Acting Sheriff

Acting Sheriff is an unsold, half-hour television pilot created by Walt Disney Television for television network CBS that aired across the United States on Saturday, August 17, 1991.[1] Identified as episode number 895 in Walt Disney Television season number 35,[2] the 30-minute comedy drama featured Robert Goulet as B movie actor Brent McCord who is elected to the unlikely job of sheriff in a small Northern California town.[1] With only an actor's knowledge and experience of what a sheriff does, the McCord character clashes with the local district attorney, character Donna Singer, and eventually lets a bank robber-prisoner escape.[3] Character Mike Swanson, a deputy who is loyal to McCord, captures the escaped prisoner and helps cover for McCord's mistake by informing news reporters that McCord made the capture.[3]

Acting Sheriff
GenreComedy
Drama
Written byLarry Strawther
Gary Murphy
Directed byMichael Lembeck
StarringRobert Goulet (Sheriff Brent McCord)
John Putch (Deputy Mike Swanson)
Hillary Bailey Smith (Assistant District attorney Donna Singer)
Ruth Kobart (Dispatcher Helen Munson)
Diane Delano (Deputy Judith Mahoney)
Lee Tergesen (Robbie)
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes1
Production
Executive producerGary Murphy
ProducerTim Steele
Running time30 minutes (including commercials)
Production companyWalt Disney Television
Release
Audio formatStereophonic
First shown in17 August 1991
Original release17 August (1991-08-17) –
17 August 1991 (1991-08-17)
Chronology
Preceded byQueen: The Days Of Our Lives
Followed byDarkwing Duck Premiere / Back To School With The Mickey Mouse Club

Response

Initially, Acting Sheriff was thought to have a good chance of filling the Saturday, 10:30 PM slot in the CBS 1991 fall television schedule.[3] In addition to the draw of noted actor Robert Goulet, the show was developed by the writing team of Larry Strawther and Gary Murphy, who were the writers of Night Court, a then-widely popular American television situation comedy, and the writers of Without a Clue, a 1988 comedy film starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley.[3] However, the one-time-only, August 17, 1991, presentation of Acting Sheriff received poor ratings.[4]

In the August 21, 1991 Prime time ratings for the week of August 12 to August 18, Acting Sheriff received a 4.6 share and was ranked as number 83 out of a total of 90 prime time television shows.[4] The 4.6 share represented 4.3 million TV homes out of a possible 93.1 million TV homes.[4] Despite the poor showing by Acting Sheriff, CBS tied television network ABC for first place in the August 12 to August 18 network ratings battle.[5] CBS eventually filled the Saturday 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM primetime slot with 48 Hours, a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988.

Critic reactions were mixed. The Florida daily newspaper St. Petersburg Times rated Acting Sheriff a "best bet."[6] However, the weekly entertainment trade newspaper Variety found the Brent McCord character too cartoonish to support the show as a series.[3] In describing Goulet's performance as Brent McCord, Variety stated that it was "a goof on Ronald Reagan by way of Ted Baxter" and came across as a "trigger-happy, ACLU-bashing boob whose disregard for the law is equaled only by his vanity."[3] Variety also faulted the show's appearance and other characters as too closely resembling the look, feel, and characters of Night Court.[3] Fourteen years later, American actor Lee Tergesen, who was on Acting Sheriff with Robert Goulet, characterized Goulet's performance as "quite good."[7]

Reaction to response

The August 17, 1991, airing of the show was its only airing. In a December 1991 effort to raise more than $200 million to finance Disney's network television business, Disney created Zero Coupon Based Rate Adjustment Securities ("ZEBRAS") as promissory notes to be used to obtain money from the investing public.[8] Disney added Acting Sheriff and other television projects such as Lenny, The Fanelli Boys, Singer & Sons, and STAT to the ZEBRAS.[8] Even though Acting Sheriff and the other projects were considered "dead dogs" by some, Disney presented ZEBRAS as a way for the public to buy into programming Walt Disney Television that was started in October 1988 and profiting from possible hits similar to Blossom, Golden Girls, and Empty Nest.[8]

The 15-year ZEBRA zero-coupon bonds carried a guaranteed yield of 4% with a promise of up to a 20% return if Acting Sheriff or any of the other included shows were sold into syndication.[9] The bonds were seen both as innovative and controversial by tying their investment return to the performance of Disney's television shows.[9] With analysts saying the deal was not a good one for investors, the ZEBRAS were not successful.[9] Disney ended their offerings 23 days after the program started, citing falling interest rates as a reason for terminating the ZEBRA program.[9]

Interest in Acting Sheriff largely remained dormant for the next thirteen years. However, in 2004, Acting Sheriff made its way onto the August 16, 2004, television show, The Best TV Shows That Never Were.[10] As one of 40+ reviewed television pilots from a pool of thousands available pilots, clips of Acting Sheriff were used by The Best TV Shows That Never Were show to insinuate that it was one of the worst aired pilots.[10] In reviewing The Best TV Shows That Never Were, the New York Post ranked Acting Sheriff along the lines of the pilot for a "mellow John Denver cast against type as a two-fisted FBI agent in the mountain adventure Higher Ground" and the pilot where Tom Selleck and Robert Urich co-starred in the cop drama Bun-co.[10]

References
  1. Yeager, Connie (August 19, 1991). "TV Schedule is showing signs of Autumn". Living. The Cincinnati Post. p. 5B.
  2. "Disneyland: Acting Sheriff (30 min) - TV.com". TV.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  3. Prouty, Prouty (1994). Variety and Daily Variety Television Reviews 1991-1992. 17. Taylor and Francis. August 20, 1991. ISBN 0-8240-3796-0. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  4. "Nielsen Ratings/August 12–18". Long Beach Press-Telegram. August 21, 1991. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  5. Hastings, Deborah (August 21, 1991). ""Roseanne" grabs top spot. ABC's Diane Sawyer interviews Yeltsin". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  6. "Best Bets". Floridian. St. Petersburg Times. August 24, 1991. p. 5D. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  7. Starr, Michael (August 27, 2005). "The edge of night; "Wanted" man in another gritty role". TV Saturday. New York Post. p. 73. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  8. Allan Sloan (December 1, 1991). "Deals Disney's ZEBRA could be a nag. It's tough to get animated over bonds tied to pack of TV sitcoms". Business. Newsday. p. 76. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17. But ZEBRAS buyers get a whole flock of dead dogs - among them "Lenny," "The Fanelli Boys," "Singer & Sons," "Acting Sheriff" and "STAT."
  9. Citron, Alan (December 24, 1991). "Disney Will Keep ZEBRA Bonds Caged Entertainment: The company says falling interest rates scuttled the controversial sale. Analysts say the issue wouldn't have been a good deal for investors". Business, part D, Financial Desk. Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-09-17. The offering had a guaranteed yield of 4% but held the promise of up to a 20% return if Disney shows were sold into syndication.
  10. Buckman, Adam (August 15, 2004). "Best shows that never werel Food for thought". Sunday TV Week. New York Post. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
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