge" (as well as the show opening) was released on "" in 2003.

pecial features

* 13 commentaries with "Weird Al" as well as other cast and crew members.
* "The Evolution of 'Fatman'", a featurette comprised of original concept art - The "Fatman" cartoons were based on Weird Al's hit song, "Fat."
* Concept art gallery.
* Animated storyboards.
* Karaoke for the show's Theme Song.

References

External links

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* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Weird-Al/Weird-Al-General-Comments/2144&start=15 The Weird Al Show in Jump The Shark]