Garry Marshall is a big, BIG name in comedy. He was responsible for a lot of shows that people found very funny throughout their runs. Notably, "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley," were both number one rated shows in the 1970s and his fingerprints were all over those. But everybody has to start somewhere, and this program was Garry's very first TV sitcom.
Fish Out of Water. It's such an obvious place to begin if you want to do comedy. And there's nothing like New York City for a fish to be flopping around in, for some easy laughs.
In this case, Will Hutchins is the fish, a guy named Woody from a dot on the map in Ohio, who finds out his Uncle bequeathed him a Brownstone in Lower Manhattan. So, he pulls up stakes and comes to town to check out his new property.
Of course the building is populated with the quirkiest characters on the block, all of whom have issues with stuff breaking in their apartments. Woody has some fix-it skills, so this first time landlord becomes the live-in superintendent for the building.
Sandy Baron plays Chuck, a stand-up comic who shared his apartment with Woody, which is why he was around during the day, available to help Woody out with some of the patchwork. Michael Constantine played a fastidious and temperamental photographer who both lived and worked at home and served as a kind of mentor for Woody... a precursor for his role as Principal in "Room 222."
And there are a couple of love interests for Woody and Chuck living under that roof, with Pamela Rodgers, who eventually served as a body paint bikini dancer on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and her roommate played by Miko Mayama, who shouted the program's title at Woody whenever she needed help.
Also notable was that Woody had a kid sister back in the hometown, who came to visit for several episodes, a role taken by a young, unknown actress named Sally Field.
New York played a part because Garry Marshall was a quintessential city resident, who grew up here and knew the ins and outs and observed the humorous elements of life as presented by his friends, neighbors, parents and just random strangers all around.
The style, the humor, the elements that Marshall eventually would include in all his work, was already in place here. The jokes, when they landed, were legitimately funny, the comedy actually came from the situation and it doesn't seem nearly as contrived as a lot of other shows of the day. Plus the theme song may have been too cool for the show, written and performed by Quincy Jones.
On the down side, there were some stereotypical cheap bits as a part of some episodes, which is why this series isn't seen much (Marshall didn't write everything here). And there was a question of just how much control Marshall had, this being his first series. Still, when it came to character driven comedy, without any special effects or gimmicks, this definitely wasn't the worst.
