"The Jeff Foxworthy Show" (1995) TV series 1995-1997

Creator:

Tom Anderson
(more)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

16 September 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Jeff hits Primetime! You'll laugh until you're red in the neck.

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Television Flop | Short Lived | Laugh Track | Family Relationships

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jeff Foxworthy	...	Jeff Foxworthy (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Haley Joel Osment	...	Matt Foxworthy (35 episodes, 1995-1997)
Ann Cusack	...	Karen Foxworthy (23 episodes, 1996-1997)
G.W. Bailey	...	Big Jim Foxworthy (23 episodes, 1996-1997)
Anita Barone	...	Karen Foxworthy (18 episodes, 1995-1996)

Series Directed by
Gil Junger		(unknown episodes)
Patrick Maloney		(unknown episodes)
Alan Rafkin		(unknown episodes)
Andrew Tsao		(unknown episodes)
Ted Wass		(unknown episodes)

Series Writing credits
David Garrett		(23 episodes, 1996-1997)
Tom Anderson		(1 episode, 1995)
Ricky Blitt		(unknown episodes)
Howard Michael Gould		(unknown episodes)
Norm Gunzenhauser		(unknown episodes)
Bill Kunstler		(unknown episodes)
Maxine Lapiduss		(unknown episodes)
Robert Peacock		(unknown episodes)
Tom Seeley		(unknown episodes)
Kathy Ann Stumpe		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Nikki Kessler	....	associate producer (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Tom Anderson	....	co-executive producer (28 episodes, 1995-1997)
Howard Michael Gould	....	executive producer (unknown episodes)
Maxine Lapiduss	....	executive producer (unknown episodes)
Steven Schott	....	producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Craig Stuart Garfinkle		(24 episodes, 1995-1997)
Mike Post		(18 episodes, 1995-1996)
Frank Fitzpatrick		(unknown episodes)
David Tobocman		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Robert D. McBride		(17 episodes, 1996-1997)
Richard Hissong		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Richard Candib		(unknown episodes)

Series Casting by
Barbie Block		(unknown episodes)
Alice Cassidy		(unknown episodes)
Sally Stiner		(unknown episodes)

Series Makeup Department
Laurie Heaps	....	key hair stylist (23 episodes, 1996-1997)
Debra Denson	....	makeup department head (18 episodes, 1995-1996)
Corey Jeen	....	assistant makeup artist (unknown episodes)
Heather Koontz	....	assistant makeup artist (unknown episodes)

Series Production Management
Lee H. Grant	....	unit production manager (unknown episodes)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lee H. Grant	....	first assistant director (unknown episodes)

Series Art Department
Gordon Germaine	....	assistant property master (18 episodes, 1995-1996)
Jim Falkenstein	....	property master (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
John Hart	....	sound recordist (2 episodes, 1996-1997)
Mike Clark	....	sound mixer (unknown episodes)
Fred Clemons	....	sound re-recordist (unknown episodes)
John W. Cook II	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)
Stacey Michaels	....	sound effects editor (unknown episodes)
Greg Orrante	....	sound recordist: A2 (unknown episodes)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
John D. Miller	....	grip (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Tim Sheridan	....	second assistant camera (23 episodes, 1996-1997)
Cathy Lewis-Dougherty	....	camera operator (22 episodes, 1996-1997)
Mike Denton	....	camera operator (7 episodes, 1995-1996)
Greg G. Reeves	....	electrician (unknown episodes)
Jim Rose	....	gaffer (unknown episodes)

Series Casting Department
Peggy Kennedy	....	casting associate (1 episode, 1995)

Series Costume and Wardrobe Department
Melissa Antablin	....	key costumer (23 episodes, 1996-1997)

Series Editorial Department
Amelia Ann Hagen	....	assistant editor (unknown episodes)

Series Music Department
David Vito Gregoli	....	composer: additional music: song (1 episode, 1997)

Series Transportation Department
Billy G. Arter	....	transportation coordinator (unknown episodes)

