by G. Jack Urso
The Hot Hero Sandwich sign from the show in its
current undisclosed location, looking as good as it did in 1979 (image courtesy Sherry Coben). |
The following is
part three of an interview with Sherry Coben and Patrick McMahon, writer and film
editor, respectively, of the TV show Hot
Hero Sandwich (1979-1980) with Aeolus 13 Umbra. Here they discuss commercial,
demographics, musical revelations, and final thoughts.
__________________________________________
Ae13U: The Mar. 29, 1980, TV Guide article
features an interview with a teenager who noted, “Sometimes you'd wonder who
this thing was for. It would seem too dumb to a teen-ager, but a really young
kid wouldn't understand it.” What are your thoughts on this observation? Were
the Harts trying to cover too much?
Sherry Coben: I thought we could have
(or should have) targeted a narrower range, but that was not the concept of the
show. It seemed to me that it was for tweens, kids too young for high school
and too old for little kid programming. I was writing for that age, knowing
that other groups would find something in it for them as well. Middle
schoolers, kids in the thick of puberty, always seemed like a group that never
quite got targeted. That’s who I was writing for. Some of the older writers
didn’t know any kids and hadn’t been kids for a long time, and their Sesame Street roots occasionally showed.
Our scattershot focus showed, and it might have confused the target audience.
The most
shocking thing for all of us when the show aired were the commercials that were
paired with our sophisticated, ambitious show. They were aimed at really little
kids. Interviews about very serious subjects were followed by the usual fare of
loud, raucous, kidvid commercials for crazy cereals and babyish toys bound to
make any high schoolers feel decidedly uncool about watching a show clearly not
aimed at them. I don’t want to be paranoid about it…but…it seemed like part of
a plan to me.
The Harts had
taken great care to book musical talent and interview subjects that would
appeal to high schoolers and also, perhaps surprisingly, their parents. The
Harts knew the statistics about Saturday morning viewing; adults comprised over
a third of viewers, meaning that they too needed content that would entertain
and keep them interested.
While the
subject matter was clearly aimed at kids and their developmental issues and
struggles, like most television catering to kids, the actors playing kids were
older than they played. This is/was such a common practice that no one
questioned it at the time, at least not publicly. I was thrilled to have the
chance to meet and write for Patty Duke
Show’s Ross, Paul O’Keefe, but since he seemed older than most of the
company, he played the Hot Hero café owner/manager and Stanley Dipstyck, the
high school kid with a bag on his head. Eighteen year old Vicky Dawson was the
youngest actor in the company except for the actual child actor, Adam Ross, who
played Captain Hero and other little kids as required.
Ae13U: Reportedly, NBC had child psychologists
review the scripts. Did that include yours as well? How far ahead of production
did they need to get the scripts before the episode went into production?
Sherry Coben: I don’t think there was
much lead time at all. I have no memory of this step. I suppose it’s possible
that someone was consulted or hired as a consultant, but I doubt very seriously
that anything was affected. We never got notes except from Standards and
Practices, and those were usually hilarious. One of my favorite sketches I
wrote was about Miss Pinch, a very uptight school librarian and her S&P-
inspired parochial idiocy. It was a very subtle takedown of book-banning and censorship,
and Bruce Hart had to go to the mat fighting for its inclusion in the show. The
irony of that particular battle was lost on no one, at least none of us.
Ae13U: The same TV Guide article cited above also
notes that “there were almost no test screenings.” Is that true? The statement
suggests that there were some test screenings, just not very many.
Sherry Coben: I don’t think there were
any, but I could be wrong about that. The network may have screened an episode
for their own purposes, but there just wasn’t any time between finishing
episodes for broadcast and broadcast to make any changes. The network may have
done some internal testing to justify their tepid support, but their findings
never made their way to anyone involved in the production. I suspect they used
their findings to back up the decision to kill the show. At the time, ABC was a
much more quality-driven programmer with their after-school specials and
interstitials like Schoolhouse Rock. NBC probably should have aired Hot Hero Sandwich in the afternoon like
ABC’s After School Specials. NBC
started their own after-school programming with Project Peacock not long after their much-lauded Hot Hero tanked.
Ae13U: I can’t let the interview end without
asking a question about the Hot Hero Band. People who remember the show always
comment on the band – fans absolutely love them. Is the claim by band member
Mark Cunningham who claimed that he and Felix Pappalardi, "wrote, played,
and recorded the musical soundtrack" entirely accurate? Particularly on
the theme song which seems to include some very layered child psychology ideas
behind the lyrics. Did the Harts contribute to any of the songs, at least
conceptually and/or lyrically?
Sherry Coben: Bruce Hart and Stephen Lawrence wrote the
theme song. Andy Breckman wrote and performed his own songs with backing from
the band. Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi was the musical director, doing
arrangements, including short interstitial style stings based on the theme used
to lead in and out of sketches, interviews and acts. These musical transitions
were crucial to the show since the tone of material varied so dramatically.
The Hot Hero
Band wrote their own songs with Felix’s assistance. Felix arranged the band and
supervised the guest artists. They were a real highlight of production. We
writers always took a break and came to the studio to watch those performances
along with a small (and mostly young) studio audience sitting on the floor.
HHS writer and performer Andy Breckman performing his song "Tommy Two" with the Hot Hero Band (photo credit: Sherry Coben). |
Patrick McMahon: As for who wrote the theme song, it was Bruce
Hart and Stephen Lawrence. I was there when it was recorded, well before Felix
Pappalardi and the Hot Hero Band were hired. What we did have in the show were
incidental music cues to segue between interviews and sketches. Those were
written by Felix and members of the band. That is what the band member was
talking about. I know because I edited them in and helped them to learn about
click tracks, something I thought Felix would be familiar with but he
wasn't.
End Part III
Next: Hot Hero Sandwich — A Second Serving, Credits!
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UPDATE: The Hot Hero Sandwich Project has moved to its new home at www.hotherosandwich.com. All new posts after July 2024 will be posted only to www.hotherosandwich.com.
The HHS sign is groovey. I want one. I was surprised to learn about all the work that went into the musical end of the show. Great article.
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