What's Alan Watching? (1989)

Seventeen-year-old Alan is a couch potato who views life, and his family, as if they were on television. Libby and Leo are his parents, Gail is his sister (who's engaged to Lenny Kling the ... See full summary »

Director:

Thomas Schlamme

Writers:

Barry W. Blaustein, David Sheffield

Stars:

Corin Nemec, Barbara Barrie, Peter Michael Goetz

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Corin Nemec	...	Alan Hoffstetter
Barbara Barrie	...	Libby Hoffstetter
Peter Michael Goetz	...	Leo Hoffstetter
Fran Drescher	...	Gail Hoffstetter
David Packer	...	Jeff Hoffstetter
Cheryl Pollak	...	Alyssa
Rob Bartlett	...	Lenny Kling
Eddie Murphy	...	Protester / James Brown
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shelley Berman	...	Mel Krasoen
Kristine Blackburn	...	Cheerleader
Stanley Brock	...	Ed's Producer
George Carlin	...	Himself
Darwyn Carson	...	Contestant #1
Alexander Bacan Chapman	...	Con (as Alexander Bacon Chapman)
Ellen Cleghorne	...	Marsha

Storyline

Seventeen-year-old Alan is a couch potato who views life, and his family, as if they were on television. Libby and Leo are his parents, Gail is his sister (who's engaged to Lenny Kling the Carpet King), Jeff is his brother, Alyssa is his girlfriend and Lenny is his friend.

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Plot Keywords:

reenactment | question mark in title | question in title | punctuation in title | apostrophe in title | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1989 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eddie Murphy Productions,Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

What's Alan Watching was a Comedy Special for CBS. It won the Television Critics Award for a "Special" and aired Feb. 27, 1989

User Reviews

FERRIS BULER MEETS UHF

Tv show deserved more than one showing (FEB 27, 89)..The show's title character,played br Corin Nemic,is a high school student in the state of Wisconsin. This role was a warm up role to Parker Lewis character two years later. The youngest sibling of three ,older sister, Gail, played by Fran Dresher who's engaged to Lenny Kling the Carpet King" a carpet so clean you can eat off off it!"His parents can't wait until all their children finally leave the nest . The older brother 32 yars old still at home. The show splits into two directions , #1Life within the familys home,#2 The original twist to this show is that Alan daydreams as he is watching television. Where the daydreams have him interacting a conversation with the girl on the cheerleading team or with a woman in the shower in a soap commercial., Other moments have Alan channel surfing and a collage of short snippets from actual tv shows intertwine with short skits such as Ghandi on Ice commercial (he's starving for attention musical number)-or Eddie Murphy as dual roles ,one role is a protester for the release of James Brown from Prison,"Free James Brown!", the other role is Eddie in a James Brown Latex make-up mask in two spots in the show.Into scene 1.........we now return to the CBS movie of the week...Soul on the Rocks....The judge in the courtroom asks"Mr Brown how do you respond to the charges..Eddie responding in James Brown gibberish responds breaking into a musical production of "Please ,Please.Please."escorted out of the courtroom ,cape and all the theatrics of a James Brown performance. The second segment has James Brown singing" It's a Man's World" in the prison shower.The show also has appearances by Pauly Shore,George Carlin,Alex Trebek,Tom and Dick Smothers ,Brent Spiner and an uncredited Ellen Kleghorne. This was a very funny show, it's a shame more episodes never made it out of the vault.