Bosom Buddies General Discussion

[Steve Arino]

Hello Everyone,

I'd like to start a General Discussion about one of my all-time favorite TV shows from the '80s: "Bosom Buddies," the critically acclaimed yet very short-lived early '80s sitcom that lasted 2 full seasons of 37 half-hour episodes.

Created by Chris Thompson, "Bosom Buddies" originally aired on the ABC Television Network from November 27, 1980 - March 25, 1982; the series starred Tom Hanks (futurely an A-list Movie Star appearing in such films as "Splash," "Punchline," "Philadelphia" and "Castaway" just to name a few Multiplex hits for Tom Hanks) and Peter Scolari (futurely of the '80s sitcom "Newhart") as, respectively, Kip Wilson and Henry Desmond, 2 best friends of nearly 20 years working as Advertising Agency execs in New York City who, at the start of the Pilot Episode, discovered that the apartment building in which they were roommates was Demolished, leaving them temporary homeless--at least until, that was, a colleague of theirs, Amy Cassidy (Wendie Jo Sperber), infatuated with Henry, suggested Kip and Henry move into her apartment building--the Susan B. Anthony Hotel, "A Residence for Women," eventually persuaded to live as women at the Hotel by the end of the series Pilot.

Other characters on the show included Sonny Lument (Donna Dixon, the future real-life Mrs. Dan Aykroyd), a Hotel Resident whom Kip immediately fell in love at first sight with (and eventually began dating); Lilly Sinclair (Lucille Benson), the original Hotel Manager in the first season (except for the Pilot, where the Manager was played by Edie Adams, best known as the real-life widow of Ernie Kovacs, who was killed at age 42 in a car accident in 1961); Ruth Dunbar (Holland Taylor, futurely of the hit 2000s sitcom "Two and a Half Men" opposite, respectively, Jon Cryer and Charlie Estevez as their mother), Kip and Henry's employer at the Agency where they worked; and Isabelle Hammond (Telma Hopkins, futurely of the hit '80s sitcom "Family Matters"), an aspiring actress, singer and model who became Hotel Manager in the 2nd season.

Throughout its first season, "Bosom Buddies" was telecast Thursday nights at 8 P.M. ET on ABC after the '70s Robin Williams sitcom "Mork & Mindy," but due to mediocre ratings, at the start of its 2nd season, the series was telecast Friday nights at 8 P.M. ET after the '70s sitcom "Benson," with disastrous results.

At the start of the 2nd season of "Bosom Buddies," Kip and Henry revealed their true identities to the girls at the Hotel; after the initial shock wore off, Sonny (by this time Kip's main squeeze) forgave him, while Isabelle, now the Hotel Manager, allowed Kip and Henry to continue living at the Hotel--this time openly as Men; though midway through the season "Bosom Buddies" moved back to Thursday nights at 8 P.M. after "Mork & Mindy," by then it was already too late to salvage the show, as ABC cancelled the series after 2 seasons.

In Summer 1984, reruns of select episodes were seen on NBC, after which reruns of "Bosom Buddies" moved to USA Cable Network, where the series' original theme song ("My Life," written by Billy Joel and Performed specifically for the series by Atlanta Studio Musician Gary Bennett) was replaced by "Shake Me Loose," written by Chris Thompson and Performed by R&B singer Stephanie Mills; likewise, Nickelodeon UK also aired reruns of "Bosom Buddies" from November 1, 1995 - February 4, 2001 as part of its Paramount Comedy Channel programming block until Paramount became a separate 24/7 UK Channel.

TV Land, in the USA, aired "Bosom Buddies" reruns from 1997 - 1998, after which TBS aired reruns in the early 2000s, and more recently, ME-TV.

Personally, I think it Stinks worse than Fecal Matter that for the CBS/Paramount DVD releases of both "Bosom Buddies" seasons, not only did they replace the original "My Life" theme with the aforementioned "Shake Me Loose," but the Studio also completely edited out Musical Numbers e.g. "Chances Are," "Yakkity Yak" and "Rock and Roll Heaven" to name 3 examples that would have made the episodes the songs were featured on otherwise complete, uncut, and unedited as originally aired on ABC; at least Paramount did somewhat better (before becoming CBS Television Distribution) in the VHS Tape market, as I have 2 episodes on VHS, specifically the series Pilot (the only episode of "Bosom Buddies" ever shot on Film) and the episode "Macho Man" (shot on Videotape), that were included on the official Paramount VHS Release of "Bosom Buddies: Volume One," and although "My Life" was replaced with "Shake Me Loose" as its opening theme song, both episodes on my VHS are otherwise, 100% Complete, Uncut AND Unedited as originally aired on ABC.

Besides the DVDs, I also have one episode taped off of WABC-TV in New York City by way of its original ABC Broadcast: the episode "Best Friends," featuring special guest star Adrian Zmed (futurely of the '80s Cop Show "T.J. Hooker") as a fictional rock star named Joey Midnight, a childhood friend of Kip Wilson.

"Bosom Buddies" was A Miller-Milkis-Boyett Production for Paramount Domestic Television and is Distributed by CBS Television Distribution.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Bosom Buddies was good. I remember its original network run (My Life" and all that).
Good stuff.
Thelma Hopkins also sang in the 70s hit group Tony Orlando and Dawn (somewhere I still have a 45 of their big hit "Knock Three Times". So she was a big deal. Little did anyone know what a big deal Tom Hanks would become.