The Trouble with Larry

The Trouble with Larry is an American sitcom television series that aired from August 25, 1993 to September 8, 1993 on CBS. It starred Bronson Pinchot as Larry Burton, a man returning home to Syracuse after being presumed dead for many years. CBS gave the series an early start by premiering it in late August, three weeks after Pinchot's previous series, Perfect Strangers, finished its run on ABC. However, after poor reviews and three weeks of bad ratings, the series was canceled before the official TV season of which it was to be a part of had even begun.[1]

The Trouble with Larry
GenreSitcom
Created by
Starring
ComposerStephen Graziano
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6 (3 unaired) (list of episodes)
Production
Producers
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companies
DistributorWarner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original networkCBS
Original releaseAugust 25 (1993-08-25) –
September 8, 1993 (1993-09-08)

Premise

Larry returns home a decade after he was dragged off by baboons on his honeymoon. His wife, Sally, has now married another man and has a nine-year-old daughter. Larry falls in love with his former sister-in-law, Gabriella, who hates him.[2]

Cast

Episodes
No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1"The Homecoming"Joel ZwickAndrew Nicholls and Darrell VickersAugust 25, 1993 (1993-08-25)
Larry returns after being presumed dead for ten years and tries to resume his role as head of the family.
2"The Vigilantes"Robert BerlingerTom FinniganSeptember 1, 1993 (1993-09-01)
Lindsay's bike is stolen and Larry hits the streets trying to find the bike.
3"My Science Fair Lady"John FortenberryLisa RosenthalSeptember 8, 1993 (1993-09-08)
Larry is exposed when he tries to be a robot for Lindsay's science project, but his knowledge of the jungle helps expose the science fair winner as another fake.
4"The Angel of Death and Taxes"Linda DaySteve BillnitzerUNAIRED
5"Witless for the Prosecution"David TrainerArt EverettUNAIRED
6"Rhinestone Cowboy"Mark Linn-BakerJulie ThackerUNAIRED
Sally kisses Larry and thinks she's about to fall in love with him again.
7"Piñata Full of Bones"Robert BerlingerCharlie KaufmanUNAIRED

Reception

Reviews for The Trouble with Larry were generally unfavorable, occasionally bordering on hostile. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the show a grade of D+ and called the show "not just not-funny, but actively depressing".[3] Hal Boedeker, writing for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, opined that "the moronic sitcom was beyond bad, a disaster that raises doubts about the judgement of CBS executives."[4] David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun called the show juvenile, and wondered "How did this sitcom (using the word in its most expansive sense) ever make it on the CBS fall schedule?"[5] Frazier Moore of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote that "The Trouble with Larry is a sitcom so feeble yet brazen in its humormongering that it nearly takes the viewer's breath away." [6] The Orlando Sentinel's Greg Dawson praised the show's "first-rate" cast, but attacked the pilot's "dead-in-the-water writing" and "nonstop witlesscisms", and called the finished product "sophomoric dreck ... which tests the self-control of anyone with an IQ over 50 and a sledgehammer or handgun in the house."[7] David Hiltbrand of People, in a review that ran shortly after the show's cancellation, gave the series a C grade. Hiltbrand had mild praise for the "anarchic" pilot, characterizing the humor as "flip" and "batty", but wrote that subsequent episodes of The Trouble With Larry were mired in "dreary domesticity".[8]

The show ran three episodes before being cancelled following the September 8 broadcast. Eleven days later, another series co-created by Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers premiered: It Had to Be You, starring Faye Dunaway and Robert Urich. It lasted four episodes, giving Nicholls and Vickers the unusual distinction of overseeing two of the earliest-to-be-cancelled new shows of the same TV season.

References
  1. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 1231. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  2. IMDb. "The Trouble with Larry - Plot summary". IMDb. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
  3. Ken Tucker. "The Trouble with Larry Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  4. Boedeker, Hal, "Tall Hopes misses goal", Toronto Star, August 25, 1993, page C4.
  5. David Zurawick. "There's no cure for The Trouble with Larry". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  6. Moore, Frazier. "'Trouble With Larry' Sitcom So Ridiculous It Leaves You Breathless." Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 25, 1993, page D6.
  7. Greg Dawson. "Unfunny Larry Sinks Despite First-Rate Cast". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  8. David Hiltbrand. "Pick and Pans Review: The trouble with Larry". People. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
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