The Norm Show

This show was funny when it debuted, but it didn't really take off until the second season. In my opinion, ABC had something here that could have surpassed "The Drew Carey Show," but unfortunately the timing was all wrong. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" exploded onto the television scene (for reasons I still cannot understand) and all of a sudden ABC forgot about everything else. The network made it nearly impossible to watch Norm. TV Guide would list it on Friday at 9pm, so you'd tune in only to see Regis' evil, smiling face, mocking you. Sometime during the week ABC had decided to move Norm to 8pm and Millionaire to 9pm. Hey, you missed Norm, tough luck! So the next week you tune in at 8 pm but there's REGIS again! A special 90-minute Millionaire followed by Norm at 9:30. At least you get to see it. Next week - a two hour Millionaire and Norm is never heard from again. ABC rides Regis for all he's worth and now they're consistently beaten in the ratings because they have no proven quality shows. Cry me a river, ABC.

I have just watched the pilot, and I am positive that this show will be a hit. I am a big Norm Macdonald fan, and could not stop laughing during the pilot. This show is Norm at his best. If you liked "Dirty Work", or Norm on SNL, then give this show a chance. One of the funniest lines on the show is when he (Norm) is trying to convince a young call girl to stop turning tricks. After Laurie Metcalf told the girl that nothing is sadder than a seventy year-old prostitute, Norm replies "yeah, you don't want to have to take your teeth out 30-40 times a day". Long live Norm!!

"THE NORM SHOW," in my opinion, is an absolute ABC classic! I haven't seen every episode, but I still enjoyed it. It's hard to say which episode was my favorite. However, I think it was always funny when a mishap occurred. I always laughed at that. In addition, I really loved the theme song. Despite the fact that it was a short-lived series, it was nice that all of the main characters had stayed with the show throughout its entire run. It seems that no one stays with a show throughout its entire run. Everyone always gave a good performance, the production design was spectacular, the costumes were well-designed, and the writing was always very strong. In conclusion, I hope someone brings it back on the air for fans of the show to see.

Norm McDonald is hilarious, he can't act, but he's hilarious. Facial expressions, one liners, flopped lines, hilarious. I'm sure he could walk into a wake and have everybody in stitches within minutes.

The shows premise had Norm working against his will as a counciler, insulting his clients, co-workers and superior. The majority of the costars acted as straight men (or people) that help set up Norms one liners, and then he'd continue with the jokes. His boss was mostly the brunt of his jokes, but then again he should have been used to it. He was once a straight man for ALF (Yo Willy!!!!).

It was the one sitcom that I'd be anxious to watch, but it suddenly disappeared.

Continuity isn't really important in a sitcom if the stories are funny. Married With Children proved that even while re-using the same plots over and over. In less than 54 episodes we learn that Denby never had children, then had a son in high school, then had a grandson that was about 8 or 9. Adding a new character with a NY accent, having her drop the accent and then disappear in less than 6 episodes because she added nothing to the story was just as bad. So was having his dad in an early episode then in a later one pretend Norm hadn't seen him in decades. Not to mention the entire premise of the show is flawed because Norm played hockey and didn't pay taxes in Canada and then got sentenced to community service in New York. I won't mention that being given a cushy job isn't much of a sentence. I never questioned why they mentioned hockey teams like the Anaheim Ducks and the Oilers but called New York's team the Zephyrs. Yet somehow this is still one of the funniest shows ever.