Fernwood 2 Night Explained

Runtime:	22 minutes
Creator:	Norman Lear
Country:	United States
Network:	First-run syndication
Num Episodes:	65
Num Seasons:	1
Company:	T.A.T. Communications Company

Fernwood 2 Night (or Fernwood Tonight) is a satirical comedy talk show that was broadcast weeknights from July to September 1977.^[1] The program was created by Norman Lear and produced by Alan Thicke as a spin-off and summer replacement for Lear's satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.^[2] The show was hosted by Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) and sidekick–announcer Jerry Hubbard (Fred Willard). Dour bandleader Happy Kyne (Frank De Vol) and the Mirth Makers were the show's stage band and featured Tommy Tedesco as a guitarist.^[3]

Overview and production

Fernwood 2 Night was ironic in tone and set in the fictional small town of Fernwood, Ohio, like Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in which Mull portrayed Barth's twin brother Garth Gimble, who was impaled on an aluminum christmas tree. Fernwood 2 Night parodied actual late-night talk shows and the sort of fare one might expect from locally produced small-town midwestern American television programming. Fernwood 2 Night was the first television talk show satire, foreshadowing the likes of The Larry Sanders Show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and Comedy Bang! Bang!.^[4]

After one summer season of Fernwood 2 Night, the program was revamped in the spring of 1978 as America 2 Night. In this second version, Barth, Jerry and Happy relocated to Southern California (specifically, the fictional city of Alta Coma, "the unfinished furniture capital of the world!") and broadcast the show nationally over the fictional UBS Network. The change to a Southern California setting made it more plausible for real-life celebrities to appear on the program as themselves.^[5]

In 2001, Mull and Willard reprised their roles in a stage appearance and retrospective at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.^[6] The pair also worked together in other projects, appearing together as a gay couple in the final seasons of Roseanne.^[7]

Reruns of Fernwood and America 2 Night were broadcast on Nick at Nite from 1990 to 1993 and TV Land in 2002 as part of their "TV Land Kitschen" block, also hosted by Mull and Willard. NeitherFernwood 2 Night nor America 2 Night have ever been officially released on home video in any format.^{[8] [9]}

Recurring characters

• Merle Jeeter (Dabney Coleman), Fernwood's somewhat shifty, self-promoting mayor.
• William W.D. 'Bud' Prize (Kenneth Mars), Fernwood's "Ambassador at Large" from the Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor's supposed energy expert; he invariably arrived wearing his elaborate "chinodontic" headgear which was designed to correct his underbite.
• Tony Rolletti (Bill Kirchenbauer), an enthusiastic, if only marginally talented, lounge singer.
• Susan Cloud (Susan Elliot), the spaced-out owner of the Butterfly Deli, a local health food restaurant.
• Virgil Simms (Jim Varney), the local mechanic who offered automotive advice, and later became a "motor home daredevil" performing stunts in the style of a motorcycle daredevil, but while driving a motor home.
• Garth Gimble Sr. (Robert Williams), Barth's father, who was also the cheerfully incompetent studio security guard. Almost always seen with Louie, his lethargic English Springer Spaniel.
• Lou Moffat (Lou Felder), a "consumer affairs expert" who always ended up plugging various products distributed by Barth's company, Gimbleco Enterprises.
• Debbie Dunbar (Kathy McCullen), Fernwood's controversial high school "Spanking Girl."
• Mrs. Dunbar (Jan Stratton), Debbie's outraged mother.
• Larry Guy (Terry McGovern) A local disc jockey.
• Dr. Richard Osgood/Van Moot (Craig Richard Nelson), a physician and research scientist who discovered that leisure suits cause cancer.

Trivia

While the town of Fernwood is fictional, in episode 39 Barth introduces a guest who runs a "nude dude ranch" near Farrington, Ohio in Miami County. That places Fernwood somewhere near Dayton.

See also

• List of late night network TV programs

Notes and References

1. Book: McNeil, Alex . 1991 . Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present . Penguin Books . 259 . 9780140157369 . Google Books . 2023-03-21 . 2023-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231127153823/https://books.google.com/books?id=ysJkAAAAMAAJ . live .
2. Book: Sickels . Robert C. . 2013 . 100 Entertainers Who Changed America: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries . ABC-CLIO . 334 . 9781598848311 . Google Books.
3. Book: Childs, T. Mike . 2014 . The Rocklopedia Fakebandica . St. Martin's Publishing Group . 91 . 9781466873018 . Google Books . 2023-03-21 . 2023-04-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212953/https://books.google.com/books?id=6DZkAwAAQBAJ . live .
4. Web site: Ess . Ramsey . May 30, 2014 . The Fake Talk Show is Born with Fernwood 2 Night . Vulture . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112050534/https://www.vulture.com/2014/05/the-fake-talk-show-is-born-with-fernwood-2-night.html . January 12, 2023 . January 12, 2023 . live .
5. Book: Pegg, Robert . 2015 . Comical Co-Stars of Television: From Ed Norton to Kramer . McFarland . 367 . 9781476610245 . Google Books . 2023-03-21 . 2023-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231127153824/https://books.google.com/books?id=cC61CgAAQBAJ . live .
6. Web site: D'Alessandro . Anthony . December 7, 2000 . Mull, Willard top Aspen laff fest . Variety . Penske Media Corporation . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112050532/https://variety.com/2000/more/news/mull-willard-top-aspen-laff-fest-1117790233/ . January 12, 2023 . January 12, 2023 . live .
7. Web site: Levine . Daniel S. . May 17, 2020 . Fred Willard's Roseanne Co-Star Martin Mull Mourns Comedic Icon With Heartfelt Tribute . PopCulture.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112050537/https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/fred-willard-roseanne-costar-martin-mull-mourns-comedic-icon-tribute/ . January 12, 2023 . January 12, 2023 . live .
8. February 17, 1991 . Also Worth Watching . Los Angeles Times . 82 . January 12, 2023 . January 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112050536/https://www.proquest.com/docview/281296862 . live .
9. Web site: 2003 . TV Land Kitschen . The A.V. Club . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112050533/https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/tv-land-kitschen-2003 . 2023-01-12 . 2023-01-12 . live .