''Inside Schwartz'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series created by Stephen Engel, that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from September 27, 2001, until January 3, 2002, starring

Breckin Meyer Breckin Erin Meyer (born May 7, 1974) is an American actor, musician, writer and producer, known for his roles in films such as ''Clueless'' (1995), ''Road Trip'' (2000), ''Rat Race'' (2001), and '' Garfield: The Movie'' (2004), he's also known f ...

as the title character. The show was produced by

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

and NBC Studios and first aired on

on Thursday Night at 8:30 EST.

Plot

After losing a long-time

girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

minor-league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

sportscaster Adam Schwartz's (Meyer)

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

life is illustrated by

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

highlights (as presented by

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

) 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

as Adam Schwartz *

Miriam Shor Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical), Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film), 2001 film adaptation of ...

as Julie Hermann *

Bryan Callen Bryan Callen (born January 26, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy seri ...

as David Cobert *

Jennifer Irwin Jennifer Irwin is a Canadian actress best known for her roles as Dolly Durkins on iZombie and as Laurie Neustadt in the comedy '' Superstore''. Irwin is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She worked with The Second City in th ...

as Emily Cobert *

Richard Kline Richard Kline (born April 29, 1944) is an American actor and television director. His roles include Larry Dallas on the sitcom ''Three's Company'', Richie in the later seasons of ''It's a Living'' and Jeff Beznick in '' Noah Knows Best''. Early ...

as Gene Schwartz * Dondré T. Whitfield as William Morris (episodes 2–4, 9) *

Maggie Lawson Margaret Cassidy Lawson (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Detective Juliet "Jules" O'Hara in the TV show ''Psych''. From 2018 to 2019, she held the recurring role of Nathalie Flynn on Fox's ''Lethal ...

as Eve Morris (episodes 7–8; recurring, previously)

Recurring

* Van Earl Wright as Himself *

Kevin Frazier Kevin Timothy Frazier (born May 20, 1964) is an American television host, widely known as co-host of ''Entertainment Tonight'' and the founder and owner of the urban entertainment website HipHollywood.com. Career Frazier was the first to host both ...

as Himself

Episodes

Cancellation

The series followed ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'', 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. The time slot was filled with a new series, ''

Leap of Faith A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview The phrase is commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard; however, he never used the term, as he ...

'', 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

Prominent television writer and producer

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ''Harmontown ...

cited the premier of ''Inside Schwartz'' as a watershed moment in the history of television and the end of an era for traditional network programming.

References

External links

* 2001 American television series debuts 2002 American television series endings 2000s American sitcoms English-language television shows Television series by Universal Television Television series by 20th Century Fox Television NBC original programming {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub