Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Tim Matheson & Catherine Hicks in Tucker's Witch (1982)

Rick and Amanda Tucker (Matheson and Hicks) are detectives living and working in Los Angeles. They have a bit of an edge on the competition however; Amanda is a witch. Her powers of telekinesis, psychometry and her familiar, a cat named Dickens help her glean information and out fox the fatheads but frequently get her into hot water as well.

This series is more famous for what it wasn't, rather than what it was. It was originally shot with Kim Cattral in the lead role. After it was shot but before it aired Porky's was released and Kim's racy performance led the network to recast and reshoot the pilot episode and subsequent series with Hicks in the role.  It was a short sighted, misogynistic (Matheson was cast even though his role in Animal House had its raunchy moments) and somewhat boneheaded move, as it turned out. The series never found an audience with its new cast. If it would have with Cattral in the lead role is something we'll never know. Above is the first installment of episode one - The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon, uploaded to YouTube by ZTUBENY.

Obscurity factor: 9 (known more for circumstances surrounding it than the actual show, not on DVD)

4 comments:

  1. I remember watching this on TV when it came out, and being a bit frustrated and bored. I guess at the time I was hoping for something more along the lines of what was to become "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It was the problem with many such TV shows; they took a character with exceptional abilities and powers, and had them dealing solely with mundane problems. Yawn-o-rama.

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  2. I watched it tonight and enjoyed it. I actually prefer the mundane problems in supernatural series - Bewitched was a good example of that. I can see why it didn't go anywhere though - there was something missing, a spark, chemistry. I think Kim Cattral would have been a more exciting choice.

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  3. I LOVED, LOVED this program. It incorporated the sly/sexiness of the Thin Man Movies and also the mystical reasoning of the era. Someone should take up this concept and update if for now. I'd love it and so would my six/seven figure old lady friends.....

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  4. It was a clever concept. Would have been interesting to see the original casting...

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