''On the Television'' is the cable network Nick at Nite’s first attempt at original late-night programming. The sketch comedy show, can be described as a satirical television critic show in the style of

Siskel and Ebert Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's dea ...

. The one line pitch was "a fake Siskel and Ebert reviewing fake TV shows." It starred Tim Conway Jr. and George McGrath as Dan Clark and Kevin Rush respectively. The show began as an

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special for Nick at Nite, which featured

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, ...

co-hosting with McGrath.

Overview

The shows were typically broad satires on people and other television shows as well as just being humorous and odd. Some of the shows that were reviewed were: *“The Richard Cabinetmaker Story” - Satire of the

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TV movie. *“The

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Only Show,” - A sitcom starring Harper in a lighthouse refusing visits from guest stars. *“A Recent Occurrence,” - satire of ''

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''. *“Carmela!” - an Italian variety show, which featured the original song “My Belly Button." The special received a “Cheers” in the

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“Cheers and Jeers” column, and 13 episodes were ordered. The host characters were changed to those played by Tim Conway Jr. and McGrath. The character McGrath played in the special (Nat Caulfield) became a regular talking to tourists outside Universal Studios about a variety of TV related topics. Each episode contained a variety of TV targets. Most included original music as well as sketch comedy. The series began airing in the fall of 1990, and ran twice a week, Fridays and Saturdays at 11PM ET. Forty episodes were produced through 1991. Both McGrath and Conway appeared in sketches as well as being the hosts. The rotating supporting cast was called “The Otherwise Unemployed Actors.” A number of actors and actresses made their television debuts on the series including

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, Kay Heberle,

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and

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. Some well known actors appeared regularly as guest stars like

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Glenn Shadix William Glenn Shadix (April 15, 1952 – September 7, 2010) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton's horror comedy film ''Beetlejuice'' and as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in ''The Nightmare ...

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, Brian Bonsall,

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, and Christopher Knight. When the series ended, the production company declared bankruptcy after having spent the residuals developing pilots that didn't fly. Nick-At-Nite's parent company, Viacom, became owner of the show, but had to pay those back residuals before it could air the series again. Supposedly this is why the series has never gone into syndication. Apparently the cost of paying the writers, actors, and others the residuals involved makes re-airing the series cost-prohibitive.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:On The Television 1990s American satirical television series 1990s American sketch comedy television series 1990 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings English-language television shows Nick at Nite original programming Television series about television