I mentioned earlier in the year that I was planning on writing articles about some obscure television programs from the early 1990s despite the fact that they aired just two decades ago. Morton & Hayes is the first of those programs and this is the first of these articles. The show ran for just six episodes during the summer of 1991 on CBS, which in terms of length certainly deserves to be called obscure. Here’s the summary:
Rob Reiner created this unconventional comedy series in which previously “lost” short films starring a forgotten comedy team in the vein of Abbott and Costello were aired in black and white. The series dates back to 1989 when a pilot was ordered by CBS; it eventually aired in August 1990. The network ordered six episodes of a revamped version for the summer of 1991. Critics were split on whether the series was a brave attempt at a new sort of television comedy. Viewers didn’t care one way or the either and the series was not continued past the initial six episodes due to low ratings.
Interestingly, it’s likely that more people remember The New People or Camp Runamuck than Morton & Hayes. True, it aired much more recently but its ratings were anemic. Even a poorly rated show from the 1960s probably had more viewers. But even Morton & Hayes has its fans and hopefully they’ll enjoy this article. So take a moment to read over my latest article: Morton & Hayes.
I DO remember “MORTON & HAYES”- I even remember the 1989 “prototype” that preceeded it, “PARTNERS IN LIFE” (that was more of a riff on Bing Crosby & Bob Hope’s “Road” movies, featuring two other guys), which aired on CBS in the summer of ’90.
I do indeed remember Morton and Hayes. It aired at 8:30pm after reruns of Police Squad (resurrected due to renewed popularity tahnks to the Naked Gun film).