The original series starred Ernest Borgnine fresh off his film career which included an Academy Award winning performance as MARTY. The real stars of the show were Tim Conway and Joe Flynn, two comics with perfect timing. The rest of the crew was basically just wall paper (wall paper does have it's place, Gavin MacLeod made a career out of playing wall paper in this program, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, and THE LOVE BOAT). The humor of the show required that Conway or Flynn or both be on screen to get a laugh. Like many TV shows of the time, two theatrical features were made (in color) and the second only with Conway and Flynn. A remake of the whole thing flops mainly because of the lack of comic timing (a mix of slapstick and vaudeville) that Conway and Flynn brought to the original. About the same time as this remake Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd attempted to remake another service related TV comedy SGT. BILKO. Martin and Ackroyd have timing and still flopped with the genre. So maybe the two shows could only be made at the time they were made with the people who made them. That makes them really special and why Nick at Nite and TV Land will have little competition from new Hollywood. Note: If you have any original ideas move to Hollywood, apparently there are no writers in Hollywood with original ideas. They can use you.
