Pre-Order Mr. Belvedere Season 4 DVD Now!

Let's not make Shout Factory regret buying the rights to this show by showing support for buying from them directly!  Why directly? It seems that the big retailers are no longer ordering for sale at their shops because of the decreased sales after the Season 1-2 Box Set. Where have you guys gone? You can pre-order the DVD HERE. It will be available on January 19, 2010.

Mr. Belvedere DVD Season FOUR! OH YES!

Bad news is, the DVD sets have been selling less and less per season, resulting in flagging interest from retailers to stock the new set. But the DVD will still be available at the Shout! Factory site beginning January 19, 2010.

Read about this bit of news at TV Shows on DVD here.

I gotta say I'm kinda disappointed that there isn't much support from fans for this DVD. Perhaps we're not as many as we thought we were. ha! ha! But if this is sold directly from Shout!, it will most likely mean a larger profit margin for them as they won't have to deal with retailer commissions. (Either that or they lower retail price.) That means the show may prove to be more profitable for Shout! in the long run, and it would allow them to continue producing the DVDs well into the 6th season.

An interesting tidbit in the news in the link is that bonus material in this DVD set includes commentaries from creator and cast. I'm not sure who the "creator" they got to do commentaries, but I'm betting it's Jeff Stein.

Mr. Belvedere Season 4 DVD will soon be made available at this particular page at Shout! Factory's site. Let's make this the most popular page on Shout's site when the time comes!

Whole Lotta Brice

After being unceremoniously pulled from You Tube, Brice's Drama 3/4 Production company's channel is back on the site. And they want your help!

Drama 3/4 Big Fat Demo Reel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EYy4ADKxEA

Drama 3/4 Big Fat Addendum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkhh8-x6vP0

My Mr. Belvedere Season 3 DVD is HERE!

I wasn't able to pre-order Mr. Belvedere Season 3 right away (sigh. economy), but I placed an order as soon as I could and now it's here! OH YEAH!

The first thing I did was listen to the audio commentary on "DUETS", the episode where George gets electrocuted in the bathtub and decides to be a lounge singer. Robert Goulet guests. I love this episode because of the part where Ilene Graff shows us for the first time (in this show) how awesome she is as a singer. There are plenty of really cool behind the scenes info shared on the audio track like how Ilene often runs into guests of the show in public and how some remember her, and some don't. There's some talk about the technicalities of the show, specially the difficulty of shooting "porch" scenes. Ilene talks about how thrilling it was to record with Robert Goulet, and Brice does an absolutely UNCANNY Robert Goulet. It was amazing.

I've been so busy at work that I managed to watch just that one episode so far, but I'm amazed at how much Brice remembers about the show. He even remembers minutia of set details, and how the Hufnagels never appeared on the show except the maid, which appears in one episode, then the actress appears again in another episode to marry Mr. Belvedere.

Speaking of Brice, some of my recent work involves Brice directly. I'm proud to say that his art will appear in a comic book for the first time in "Where Bold Stars Go To Die", which I am writing. Brice contributes a pinup for this comic book that's just absolutely gorgeous. The comic book is now at the press and I should be getting copies next week. More about this in a future post.

Tracy Wells for Patrick Lopez and Associates

I won't get my Mr. Belvedere Season 3 DVD until next month, but until then, here's a video I found featuring Tracy Wells, posted August 2009.

Release of Season 3 DVD Imminent!

The release of the Mr. Belvedere Season 3 DVD is only two days away! Whoo hoo! Have you ordered your copies yet? If you haven't, please reserve your copies at your local store, your favorite online store, or at Amazon!

Watch the Mr. Belvedere DVD Trailer here!

