Released on April 3, 1987, 'Police Academy 4' was a critical and commercial failure, and it marked Steve Guttenberg's final starring role in the franchise.
No one could predict the winding path of Frank Zappa s discography, where satirical rock songs brushed up against avant-garde orchestrations. So even if some stuffier fans cringed seeing their king of weird guest-star on mid- 80s crime-drama smash
Miami Vice, others saw a hilariously fitting detour in a career defined by them. Absurdity and surprise were simply colors on Zappa s massive canvas.
It s not like the
Freak Out! maestro was averse to mainstream TV: In 1963, before he was even famous, Zappa appeared on variety program
The Steve Allen Show, showing how ordinary objects like bicycles could be played as percussion instruments. He later composed a piece, The Big Squeeze, for a Luden s Cough Drops commercial, made a cameo on the Monkees TV show and hosted a 1976 episode of
Uncle Buck TV series was mercifully taken off the air.
The sitcom was based on the 1989 movie of the same name, which had become a blockbuster hit largely thanks largely to the writing and directing talents of John Hughes and the comedic genius of star John Candy. Its plot centered on the titular Buck, a slobbish gambler suddenly put in charge of his brother’s three children. Classic moments included Buck making giant pancakes in the family kitchen and driving the kids to school in his dilapidated Mercury Marquis. The film took in more than $80 million at the box office, so naturally executives saw dollar signs when envisioning a TV spinoff.