Friendship Can Be A Real Drag...

But I'm gonna be right behind you,

There ain't any use,

You ain't never gonna shake me loose

Regular FH viewers know that instead of taking a sleeping pill, I drift off to sit-coms.  I need a show that's not too interesting, and is light and easy to fall asleep to.  Last month, I decided it was time to try the 80's sit-com Bosom Buddies.  I've featured both of the male leads before, (Peter Scolari HERE: and Tom Hanks HERE:) but I have never actually watched the show.  

I was hadn't even started school when the comedy aired on ABC, but given the success of it's stars, it's a show most people have at least heard about.  The show lasted only 2 seasons, and I can sort of figure out why.  I'm half-way through the second season and the show is already starting to feel tired.  First off the premise of having the two guys dress in drag for an apartment is too weak for a long run.  It's funny at first, but difficult to sustain. 

At the same time, once the other characters know the two women are actually men, the show quickly loses steam.  It was also difficult to accept as a viewer, even for an 80's sit-com, how stupid all the female characters had to be to believe Kip and Henry, (Hanks and Scolari) were actually women.  Still, the talent of the main cast members made it an enjoyable watch for a short while.

What really surprised me was just how 'gay' the show actually was.  I know calling something gay is often used an insult, but I'm referencing the actual gay aesthetic of the show.  Well beyond the element of drag, the way the two male leads interact, and even their wardrobe as men struck out to me.  Maybe it was just a sign of the times, but if you watch the opening credits below you'll see what I mean.  I don't think I've seen so many scenes of guys in 'short shorts' in a set of credits. 

The theme song is catchy though.  The version above, from the syndication episodes, features Stephanie Mills singing Shake Me Loose.  The original theme song featured Billy Joel's My Life.  If the show had gone on longer, I would have liked to have seen more of the female characters getting story.  Although Donna Dixon is fine, the stand-outs are Telma Hopkins, Holland Taylor and Wendie Jo Sperber.  

I'd not really released the great Holland Taylor was in the cast, and I've been long been fascinated by the career of the late Wendie Jo Sperber.  I think I first say Sperber in the short lived sit-com Babes in the 1990's, but remember seeing her many guest starring roles on television in the 1990's and 2000's prior to her death from breast cancer in 2005.

If like me, you'd never seen any of Bosom Buddies, I give it a tepid recommendation.  I'm enjoying seeing the cast earlier in most of their careers, but the writing is just 'ok'.  I will say, I was surprised how, for the most part, drag is treated.  Yes, it was the 80's, so there ware some mortified reactions from Kip and Henry's parents, but the show actually downplays most of transphobic jokes that I'm sure other sitcom writers may have jumped on then, and sadly, even now.