The Ugily Family

Looks like the only way anybody saw this was through a preview screening. I did the same in 1982 or three of my friends. We definitely gave this a thumbs down. So if you're reading this feeling cheated, sorry about that.

It seemed simple, contrite and rather offensive to Italian Americans. It would be shunned today due to political incorrectness. I too was surprised to find it here as I was looking it up as a joke.

That's pretty much all there is to say about this television show that never aired. I didn't realize I was going to have to write a Novella in order to post my review.

So the rest is going to be lyrics from one of my favorite songs how many words does it take to come up at 600 words before you can actually post a review to a cheesy television show that never aired. It's amazing I don't see any other review remotely close to this in length but yet the app won't let me post it. Pretty sure I'm well over 600 words now but it still won't let me post it.

I actually took part in a preview screening of this show in 1982, and it was so bad I still remember it vividly! The premise was based on cultural mix-ups. In brief, Bradley Ugily (pronounced you-gee-lee) and his family have moved from New Jersey to Southern California and must deal with the hip culture there. Along for the ride is his overweight mother, played by none other than Doris Roberts, who would go on to co-star in Remington Steele.

The truly awful thing about this show was the writing, which was done to fulfill an East Coast person's preconceptions about what California is like. All the Californians were tanned, wore Aloha shirts, and had perpetual smiles like their facial muscles were frozen stiff. The Ugily's moved into a beach-front house (of course!), and their daughter was concerned about her performance in a new fad, "Disco Sand-Dancing"! The entire show basically rested on a one-joke premise: that California is a beachfront Babylon of suntans and easy living. In all likelihood the writer lived in New York City and took his cues from listening to a tape-loop of the Beach Boys.

When the time came for the audience to submit their ratings, I took great pleasure in giving this video horror an enthusiastic thumbs-down. Thankfully, it sank into oblivion, never to resurface.

Short Lived 1982 Sitcom Vehicle for Al Molinaro, between "Happy Days" and "Joanie Loves Chachi." This was basically an ABC mid-season replacement airing in the summer of 1982. Given its position between two wider-known sitcoms, it was a notable effort for Al Molinaro. Very few people have seen this program or seem to know of its availability today, but it would be interesting to have more information. I will be emailing Molinaro to let him know of this addition to IMDb and hopefully he will have some more information for us all. He has recently authored a book regarding growing up in Kenowsha, Wisconsin, and he has appeared in the last ten years in a music video for the band "Weezer." The title he performed in was known as "Buddy Holly." In "Happy Days," Molinaro replaced Pat Morita as the owner of Al's Drive Inn. He remained with that cast for at least four seasons, before trying his own sitcom with "The Ugily Family."

I was surprised to find this here——I was looking it up as a joke. I, too, saw it in a consumer preference event in Northern California in the early 80's and it was such a stinker that I thought it had been created as a short film for the purposes of "punking" the unsuspecting, innocent attendees of the event. I can't believe it was actually intended to be a series, as I can't imagine that the rest of the audience graded it any higher than my friend and I did. How on earth was it ever green-lighted? Everything about it was startlingly bad, with the writing taking dubious top honors. Shockingly awful TV, even for a "summer replacement" in the 1980's. At least each of us got $50 for allowing this crapola to be burned into our retinas.

This was an actual pilot that aired on network TV in 1980, not 1982, and apparently mine was among the unlucky families that happened to tune in that night. It came on at an odd time as I recall. We were on a family vacation and decided to watch it for whatever reason, and it has stood the test of time as the worst single 30 minutes of television I've ever sat through. I was only 11 years old and could see how painful it was. In fact I came across the IMDB entry while joking with a friend about the worst things we've ever seen.

Apparently I need more characters to complete this review. Well, my family are from California and in-laws are New Jersey Italians, so from that perspective I'll say that I don't think it was actually offensive to either as some are suggesting, unless you're the type who seeks out opportunities for taking offense, (which is the world's most cynical and misanthropic pastime btw). No, this wasn't offensive, it was just really, really stupid television!