Series Other crew
Tony Carey	....	production executive (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Judy Gordon	....	production controller (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Gary Spatz	....	acting coach (41 episodes, 1995-1997)
Scott Miles	....	script coordinator (23 episodes, 1996-1997)
Aaron Lemos	....	production assistant (18 episodes, 1995-1996)
Michael Goldberg	....	production accountant (unknown episodes, 1996-1997)
Earl Pomerantz	....	creative consultant (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Brillstein-Grey Entertainment

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD) (season 1)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (seasons 2-3)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (season 2)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

30 min (41 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Brillstein-Grey Entertainment

Trivia:

The following changes were made when the show went from ABC to NBC: Anita Barone was replaced by Ann Cusack. Jeff's mother was alive in the first season but was never shown along with his father. In season two she was dead and his father was brought on played by G.W. Bailey. Jeff had a baby daughter in the last episode of the first season. In the second season she was gone and he had a second son named Justin played by Jonathan Lipnicki. Jeff's brother Wayne, played by Jay Mohr, and his girlfriend DeeDee, played by Michelle Clunie disappeared in the second season along with his father-in-law Elliot, played by Dakin Matthews, his mother-in-law Lois, played by Bibi Besch, and his sister-in-law Gayle, played by Debra Jo Rupp. Other people added in season two were Bill, played by Bill Engvall, Florus, played by Neil Giuntoli, Livie Ann, played by Jeanine Jackson, and Nettie, played by Kathryn Zaremba. In season one Jeff lived Bloomington, Indiana. In season two he lived in Briarton, Georgia. In season one Jeff owned his own heating and air conditioning shop. In season two he worked on a loading dock. The family lived in a completely new house.

Good intentions, but troubled execution

If any comic in the last ten years stood out as the potential source of a possible hit sitcom -- like Bill Cosby, Roseanne, Andy Griffith, and others before him -- it would be Jeff Foxworthy. He's a likable presence and his humor appeals to a wide range of Americans. Yet instead of taking a cue from these past successes and building around him a world inspired by his humor, the producers instead transplanted him to suburban Illinois. It was a fish-out-of-water comedy set in a Northern college town (without actually embracing his distinctly rural Southern humor), and complicated his life with snobby, intellectual in-laws who always misjudged him. It was well done, for what it was, but it wasn't what his fans were expecting and it didn't stand out for the rest of the audience. It got lost, the ratings tanked, ABC cancelled it.

But someone wisely saw Foxworthy's potential, and brought the production to NBC...with changes. New producers who were more in tune with Foxworthy's strengths built a new world for him. Gone were the snobby in-laws and curvy, sexy Anita Barone as his wife, Karen, to be replaced with willowy, neurotic Ann Cusack (younger sister to John and Joan). Foxworthy was uprooted from the North and planted back in the South, in his small fictitious Georgia hometown. No longer would the show be taped in a studio with a laugh track, it would be filmed before a live audience. And no longer was pre-"Sixth Sense" Haley Joel Osment an only child; he now had to contend with sibling rivalry from Jonathan Lipnicki, fresh off the set of "Jerry Maguire". Add the always fun G.W. Bailey as Foxworthy's womanizing get-rich-quick-scheming father and Bill Engvall as his best friend, and you've got the kind of riotous yet heartwarming comedy that harks back to "The Andy Griffith Show".

Unfortunately, retooling any show to this extent seems to doom it. Cusack played off Foxworthy better (with Barone, he always seemed a little henpecked, although that was due to the writing, not the actress), but the addition of Lipnicki felt like stunt casting. The fictional Foxworthy's friends were essentially the same doomed losers as in the first version, but they fit better, had more heart and were a lot funnier. Viewers who had stuck with it on ABC felt lost -- even though the past "incarnation" of the show was referenced early on, there were too many structural changes in the Foxworthy family to accept a continuity between the two versions of the show. Foxworthy's stand-up fans had largely tuned out during the previous version and weren't likely to give it another chance.

If the second version of the show had been the first, this show might still be on the air, and Foxworthy would be retiring it soon after ten successful years. Unfortunately, it wasn't.