Shark Bytes

I loved the game, and thought the show would be great too. It had a lot of potential, but like someone said before me, the show had very little to do with the characters or concept of the game.

I loved this show.

I remember I once reached Avi Phillips (Ike Edison) via the web. He told me the lyrics to the opening theme.

Wouldn't you know - I forgot them!

This was a classic gem of Canadian comedy right up there with "SCTV" and "This Hour Has 25 Minutes". I saw an interview with Eugene Levy where he was asked if it was difficult to write for a comedy shown on the Pat Robertson Family Channel. He said that it was no problem. Like improv comedy, they were given a set of guidelines and restrictions for content and took it from there. If you saw the episode where the two gangsters are talking in a gay bar(!), you'll understand the genius of this show. Oh, and to a previous poster: Jane Siberry may have done a version of the theme song, but the credits specifically say: sung by Mary Margaret O'Hara. Has this show been issued on DVD?

No here is a unique show which was overlooked. As an SCTV fan I was naturally interested in seeing Joe Flaherty, John Hemphill and Mary-Charlotte Wilcox. Excellent and funny cast. The Themes song was actually sung by a Canadian Singer named Jane Sybery (if I have that spelled correctly). It was a good thing the show only lasted three seasons. It's good it went out when it did because the scripts weren't as strong near the end. Some of the best shows: "Turneraor Too" and their take on Silence of The Lambs: "Freddi Had A Little Lamb". The very pretty Kathleen Robertson actually did a fairly good Texas Impersonation of Jodie Foster. "The Case Of The Broken Record" is another good one. Check it out if you haven't seen it. Would be great to see all 66 episodes on DVD. I may post a petition.

Being a natural-born Canadian I wish that 'Maniac Mansion' had been a MUCH funnier show then it turned out to be, although I think Joe Flaherty can be pretty funny at times. However, I think most of the actors themselves were quite good- besides Flaherty, I think his wife was great, as well as Turner & Harry the Fly. Plus, I have a huge CRUSH on the teenage daughter (at least in the episodes where she was pretty) and the actress who plays Idella has one of the COOLEST voices I've ever heard on TV. In fact, the only member of the family I don't like is the son- I find him boring as hell as about as appealing as watching paint dry!

This was a great idea! Make a show based on the Maniac Mansion video games... But then they SCREWED IT UP and changed the ENTIRE cast of characters. If they had used the ones from the games- including the Tentacles (Purple Tentacle and Green Tentacle)- this would have been FUNNY. But Nooooo they had to just use the name "Maniac Mansion" and stick in their own lame characters and stories. If they had used the kids from the game- Bernard and company- they'd have had a better cast than what they ended up with. Maniac Mansion was doomed from day one because they simply didn't achieve their potential, and substituted their own characters in place of superiors ones. They also made it "family friendly" which is a dubious choice considering that in the original games, there were all sorts of off-color jokes, references to homicide, and a lot of gross-out moments. Could have been classic, and instead, it was simply lame.

Had the most beautiful theme song sung by Mary Margaret O Hara if I'm not mistaken!

The power-that-were at the Family Channel decided to put in a really distracting laugh track. The show was quirky, bizarre, and amusing in its own way and admittedly, probably appealed to a fairly small audience of oddballs (of which I was happily a part). The laugh track was probably added so that anyone with an IQ lower than 70 knew where to laugh.

It's odd but when they added a laugh track, it made me realize how UNfunny the jokes and situations really were. Even the ones the 'track' went into side-splitting guffaws over were, at best, not worth more than labored, feeble chuckles!