Dana Carvey Thinks Not Going To HBO Sealed The Fate Of His Show
To this day, "The Dana Carvey Show" remains one of prime-time television's most curious failures. After a successful run on "Saturday Night Live" and several box office hits, Carvey made his return to television in 1996 with an offbeat and sometimes bizarre sketch comedy show. "The Dana Carvey Show" featured one of the country's hottest entertainers collaborating with a group of ridiculously talented young comedic minds. Dana Carvey's cast included Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jon Glaser, and Charlie Kaufman.
Despite the show's uniqueness and talent, a series of events unfolded that spelled early doom for the show. "The Dana Carvey Show" first aired in March of 1996 as an ABC mid-season replacement. By the end of April, the show's seventh and final episode would air, leaving an eighth episode unaired. Today the series is revered as a cult classic and the topic of the Hulu documentary "Too Funny to Fail."
What exactly happened with "The Dana Carvey Show"? According to Carvey, it was a mistake in selecting the show's home that doomed them from the very beginning.
Carvey was the lone vote for HBO
Dana Carvey was an unknown comedian when he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1986. It didn't take long for audiences to get familiar with his name. Memorable impersonations of President George Bush Sr. and Johnny Carson as well as characters like Church Lady and Hans from Hans and Franz made Carvey one of the show's most popular acts.
He parlayed his "SNL" popularity into a string of movies including two wildly successful "Wayne's World" films. After a few bad experiences with movie directors, Carvey was ready to return to television and his roots in sketch comedy. He and producing partner Robert Smigel, who had previously worked with Carvey at "SNL," came up with the variety show concept and assembled a bright young group of writers and performers.
They had their pick of homes for the new show. CBS made a big proposal, and ABC offered a favorable time slot. But given the edgy nature of the show, Carvey lobbied for cable, specifically HBO. In 2011, the actor told GQ:
"After soul searching, I had really wanted to do it on cable, HBO. But Robert [Smigel] and other people really believed I was an island on that. Robert sincerely believed variety should be on primetime at that point ... I really ended up being the only one who sort of thought that we should do it on cable. Once we made that choice, our fate was sealed in not being a long-running show.
At the time ABC had several of the top programs in primetime, including the top-rated "Home Improvement" as a lead into Carvey's show. A great cast and talented writing staff for a show debuting on a hot network with a popular established lead-in — where did it all go wrong?
ABC went family-friendly
Carvey's concerns about the material being too edgy for primetime network television were compounded when Disney purchased ABC just before "The Dana Carvey Show" launched. The network's new focus was on family-friendly programming. Before his show ever aired, Carvey was being promoted in silly ads alongside the Muppets. The message contrasted heavily with the more mature theme of the show.
Despite all the warning signs, Carvey and Smigel defiantly maintained the show's original spirit, no matter how suggestive it might have been. For the debut episode, "Home Improvement" audiences were greeted with a sketch involving President Bill Clinton breast-feeding puppies.
Carvey described the show's humor as "postmodern" and it was certainly designed for late-night or cable audiences. Sketches like "Stupid Pranksters," where Carvey and Carell do random everyday acts and then run away while laughing uncontrollably, were hilarious, albeit an acquired taste. Regardless of whether or not audiences found it funny, it was clear the show wasn't for the Disney crowd.
Everything about "The Dana Carvey Show" felt meta and way ahead of its time. All but one of the episodes included a sponsor in the show's name, a tribute to variety shows from the past. The short-lived series debuted as "The Taco Bell Dana Carvey Show." To the surprise of no one, at the end of the season, ABC decided not to renew the show.
"I think it's one of the most abstract variety shows to ever have been on primetime television," Carvey said of the show's legacy. "[We] were working on ideas that were so f***ing funny. It's very rare."