Ilene Graff at Magic Castle Anniversary

(Isn't that just an awesome photo of Ilene? Photo courtesy of Broadwayworld.com)

Ilene Graff To Appear In Celebration Of The 100th Anniversary Of The Magic Castle, Celebration To Take Place 9/14-15

Cabaret at the Castle (www.magiccastle.com) has chosen Grammy-nominated recording artist, television and Broadway star, Ilene Graff (www.ilenegraff.com), to appear in celebration of 100th anniversary of the structure known today as the Magic Castle. Accompanied by her Musical Director-husband Ben Lanzarone, Graff performs songs from Broadway, the movies and the pop world with completely unique interpretations and arrangements.

For the full article, click here.

Interview with Zach Baker (Updated)

Zach Baker played "Wayne" in the episode "The Outcasts", the 2nd episode of the first season of Mr. Belvedere. I managed to track Zach down and I'm very glad he agreed to be interviewed for this site.

Thanks very much to Zach for taking the time to offer his thoughts about his stint on the show, and update us with what's he's been up to all these years. Thanks Zach! Much appreciated!



According to IMDB, the role of Wayne is your one and only acting credit on TV/Film. Is this accurate?

I have two other minor appearances (the pilot of Otherworld and in a skit for Flip Wilson's People Are Funny) around the same time. But of course, Mr. Belvedere is the highlight of my acting career!

Have you done acting outside of TV/Film like on the stage? What led you to the role and why didn't you continue acting?

Well, my acting career actually started with a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times. I was in the second grade and very quick to strike up conversations, especially with adults. One day there was an ad looking for "outgoing children between the ages of 6 and 9" for a game show. I loved game shows, so when my parents took me to audition I was thrilled. The game show was Child's Play hosted by the legendary Bill Cullen. I ended up doing several appearances on the show, defining words for the grown-up contestants to guess.

As time went on, I saw how many of the (very bright) kids I was with at Child's Play and even some of my classmates at my elementary school (Carpenter Avenue in Studio City) were involved in acting. So I got interested in doing that as well, and my mom was very kind to take me around town to auditions. So that ended up being my after-school activity instead of piano lessons or karate practice. I wasn't as focused on it as most of the other kids in the business, and really wasn't a very good actor, but I enjoyed it. Later I attended a performing arts magnet school and played the lead role in our high school play, so I did improve my skills significantly and really enjoy acting, but I simply haven't pursued it professionally since then.

So although I actually auditioned for Wayne, was called back for another audition, I didn't get the part. However, the acting business is about what breaks you get as much as anything. As it happened, the other boy who was cast as Wayne was sick with the measles the week that "The Outcasts" was filming and I was hurriedly called in as a replacement. Which fits very well with the episode, come to think of it!

What was it like acting on the set of Mr. Belvedere?

I arrived at the ABC Studios in the middle of the day and walked onto the sound stage. There was the Mr. Belvedere set, the living room/dining room and kitchen set which faced the audience, Wesley's room off to one side, and way off to the side, the set for the nursing home in that episode and Mr. Belvedere's room. I remember it pretty well. I hadn't seen the show or the movie, but I was a big baseball fan and thought Bob Uecker was a pretty funny guy, so that's what I thought was the coolest part.

So I did table readings earlier in the week, then rehearsals and a run-through, each time with some changes to the script. I couldn't get the right delivery on a line in table readings and in the next draft, it was changed, then changed again. Like I said, I wasn't that great of an actor at the time, and didn't always get how to deliver a line the way it was intended. I just didn't "get it" a lot of the time, which is what happens when you're nine.

There actually isn't a lot of time for younger actors to hang around, since our working hours are limited by law and when we weren't working we had to do schoolwork supervised by an on-location tutor. We didn't see Brice, who had his own tutor, or other kids like we would have in school, so it's actually a pretty isolating experience. I worked on memorizing my lines, since the worst thing I could think of was to forget or mess up a line while they were taping.

