1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 8 (Canada)
66 x 30 minute episodes
This dire Canadian sitcom starred Don Adams – best known as either Maxwell Smart or the voice of Inspector Gadget, depending on your age – as Howard Bannister, the harried manager of (the fictional) Cobb’s supermarket in Ontario.
Dinah Christie co-starred as Howard’s secretary, Elsie, and his stereotypical employees included a punk girl and a gay man.
Despite the presence of the comedy veteran, the show – based on the superior British series Tripper’s Day – suffered from mediocre writing, corny dialogue, groan-inducing jokes and cardboard sets. It just looked cheap.
I guess Don had bills to pay like the rest of us . . .
Howard Bannister
Don Adams
Edna Moseley
Dinah Christie
Jack Christian
Jeff Pustil
Marlene Weimaraner
Kathleen Laskey
Leslie Rappaport
Aaron Schwartz
Viker
Gordon Clapp
Murray Amherst
Simon Reynolds
Jennifer Woods
Tonya Williams
Alf Scully
Henry Beckman