''It's Your Move'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series created by

Ron Leavitt Ronald Leavitt (November 7, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American television writer and producer. He was the co-creator (with Michael G. Moye) of the American television show '' Married... with Children''. The show's 259 episodes over ...

and Michael G. Moye, starring Jason Bateman,

Tricia Cast Patricia M. Cast (born November 16, 1966) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Nina Webster on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. Career Cast came to prominence on the television series ''The Bad Ne ...

, Caren Kaye,

Ernie Sabella Ernest Sabella (born September 19, 1949) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Pumbaa from ''The Lion King'' franchise, voicing the character in all media except the 2019 film. Sabella's TV roles include Mr. Dona ...

David Garrison David Earl Garrison (born June 30, 1952) is an American actor. His primary venue is live theatre, but he is best known as the character Steve Rhoades in the television series, '' Married... with Children''. He has also appeared in numerous theat ...

, and

Garrett Morris Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' ...

. The show originally aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from September 26,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

to February 23,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Premise

The show centered on Matthew Burton (Bateman), a teenage scam artist who lived in a Van Nuys,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, apartment with his older sister Julie (Cast) and widowed mother Eileen (Kaye). Matt ran various underhanded dealings with his high school friends, especially his sidekick Eli ( Adam Sadowsky), such as selling pre-written term papers and exam answer keys, and even engaging in blackmail. The status quo of Matthew's world changed forever in the series' pilot, when Norman Lamb (Garrison) moved into the apartment across the hall. A quick-witted but impoverished writer from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Norman struck up a friendship with Eileen and the two were soon dating. Dismayed that his mother had chosen someone he felt was beneath her, Matt attempted to sabotage their relationship, but soon finds Norman to be a cagey antagonist who regularly foils Matthew's plots.

Cast

* Jason Bateman as Matthew Burton * Caren Kaye as Eileen Burton *

as Julie Burton *

as Lou Donatelli *

as Norman Lamb

"The Dregs of Humanity" episode

A notable episode was a two-parter entitled "The Dregs of Humanity".Weinman, Jaime (3 July 2009)
Weekend Viewing: It's Your Move
''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'', Retrieved December 15, 2010 In the first half of the episode, Eli loses the school's money that had been trusted to Matt for hiring a band for a school dance. To cover the loss, Matthew crafts the rise and fall of a band (The Dregs of Humanity) and acts as their manager. The fictitious band, which actually consisted of four skeletons stolen from the biology lab (and controlled by strings with a smoke machine to cover them up), is a little too successful and Matthew soon finds himself agreeing to allow Norman an interview with the band for Music Press magazine, figuring that if the truth ever comes out, Norman will be humiliated. The interview only fuels the Dregs' popularity, and this sets up the cliffhanger: the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

calls and offers a $20,000 gig for the Dregs. While heretofore willing to let the Dregs retire, the money is too enticing and Matt agrees to the gig. The second installment of the two part episode was scheduled to air the following week, but was preempted by a speech by then-

President Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. In the second part of the episode, Matthew is scrambling to explain why The Dregs failed to show up to a sold-out concert. To make matters worse, Norman is starting to suspect that the band doesn't exist and Matthew gets sued. He finally has the brilliant idea to send the "band" to a watery grave by concocting a story that the "band" drove off a cliff into the ocean. In a later episode, it is revealed that the fake band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Series changes and cancellation

The series opened with some positive reception from critics,Holston, Noel (26 September 1984)
TV's junior con man proves oddly endearing
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'', Retrieved December 15, 2010Duffy, Mike (Knight-Ridder) (28 September 1984)
'It's Your Move' Shows Promise
''

The Beaver County Times ''The Beaver County Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Beaver, Pennsylvania, United States, and serving the north-western Pittsburgh suburbs. The ''Times'' is a direct descendant of many of Beaver County's newspapers, starting with the ' ...

'', Retrieved December 15, 2010 but its time slot competed with the popular show ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

'' on ABCJicha, Tom (26 September 1984)
NBC makes the wrong move with new sitcom
''

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the '' Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

'', Retrieved December 15, 2010 (noting that debut episode of the series had to go up against ''Dynasty'' and a miniseries installment) and the series was canceled in early 1985. In episode 14, "Caught in the Act," Matthew renounced his scheming after Eileen found out what he had been up to. For the last four episodes, the show's original premise was completely ignored; this may have been a result of letters that NBC received from parents of high school-aged boys. According to Bateman, the reason the show was cancelled was because NBC was receiving “letters from mothers across the country whose kids were getting into trouble at school by mimicking Matthew’s (Bateman) antics”.

Production notes

The show's creators and executive producers were Michael G. Moye and

, who just 3 years later would take the harder tone of the ''It's Your Move'' concept and put it in an entirely different context: Fox's '' Married... with Children'', in which Garrison starred for four seasons (the two shows also shared the same production company,

Embassy Communications ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company that originally began in 1974. History Beginning EL ...

Guest stars

Kristy Swanson Kristen Noel Swanson (born December 19, 1969) is an American actress. She is best recognized for having played Buffy Summers in the 1992 film ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and appeared in the 1996 film ''The Phantom''. Her first starring role wa ...

("Love Letters") *

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He ...

("Pilot") *

Justine Bateman Justine Tanya Bateman (born February 19, 1966) is an American writer, director and producer. Her former acting work includes ''Family Ties'', '' Satisfaction'', '' Men Behaving Badly'', ''The TV Set'', ''Desperate Housewives'', and '' Californ ...

("Pajama Party") * Alan Blumenfeld ("Dad and Me") *

Shawnee Smith Shawnee Rebecca Smith (born July 3, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her portrayal of Amanda Young in the ''Saw'' franchise (2004–2010), which established her as a " scream queen" and as an influential figure in popula ...

(“The Experts”) * Liz Sheridan (“A Woman is Just a Woman”) *

Nina Blackwood Nina Blackwood is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs (along with Mark Goodman, J. J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn). She has been an actress and model. Early life and career Bl ...

(“The Dregs of Humanity: Part 2”)

Episodes

Award nominations

Syndication

The show was rerun on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

to 1992.

References

External links

* *{{epguides, id=ItsYourMove 1984 American television series debuts 1985 American television series endings 1980s American teen sitcoms English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about families Television series about teenagers Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series created by Ron Leavitt