So we had a full rehearsal on Thursday, where we were in costume and had props. During the party scene, we all had plates with a slice of cake on it. We were sternly warned not to eat or touch the cake. But you know, I was a pretty impulsive kid, so I kept thinking about it. Finally, when everyone's attention was elsewhere during the rehearsal, I had my chance. I swiped my finger over one tiny corner of the clear blue frosting and put it in my mouth. Do you know what is clear, blue, looks like frosting and doesn't melt under studio lighting? Gel toothpaste. Yeah. I just ate toothpaste. I'm probably lucky I didn't have the white frosting, which was probably spackle. That's right, the cake was a lie!

Well, before I knew it, it was Friday and we were shooting. Live audience, all the lights down, everyone's very serious. It was exhilarating and terrifying. Backstage after makeup and before the taping, I crossed paths with Bob Uecker. I didn't think it showed that I was nervous, but I was. He said hi, offered me some words of encouragement and a couple Tic Tacs. That really meant a lot to me, that the guy I most looked up to took just a little bit of time to encourage me when I needed it most.

I got through everything fine, didn't mess up my lines, and got a little rush when I heard the audience laugh at my lines. But just as quickly, it was over. The next week, I was back to school.



I think it's really interesting that you were once a 2-time Jeopardy champion. I'm sure it was a very exciting time for you. You seem like a really well read guy. Was this after Mr. Belvedere? Before? Or long after?

I've always had a memory for trivia and an interest in knowing a little about everything. Once I discovered the web in college, it only got more pronounced. I'm glad I found a way to make it pay off! I know it helped having experience in front of a studio audience, so I can definitely say that my bit part on Mr. Belvedere helped me win on Jeopardy!

You've been in the computer games industry since 1995. I assume you've always liked computer games (I do too!). What led to your playing them to actually working on them?

I always had things easy in school and made the mistake of picking a very demanding college. I wasn't up for the amount of work involved and my school was not very accommodating in that situation. So at 19 I got myself a job programming video games at Sega instead of finishing college.

What's the one computer game has been your favorite to play, and what is that one computer game that has been your favorite to work on?

I have to mention my current favorite game, which is Plants vs. Zombies, not only because I worked on a game project in college with its programmer, but because it's a fun and satisfying game. My favorite game to work on is definitely the one I'm currently working on at Blizzard!

What does a "Tools Programmer" for Blizzard Entertainment do?

Basically, I get to write software that helps empower the amazingly talented and creative folks on my team do the best work they can. So I don't work directly on improving the game as much as working on improving the process of developing the game.

What is LA Life?

After I was a part of the team that made the game True Crime: Streets of LA and its sequel, I wanted to run my own business with a friend of mine. Making original game console games as a startup, what I wanted to do, had basically become a really bad business to get into -- you could say the frontier had closed.

But it was about this time, late 2005, that web development, particularly in Ruby, a programming language I had picked up some years earlier, was exploding. I had, a year earlier, gone through an exhaustive analytical home search to find the best place to buy a home and commute to where I worked. The centerpiece of this search was a huge wall map where I had scribbled statistics about different neighborhoods and zip codes. So the idea I had was to make a website that provided this information, and that's LA Life. After I went to Paul Graham's seminar at Harvard, I left the game studio Luxoflux to work on creating LA Life full-time, which was a lot of fun. I loved being a full-time entrepreneur, but then there was a certain real estate and economic downturn, as I'm sure you're aware. So I went into consulting and worked for a while at a company called Applied Minds until I ended up at Blizzard, which is just awesome.



Finally, I just want to mention my incredible wife Jennifer and our two sons, Alexander and Daniel, all of whom I love very much. All other things considered, being married to Jen and raising our kids together is the highlight of my life.

Where Are They Now? #1

With the DVDs out, and more on the way, it's nice to see new interviews with the cast. Over the years and through a few magazines, we've been kept up to date with what's been going on with them since the show went off the air.

But what of the guest stars? A few of them continued acting, with one or two achieving huge success like James Cromwell, and other people went off and did other things in different fields.

