What's Up Doc

ABC-TV tried turning the hit 1972 comedy "What's Up, Doc?" into a 30-minute TV sitcom, but only the pilot was ever shown (or, in fact, filmed). If I recall, it was aired on a Friday or Saturday night at 8pm. It featured none of the star-power which infused the movie, however Barry Van Dyke acquitted himself admirably in Ryan O'Neal's role of Howard Bannister. The action begins with Howard and Judy in the airplane above Iowa, pretty much where the movie left off, but instead of bringing Eunice Burns back, it turns out Howard has yet another old-flame to complicate matters for new-flame Judy. Great pains were taken to match the costumes and character attributes to the movie version, but the script was lacking. It was filmed on interesting locations (or maybe a studio backlot) with a laugh-track, but apparently no one had any faith in this forgotten attempt at TV screwball--and the negative must now be a dusty relic somewhere in a bin in Hollywood. Too bad for Barry, he gave it a honorable try...

I recall this series well as I was living in Ames, Iowa, at the time. I looked forward to its release because of the Ames connection, but was disappointed. For one thing, as I recall, the location was change to Los Angeles. In addition, although all the expected characters from the movie appeared, their personalities were changed in such a way that the only real connection I made to the movie (which I enjoyed) was the title.

For example, Eunice Burns suddenly became a sexy woman more than willing to please her man. Judy became someone who worried about Eunice, and Howard was caught in the middle.

This series may have interested me had there been no connection to the movie, but I was interested in seeing a continuation of the movie at the time.