''Fernwood 2 Night'' (or ''Fernwood Tonight'') is a

comedic Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ...

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

that was broadcast weeknights from July 1977 to September 1977. It was created by

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

and produced by

Alan Thicke Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947December 13, 2016) was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was b ...

as a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

/summer replacement for '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman''. It was a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

hosted by Barth Gimble ( Martin Mull) and sidekick/announcer Jerry Hubbard (

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wa ...

), complete with a stage band, "Happy Kyne and the Mirth Makers", with

Frank De Vol Frank Denny De Vol (September 20, 1911 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor, and using the name De Vol was an arranger and composer. As a composer he was nominated for four Academy Awards. Early life and career De Vol was born in Mounds ...

as the dour bandleader and Tommy Tedesco as a guitarist. ''Fernwood 2 Night'' was satirical in tone and set in the fictional small town of Fernwood, Ohio, like ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', in which Barth Gimble was a recurring supporting character. The show parodied actual late-night talk shows and the sort of fare one might expect from locally produced small-town midwestern American television programming. After one summer season of ''Fernwood 2 Night'', the producers revamped the show in 1978 as ''

America 2-Night ''America 2-Night'' is the continuation of the talk-show parody series ''Fernwood 2 Night'', broadcast weeknights from April to July 1978. As on ''Fernwood'', Martin Mull portrayed host Barth Gimble and Fred Willard appeared as sidekick/announcer ...

''. In this second version, the show relocated to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

(specifically, the fictional city of "Alta Coma") and was broadcast nationally on the fictional UBS Network. The change to a Southern California setting made it more plausible for real-life celebrities to appear on the program as themselves. In 2001, Mull and Willard reprised their roles in a stage appearance and retrospective at the US Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...

. The pair also worked together in other projects, appearing together in the final seasons of ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Rosea ...

'' as a gay couple. Reruns of ''Fernwood/America 2-Night'' were broadcast on

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. ET/ PT, Friday nights fr ...

from 1990 to 1993 and

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

in 2002 as part of their "TV Land Kitschen" block, also hosted by Mull and Willard.

Recurring characters

*Merle Jeeter (

Dabney Coleman Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. Coleman's best known films include ''9 to 5'' (1980), '' On Golden Pond'' (1981), ''Tootsie'' (1982), '' WarGames'' (1983), '' Cloak & Dagger'' (1984), ''The Beverly Hillbillies ...

), Fernwood's somewhat shifty, self-promoting mayor. *William W.D. 'Bud' Prize ( Kenneth Mars), Fernwood's "Ambassador at Large" from the Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor's supposed energy expert. Prize invariably arrived wearing his elaborate "chinodontic" headgear which was designed to correct his underbite. *Tony Rolletti ( Bill Kirchenbauer), an enthusiastic, if only marginally talented, lounge singer. *Susan Cloud (Susan Elliot), the spaced-out owner of the Butterfly Deli, a local health food restaurant. *Virgil Simms (

Jim Varney James Albert Varney Jr. (June 15, 1949 – February 10, 2000) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his broadly comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as appearing in films and n ...

), the local mechanic who offered automotive advice. *Garth Gimble Sr. ( Robert Williams), Barth's father, who was also the cheerfully incompetent studio security guard. Almost always seen with his lethargic dog Louie. *Lou Moffat (Lou Felder), a "consumer affairs expert" who always ended up plugging products distributed by Gimbleco Enterprises. *Debbie Dunbar (Kathy McCullen), Fernwood's controversial "Spanking Girl." *Lillian Dunbar (Bobbie Tremain), Debbie's outraged mother. *Dr. Richard Osgood/Van Moot ( Craig Richard Nelson) Physician and research scientist who discovered that leisure suits cause cancer.

References

External links

* {{Norman Lear 1977 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings 1970s American satirical television series 1970s American sitcoms First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Sony Pictures Television American television spin-offs Television shows set in Ohio Television series created by Norman Lear

Recurring characters

See also

References

External links