I thought it would be nice to see, through a basic search online, what the guests stars of the show are up to now on an episode basis. Since the most recently revisited episode is "The Outcasts", let's start there.



Casey Ellison appeared in "The Outcasts" for the first time as Miles, who would eventually become Wesley's best friend. His other notable credit is "Allen Anderson" in the popular Punky Brewster, which was telecast at roughly the same time as Mr. Belvedere. Casey is a tough guy to find info on. Information is a bit sketchy, but based on IMDB, he has continued acting on and off, with his last acting credit being the thriller "Head Hunter" in 2002, and he has several crew credit as an electrician, most notably for "Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation" in 2004. His last crew credit was for set dresser for the short film "Horses in the Sky" in 2007.

According to Wikipedia, Casey now lives in Lafayette, Indiana and works as a research assistant at Purdue University, although I haven't been able to independently confirm that.



Zach Baker, who played Wayne, has only one acting credit in his IMDB page. However, I've since gotten some interesting updates on the whereabouts of Zach, so much so it deserves a whole post of its own. Coming soon!



Christina Nigra, who played Roda, continues to act and has a fair bit of credits in her IMDB page. Her most notable role to date is Lindsay Selkirk which she played for 80 episodes for 5 years in the series "Out of this World".

You can visit her official site here:
http://christinanigra.com/

There you can find new photographs of her like the one below.



Gokul, whose real name is apparently Datta V. Gokhale, played Mr. Rajnij.



According to IMDB, he has appeared in numerous notable shows and films like Hill Street Blues, Naked Gun, NYPD Blue, Profiler, and most recently he played a sherpa guide (photos below) in the pilot episode of Eli Stone in 2008.

A.S.S. With Brice Beckham

"Another Showcase Showdown" from Drama3/4

Mr. Belvedere Reunion Photo

This photo comes courtesy of Ilene Graff (watermarks mine). No info came with it, but I assume it was from the cast getting together to record commentaries for the Season 3 DVD.

Bob Uecker Article at the Superior Telegram

Uecker still speaks volumes

"Bob Uecker, at 74, is as entertaining, relevant and insightful now as he was when he was the only sane reason to invest in Brewers games. You remember those days, don't you? Consecutive losing seasons from 1993 to 2006."
By: By Andy Baggot, The Wisconsin State Journal, Superior Telegram

Read full article here.

DVD Commentaries!

Long time Mr. Belvedere fan McFly121 posted on the Sitcoms Online Message board that he spoke with Brice Beckham who says that they have recorded more than one audio commentary, which included Tracy Wells.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=247908

I say awesome!

Season 3 DVD Bonus Feature?

A little birdie told me that there's going to be a cast commentary on the Season 3 DVD. Oh yeah.

Revisiting Mr. Belvedere: The Outcasts

"You try to raise a kid, give him a sense of whatever, and the first real something comes along...you know what I mean?"

The Outcasts
Season 1, Episode 2
Original Air Date: March 22, 1985

Ever since I started the Mr. Belvedere website in 1998, I've always wanted to do more in depth analysis of each episode. I wanted to have my own copies so I could look at them more closely, and repeat if necessary. Now that the DVDs are here, I can much more easily do that.

These thoughts about the show come from someone who is a long time fan of the show, and is very much a love fest thing only. This article, and in fact, this entire blog is not for anyone who doesn't like the show. Please feel free to shower everyone with your opinion in your own respective blogs.

Wesley is pissed that his friend Howie didn't invite him to his party. Mr. Belvedere suggests that Wesley hold a party of his own and invite all the others who weren't invited. Halfway during Wesley's party, Howie calls and asks why Wesley isn't at his party. Faced with staying or going, Wesley leaves his own party but feels horribly guilty later on.

It's a simple enough episode on the outside, but upon reflection, it's actually a rather weighty one, with a deep and complicated moral issue.

