1 9 8 6 – 1 9 8 7 (USA)
9 x 30 minute episodes
Based on the successful film of the same name, this short-lived sitcom starred Scott Bakula as Hunt Stevenson (the role Michael Keaton had played in the movie), and Gedde Watanabe as Kaz in a different (but similar) role to the one he played in the film.
The setting was an auto plant in Hadleyville, Pennsylvania, which had been reopened under new ownership and management as part of Assan Motors, a Japanese-owned company.
Kaz was the newly installed plant manager, trying to balance his country’s traditions, the unfamiliar customs of the USA, and the demands of his management back in Japan.
Saito (Sab Shimono) was his conservative Japanese assistant, who didn’t want to adapt at all. Kaz’s wife Umeki (Patti Yasutake), though properly subservient to her husband, sometimes flirted with the freedom accorded American women, while Saito’s wife, Yukiko (Emily Kuroda) was much more conservative.
The comedy stemmed from the culture clash faced by the American workers and the Japanese management.
Kaz Kazuhiro
Gedde Watanabe
Hunt Stevenson
Scott Bakula
Umeki Kazuhiro
Patti Yasutake
Buster
Stephen Lee
Googie
Clint Howard
Ito
Rodney Kageyama
Kenji
Scott Atari
Randi
Heidi Lawson
Mr Saito
Sab Shimono
Yukiko Saito
Emily Kuroda