I couldn't find anything relating to this 1979 mid season replacement series, no youtube link or even a still photo so I used all my photoshop might to give you an idea of what it kind of looked like, so voila!
Turnabout starred Schuck and Sharon Gless as a husband and wife who accidently switch bodies thanks to a statue or gypsy curse, I forget. He's a big ol' sloppy sportswriter who subscribes to Oscar Madison monthly and she's a dainty housewife, oh the hilarity of seeing their lives face when they do the freaky friday.
I actually did watch this show every week but it started to grind for two reasons:
a) All the humour seemed to be based on that "let's not get caught" concept, like when Sharon Gless starts puffing on a cigar in front of a girlfriend or that she knows a lot about sports.
b) The fact that it skirted the bigger (and more hilarious) issue of a gender swap. If I woke up with a vagina tomorrow, it would likely be something I would mention on a regular basis until I no longer had it. Not so with Turnabout and that's likely the fail aspect of this series.
Turnabout disappeared after only 7 episodes but the concept lived on and was made into about 385 different movies during 1987-1989.
The 1940 film version of the same novel, is superior to this series and just about as risque.
I have one more "Schuck-com" in the bag for this week and yep, it's another fantasy based show.
2 comments:
Ah crap, now I guess I have to scrap my John Schuck Week for the Aquaman Shrine.
I was going to talk about MASH, Star Trek IV, The new Munsters, everything! DAMMIT BRIAN!
Turnabout had the female character being an executive in a beauty product company so not quite a housewife. (though she probably took care of the house as well.) He was a sports writer. They did touch upon having sex as each other and that time of the month not arriving on time, but yes it was an era before you could mention private parts by name. there is a novel in the 1930's before both the tv series and movie you can buy used or read online if you search for it.
Maybe they should try it again since they can now use all the 'good' words they were not allowed to use in the prior century!
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