It's a remarkable showcase for young Brice Beckham's acting talents. Under a lesser child actor this story would have fallen flat on its face for lack of credibility and humor. Brice's take on an indignant Wesley at the start of the episode was truly effective and realistic. Wesley is absolutely fuming when he enters the room. He slams his school stuff on the counter, sits on the table, ranting and finally kicking the chair before stalking to sulk some more in the living room.

Wesley is furious that he wasn't invited to his best friend Howie's party, who lives down the street. George chimes in about Howie's family, the Hufnagels, and how George and Marsha weren't invited to the Hufnagel's party sometime before.

Now, the Hufnagels would become a regular, albeit unseen "cast" on this show. Many episodes would feature stories that involve the Hufnagels, but we will never see any of them, except towards the end of the series. But that's for later.

Mr. Belvedere suggests that Wesley hold a party of his own with other children who weren't invited to Howie's party. George doesn't like the idea. It seems he has an automatic dislike for any suggestions that Mr. Belvedere offers. From their conversation, one gets the impression that a considerable time has passed since the pilot. George refers to "other" instances of Mr. Belvedere offering such suggestions and advice. He later comes around and pats Mr. Belvedere on the back when the party doesn't come off as bad as he expected.



Wesley would disagree with that because he's having a horrible time. Apparently, the kids are outcasts themselves. Miles wears an orthodontic headgear, Wayne is kind of weird nerd who is allergic to most food groups, and Roda is kind of an evil psychopath who would cause accidents just to get what she wants. Even Miles and Wayne are afraid of her. Wesley clearly doesn't want anything to do with them and would rather be somewhere else. Namely Howie's party.

Howie calls and asks Wesley why he isn't at the party. He says being his close pal, Wesley never needed an invitation. Wesley gleefully shares the news with the rest of the family and the guests. For a short moment, Wesley is conflicted about what he's going to do. Should he stay or should he go?

Remarkably, George and Marsha allow Wesley to decide for himself. How old is Wesley at this point? 8 or 9? Not being a parent myself, I have no idea what to do in a situation like this. As a parent, do I tell Wesley the right thing to do (which is to stay), or do I let him decide? I'm not sure if 8 is an old enough age for a child to decide for himself. That's what parents are for, isn't it? To teach their children what is right and what is wrong? Because where else are they going to learn it? If Wesley has never faced a situation like this before, where would he base his decision on?

In any case, the parents decided to let Wesley decide. And in a momentarily hysterical moment, Wesley jumps ship and hops on to Howie's party, much to the shock of everyone present. The other kids seem disappointed. They, it seems, know it was the wrong thing to do.

Even when Wesley comes back, he expects to be punished. But George and Marsha stick to their guns and do nothing, and allow Wesley to go about his business like nothing happened.

It was either the most stupid thing they could have done, or the smartest. But as to how this particular story turned out, it was the latter. It was a pretty brave thing for a parent to do. It was a gamble and if their gamble worked, their child would learn one of the most valuable lessons in his life. I'm not sure if it would work for every child, but it worked for Wesley.

Wesley starts to feel crushingly guilty for what he's done. He's taken to punishing himself by getting good grades, cleaning his room, eating brussel sprouts, things a kid like Wesley would normally be caught dead doing.

So why does Wesley feel guilty? How does he know if what he did was wrong if his parents said/did nothing?

It tackles a very interesting issue of Morality. Is morality instinctive, or is it learned? Does a child, taught to steal and lie and hurt and taught it was the right thing, would he grow up believing the same? Or does some instinct click in the brain and tell him it's not?



MILES

This episode is the first appearance of Casey Ellison as Miles Knobnoster (whose surname the show will reveal later on). Miles would eventually return to become Wesley's best friend, but not before Casey appears again in another role as Ben, the sick kid, in the second season episode "The Prize".

Miles appears as a kid who wears an orthodontic headgear, which makes him the object of ridicule. Even adult George privately makes fun of him.

