''Stir Crazy'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

as part of its 1985 fall lineup. ''Stir Crazy'' was based on the 1980 film of the same name. The theme song was "

Stir It Up "Stir It Up" is a song composed by Bob Marley in 1967 and first recorded by the group Bob Marley and the Wailers that year and issued as a single. It was later covered by American singer Johnny Nash on his 1972 album ''I Can See Clearly Now''. ...

" by

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godmother of Soul". LaBelle began ...

Synopsis

It tells the story of two socially awkward friends, Harry Fletcher ( Larry Riley) and Skip Harrington (Joseph Guzaldo), who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 132 years in prison. While working on a

chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was nota ...

, they escape and set out after Crawford (Marc Silver), the man who had actually committed the crime for which they had been sentenced. Pursuing them is the aggressive, ruthless, and cold-hearted Captain Betty Phillips (Jeannie Wilson), a female

prison guard A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

. "Captain Betty" was an amalgam of "Warden Beatty", the prison guard character played by

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

in the feature film, whom the boys were on the run from (the movie character's name, in itself, being a spoof of

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...

Critical reception

While the movie upon which it was based had been a hit, the television version of ''Stir Crazy'' was anything but. None of the people involved in the film had a major role in this series. It was pulled from the CBS fall lineup in October 1985, the month after its premiere, and put on hiatus. It returned in a new time slot in December 1985 and a few more episodes were aired, also to low ratings. The program was permanently cancelled after the January 7, 1986 broadcast.

Pilot

The pilot for the TV series, which aired on September 18, 1985, had

Polly Holliday Polly Dean Holliday (born July 2, 1937) is an American retired actress who appeared on stage, television and in film. She is best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom ''Alice'', which she ...

in the role of Captain Betty and

Royce D. Applegate Royce Dwayne Applegate (December 25, 1939 – January 1, 2003) was an American actor and screenwriter who was first billed as Roy Applegate. Born in Midwest City, Oklahoma, his most visible role was that of Chief Petty Officer Manilow Crocker o ...

as Crawford. Both were promptly dismissed from the roles, ostensibly because of poor testing when CBS executives screened the pilot. The sixtyish Betty turned into the much younger and curvaceous version of the character played by Jeannie Wilson, while Marc Silver's Crawford was also younger and physically different from the version played by Applegate.

Episode list

Ratings

Note: The "Rating" is not the 18-49 demo but the total rating. Source:

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

References

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

External links

* * *{{cite web, url=http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Stir-Crazy/Stir-Crazy-General-Comments/700000584 , title=Stir Crazy in Jump the Shark , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506070808/http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Stir-Crazy/Stir-Crazy-General-Comments/700000584 , archive-date=May 6, 2008 1985 American television series debuts 1986 American television series endings American English-language television shows 1980s American sitcoms Television series by Sony Pictures Television Live action television shows based on films Television shows set in Texas CBS sitcoms