Buddies (TV series)

Buddies
DVD cover
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Carmen Finestra David McFadzean Matt Williams
Written by	Peter Tolan
Directed by	Paul Lazarus John Pasquin Andrew Tsao
Starring	Dave Chappelle Christopher Gartin Tanya Wright Richard Roundtree
Theme music composer	Derrick Perkins
Composer(s)	Brian Bennett
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (8 unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carmen Finestra David MacFadzean Matt Williams
Location(s)	Burbank, California
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Wind Dancer Productions Touchstone Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	NTSC (480i)
Original release	000000002016-03-05-0000March 5 – April 3, 1996 (1996-04-03)
Chronology
Related shows	Home Improvement

Buddies is the name of a sitcom starring Dave Chappelle that aired on ABC in 1996.

History

Home Improvement connection

Comedians Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer attracted the attention of TV network executives with their guest appearance in the March 14, 1995 episode of ABC's highly rated sitcom Home Improvement.^[1] The storyline had Chappelle and Breuer play a duo of friends who appear on Tool Time to ask Tim Taylor advice on their girlfriends. The characters' single outing on the episode proved so popular that ABC decided to give Chappelle and Breuer their own half-hour sitcom.

Cast changes

After subsequent rehearsals, Jim Breuer was replaced with Christopher Gartin as Dave Chappelle's "buddy". The unique comic timing and chemistry that Chappelle had with Breuer, his real-life friend, was not present with Gartin, and Breuer's abrupt firing exacerbated ill will. This prevented Chappelle and Gartin from developing the rapport and comedic chemistry necessary for the characters' believability and likeability.^[2]

Cancellation

Buddies premiered on Tuesday, March 5, 1996. The show garnered disappointing ratings. Buddies cancelled on April 3 after airing only five episodes out of the 13 that were produced.^[3] Dave Chappelle himself was not proud of his involvement with Buddies in retrospect:

Cast

• David Chappelle as Dave Carlisle
• Christopher Gartin as John Bailey
• Tanya Wright as Phyllis Brooks
• Paula Cale as Lorraine Bailey
• Judith Ivey as Maureen DeMoss
• Richard Roundtree as Henry Carlisle

Episode list

DVD release

For a limited time in 2005, Best Buy had an exclusive DVD available that contained 10 episodes of Buddies, including all 8 unaired episodes.^[5] The DVD was originally released on May 15, 2005^[6] but seems to have been discontinued as Best Buy currently lists the item as "backordered." It is unclear why the DVD did not include all 13 episodes or if the remaining 3 episodes will ever receive a home video release.

References

External links

• Buddies at the Internet Movie Database
• Buddies at TV.com