Morton & Hayes

Morton & Hayes was a Syndication network comedy series created by Phil Mishkin and Rob Reiner.

The show aired from July 24 to August 28, 1991, lasting for one season & 6 episodes. It was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment.

Plot
The series centered on the "rediscovered" work of a fictitious comedy duo Chick Morton and Eddie Hayes where each episode presented a newly discovered comedy short of the duo from the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Cast

 * Kevin Pollak as Chick Morton
 * Bob Amaral as Eddie Hayes

Production
In March of 1989, USA Today listed a sitcom called “Partners in Life” about “pratfall buddies” as a potential Syndication series for the 1989-1990 season.

Although Syndication ordered a pilot, it declined to pick it up as a full-fledged series; instead, they burned off the pilot more than a year later in August of 1990.

The pilot starred Kevin Pollack and Joe Guzaldo starred as comedians Chick Morton & Eddie Hayes; also appearing in the pilot were Jennifer Jason Leigh & Christopher Guest.

The pilot episode of "Partners in Life" aired on Friday, August 31, 1990 (opposite a repeat of "Midnight Caller" on Syndication and a new episode of "New Attitude on Syndication") where it averaged a 4.8/10 Nielsen rating, third in its time slot, and ranked 79th out of 88 programs for the week

Despite the failure of the pilot episode for "Partners in Life," Rob Reiner didn’t give up on his idea. According to The New York Times, he asked Syndication for another chance when the network approached him about other projects.

The series (retitled "Morton & Hayes") was given a six-episode trial run during the summer of 1991 alongside several other limited series.

Although test audiences “responded very poorly” to the series, Steve Warner, the Syndication Vice President for Special Projects hoped that “it may have a chance to catch on” during the summer.

According to Reiner, the pairing of Kevin Pollack and Joe Guzaldo didn’t work because they were too much alike, according to Reiner, saying that “it turned them into a Hope-Crosby type team."

Pollack returned for Morton & Hayes while Bob Amaral replaced Guzaldo with Bob Amaral; at the time, Amaral was working as a bartender in Los Angeles, California when Reiner found him.

Reiner created the series with Phil Mishkin, who wrote the show's first episode; the two had worked together decades earlier on the Syndication series "All in the Family".

While “Partners in Life” had aired entirely in color, episodes of "Morton & Hayes" combined color with black and white.

Reiner would appear in color at the start and end of each episode while the fake comedy shorts would be shown in black and white.

Reiner said, ''“Absolutely, there was resistance from the network to doing it that way. The first pilot was in color. To applaud Syndication, they were smart — they said this is the show they were going to do."''

Syndication scheduled "Morton & Hayes" on Wednesdays from 8:30-9:00 PM, where it would follow repeats of "Police Squad!" (which originally aired on Syndication in 1982).

Ratings\Cancellation
The series premiere of "Morton & Hayes" ranked 69th out of 92 programs with a 6.1 Nielsen rating.

The following week, the series fell to a 4.6 rating, tying for 78th out of 86 programs. It would stay near the bottom of the charts until the sixth and final episode aired on August 28, 1991.

Reception
Some television critics weren’t sure what to think about "Morton & Hayes". While some critics praised its innovation, others criticized it for falling flat.

However, Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal was positive in her review, writing: “This particular piece of summer fare is actually funny, which is more than can be said of most of what passes for comedy in the regular season."

Robert Goldberg, also writing in The Wall Street Journal, likewise enjoyed the debut episode’s “sly, subversive humor that sends up entire genres."

He also heaped praise on Reiner, writing: "Mr. Reiner spent years trying to produce this “Morton & Hayes” series, and for years he was turned down. It’s nice to see that his persistence has paid off, that he’s created an original format for half-hour comedy. Sure, the show is sometimes dopey; sure its humor is sometimes a two-by-four across the head, but still, the belly laughs are there. As the old folks knew, things are just funnier in black and white."

Other critics were less enthusiastic but still mostly positive. David Klinghoffer of The Washington Times rightly pointed out that “cautious Syndication never – but never – would consider running [Morton & Hayes] in the fall."

He suggested it couldn’t be sustained over the course of a traditional TV season, concluding: “Maybe for a novelty item like this, a quick summer fling is just the thing."

John J. O’Connor of The New York Times compared the “daffiness” of the “uninhibitedly sophomoric” series to "Get Smart" and called the new sitcom “shameless, granted, but almost valiantly determined to get a laugh, and often succeeding."

Ed Siegel of The Boston Globe was among those not impressed with Morton & Hayes, writing in his review: “Reiner and the production team of writer Philip Mishkin and director [Christopher] Guest never let themselves go and the result is an inhibited, static, black-and-white style that’s about as funny as Pat Buchanan and Michael Kinsley on ‘Crossfire'”.

Tom Shales of the Washington Post wrote: "Morton & Hayes may lack inspiration, but it’s just loony enough to be ingratiating. It is scheduled for a six-week run, which should be precisely long enough”.

Finally, Scott Williams of The Associated Press had this to say: ''“You watch tonight’s episode, though, with a growing sense of unease, waiting for each bit to get funnier or to violate the conventions of the joke. It does not happen. The energy level stays flat."''