1 9 9 0 – 1 9 9 1 (USA)
15 x 30 minute episodes
Nearly a quarter of a century after NBC created its own knockoff of The Beatles with the hit show The Monkees, the network showcased another artificially assembled group in this Saturday morning series which featured a quintet obviously designed to be another New Kids On The Block.
But while the handsome actors – selected as the result of a bi-coastal talent search – may have been near-clones of the latter, the format of the show was more reminiscent of The Monkees, with its comic blackouts, occasional songs, and loosely constructed plot lines.
The Chicago Tribune said of the group, “The Guys Next Door make the New Kids On The Block look like the Rolling Stones, and The Monkees look like the Royal Shakespeare Company”.
There was no laugh track and no really talented musicians among the bunch, and their idea of dancing was to throw up their hands a lot, which may be why the “Guys” – who TV Guide
mockingly termed “the Prefab Five” – ended up forgotten even more quickly than the New Kids.
An album of innocuous pop and homogenised harmonies was released to tie-in with the series, along with their first single, I Was Made For You. It was no Daydream Believer!
Chris
Christopher Wolf
Eddie
Eddie Garcia
Damon
Damon Sharpe
Patrick
Patrick Dancy
Bobby
Bobby Leslie