The Nutt House

As a young kid in Australia I remember in late 1989 a local TV station advertising this as an upcoming show for 1990 and it looked really promising. Lots of funny wild and wacky gags helmed by none other than Mel Brooks! How could it miss?

Alas, the show was already probably axed by the time that ad aired and I'm not sure it even got broadcast here. I certainly never got around to seeing any of it.

Being a fan of Brooks' work, I've always been curious about how good (or bad) this show actually was. Thanks to YouTube, several episodes of its short run became available and I watched the pilot.

Overall, it was a bit better than expected. Like a lot of Brooks' later work, there was a lot of corny and hacky gags that look especially tired in the present-day setting of the show. And the laugh track (which co-creators Brooks & Spencer apparently didn't want) is an irritant.

But there were a decent amount of clever and genuinely amusing moments. Even when the gags didn't work, I admired the amount and range of gags on display; if nothing else you can't say they were going through the motions making this.

As well we get to see Brooks regular Cloris Leachman display her talent and versatility in dual roles.

While not an overlooked gem, 'The Nutt House' pilot had enough entertainment in it to think it could've worked as a series.

First off one of the reviewers suggest that the Nutt House was on ABC it wasn't it was on NBC after Night Court.I would also like to add had it been a sitcom with 3 cameras the jokes/premise of the plots would have worked better.IMy father Harvey Korman who was a exceptional comedian/actor on Burnett worked better with the immediacy of having the audience react naturally.When you do a 1 camera sitcom like say Sledge Hammer another Alan Spencer production the actors are forced to have to take a beat venture a guess how long a laugh would normally take had there been a audience there. Site gags and physical comedy only works when there is a immediate response from the audience.The only thing I can say about my fathers deft comedic talents and Cloris's was they range every laugh they could out of those scripts because they had a inate ability to know how long to wait for a laugh to desolve in their heads because speaking.Again this show would have been more successfull had it been done infront of a studio audience.

I want to find out whether the complete 1989 TV series 'The Nutt House' is likely to be released on DVD. If anyone out there knows of any way to get this actioned PLEASE email me (or just go ahead and do it). This was one of the funniest and most under-rated TV series in the whole of the last 20 years. That good! We need to nag whoever to get this DVD. The highly-sexed, crazy housekeeper, Mrs Frick (played so perfectly by the delightful Beverly Leech) who took every opportunity to entice men into her private room. Then there was the untrustworthy hotel lift that, without warning, would stop short of the floor causing everyone to have to jump, or squeeze themselves, out of it to safety...solid gold stuff. The series featured a New York hotel which had fallen on hard times. It was run by the Nutt family and involved short sitcom style programmes about the day to day lives of the staff and (rare) guests in the Nutt House world. The opening credits came up as the viewer was taken on a rickety old wooden roller-coaster ride. For some unknown reason the series was not fully aired to its end. The series was (allegedly) not as well received in the US as it was by the crazy British audience who adored it and were distraught when it ended so abruptly. Many Brits have sought to get the series made available on DVD. As more and more old classic films and series are being released on DVDE nowadays, the huge fan club of The Nutt House sit and wait in trepidation in the hope that this will be included.

This hilarious comedy series, which lasted only 6 episodes, is great fun. Mel Brooks' best work since HIGH ANXIETY back in 1977. Slapstick, puns and sight-gags galore, this makes the best use of its good cast (Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Mark Blankfield, Brian MacNamara) and has great art direction (its lavish Nutt hotel). This is really hard to find, but is worth it for comedy and Mel Brooks fans.

I think this ran for 6 or 7 episodes, and I laughed through all of them. As good as Cloris Leachman is as the head of housekeeping she is even better as old Mrs. Nutt. The character is kind of similar to Tim Conway's old man routine from Carol Burnett, but that routine never made me laugh, the Cloris version cracked me up. I vaguely remember her jumping her support hose. Whenever I see Gregory Itzen as President Logan on 24 I remember him as the Dennis the player bell hop, and smile. Harvey Korman is good as well. I'd love to see the 3 or 4 episodes that did not air in the U.S. (the U.K. aired all of them), and I wish this was available on DVD.