FACT CHECKING MR. BELVEDERE

When George makes fun of Miles by telling Mr. Belvedere "Got one out there that looks like an erector set!", Mr. Belvedere pompously informs George of a historical leader who rose above his shortcomings to succeed.

"I'm reminded of Prince Eugene of Savoy, stunted and sickly, pallid and hunchbacked, he rose above those who ridiculed his appearance, by driving the invading Turks back into the Straits of Bosphorus."

It's a nice story, but hardly accurate. Although Prince Eugene was never tall, he was not stunted, pallid or hunchbacked. And although he was not really a handsome man (based on his portraits), he never seemed to be ridiculed for it.

An interesting triva: Prince Eugene commissioned a structure that still stands today in Vienna, and is now a museum. It's name? "Belvedere Palace".

Now we all know that Mr. Belvedere knows everything and he's hardly ever wrong (at least that's the position I will be making in this blog), there has to be an explanation for this seeming error.

It's not an error. Mr. Belvedere simply flubbed the facts a bit to impress upon George a lesson by providing an example of how ridiculed people sometimes can compensate for their shortcomings in a spectacular way.

The antagonism between Mr. Belvedere and George is quite a fiery one in this episode which required Marsha stepping in between them to stop them fighting. It's a curious dynamic which would be explored in further episodes.

If I can hazard a guess, George feels threatened by the presence of Mr. Belvedere, considering his experience. He's another man of the house, who seems to have a better grasp of his children's problems than he does. Mr. Belvedere's superior demeanor further infuriates George, and he takes every opportunity to poke a needle into Mr. Belvedere's high faluting notions.



HEATHER and KEVIN

Both Heather and Kevin are minor players in this episode although we learn one thing about Heather that would remain consistent with her character until the end of the series. We can forgive Heather for her self-centeredness considering her age. And among the entire family, she seems to be the most socially conscious. We see the first hint of that characteristic in this episode.

Here we learn that she is a member of "The Iron Maidens", a Community Service Club. Their current activity is to visit retirement homes to read books to old people. Later in the series, we will learn that this is more than just an club thing for Heather, but a distinct characteristic of who she is as a person.

Wesley gets the funniest lines. When he found out Heather was reading books to old people, he retorts, "You better read fast!"

Kevin remains consistent as a bumbling teenager who manages to injure himself and spends half the episode in a cast.

It's great that the show does a pretty good job of keeping the characters consistent. It allowed the characters to remain grounded and more believable to an audience.

The show wasn't afraid to be politically incorrect. And I like that. I can almost hear George saying, "We don't go in for that kind of stuff here!" Political incorrectness make for the most hilarious of lines.



Curiosities

"This ends my first month with the Owens brood." Writes Mr. Belvedere at the end of the episode. If this is truly the 2nd episode, then a month has passed between the pilot and this story. However, I get the impression that this is not the second episode despite the fact that it was the 2nd one aired. In the third episode (which we will revisit next), Mr. Belvedere says he's been with the Owenses "a few days".

I think this episode was shot much later than many Season 1 episodes. Brice Beckham seems more at ease with his acting (perhaps that's why he's so good here), and he looks slightly older than he does in the pilot.



Heather is seen carrying a book which he later shows to Mr. Belvedere. It's "Born To Run, The Bruce Springsteen Story". It's a real, actual book. I know because I have the exact same edition that Heather carries. Being a Bruce Springsteen fan, I was thrilled to see it. Written by Dave Marsh, it's not a trashy biography, but a really serious, well researched look into the life and work of one of the greatest musicians in the history of music.

"The Outcasts" is written by Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein. Directed by Tony Sheehan.

Casey Ellison as Miles
Zach Baker as Wayne
Christina Nigra as Roda
Gokul as Mr. Rajnij
Doroty Neuman as Old Woman

Next Episode: Gotta Dance
Previous Episode: Strangers In the Night