This offbeat comedy centred on the lives of two mismatched brothers living together in a ratty tenement apartment in the Harlem section of Manhattan, which they rented from an ex-con named John Doe (Clifton Powell).
Slow-witted Simon Hemple (Harland Williams) was trusting and earnest, while his recently divorced brother, Carl (Jason Bateman), was more worldly, decidedly more obnoxious, and tolerated the living arrangement because he had lost his Wall Street stockbroker job.
When simple Simon fell into a high-paid job as a programming executive at Vintage Television, a Manhattan-based cable network featuring reruns of dated series – because he babbled lines from old TV shows – his brother couldn’t believe it.
Neither could Mitch (Patrick Breen), the arrogant nephew of Vintage’s eccentric owner, Duke Stone (Paxton Whitehead), who bought the network for $80 million “so I could have a few laughs”. The network’s slogan was ‘Nothing we do is original’.
Franz (David Byrd) was Duke’s long-suffering butler.
Mitch spent most of his time trying to undermine the oblivious Simon while currying favour with his wealthy uncle.
Also working in the programming department at Vintage was Libby (Andrea Bendewald), who liked Simon and foiled Mitch’s efforts to get rid of him.
When Simon subsequently got Carl a job at Vintage that was more menial than his, it was quite a comedown for his ambitious brother, who desperately wanted to regain the executive perks he had once had.
At the end of each episode, as the closing credits rolled, there was a short “Ask Simon” segment in which he answered viewer questions with Forrest Gump-like innocence and wisdom.
Simon Hemple
Harland Williams Carl Hemple
Jason Bateman Libby Keeler
Andrea Bendewald Mitch Lowen
Patrick Breen Duke Stone
Paxton Whitehead John Doe
Clifton Powell Franz
David Byrd
Episodes
Watch This | Simon Goes on a Date | Simon Gets a Butler | Simon Gets Carl a Job | Simon’s Ship Comes In | Simon Says Surprise! | Simon Has Faulty Pants | Simon Plays Carnegie Hall | Simon Hunts a Rat | Simon and the She-Devil | Simon Saves a Restaurant | You Can Run from Christmas But You Can’t Hide | Simon Kicks Ass | Simon Takes the Helm | Simon Sinks the Putts | Simon Gets the Goal | Simon Makes the Split | Simon Night Fever | Simon Looks a Gift Horse in the Mouth | Simon Saves Tinky Town | Simon Goes to the Dogs
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