Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! This Thursday, I will be reviewing The Best Of Times, which aired its only episode on ABC in 1981. The show can be found on YouTube!
Episode 1.1 “Pilot”
(Dir by Don Mischer, originally aired on July 31st, 1981)
The Best of Times opens with a teenage Crispin Glover in his bedroom. Looking straight at the camera, he introduces himself as “Crispin.” His unseen mother starts to yell at him about cleaning his room. Crispin smiles nervously and then introduces us to the kids he hangs out with. There’s Jill Schoelen, Julie Piekarski, Kevin Cortes, Lisa Hope Ross, David Rambo, Janet Robin, and “my friend” Nicolas Coppola.
Nicolas Coppola, of course, would soon be better known as Nicolas Cage. Both Cage and Glover made their screen debuts in The Best of Times. While Glover spends his time talking directly to the camera and smiling awkwardly, Cage spends his time exercising at the beach and talking about sports. The big school dance is coming up, and all of Crispin’s friends are either trying to find dates or the perfect pair of jeans or else they’re trying to join a band. Nicolas Cage, however, isn’t worried about any of that. He’s confident and smooth.
The plot of The Best of Times is not easy to summarize. The show was executive-produced by George Schlatter, the creator of Laugh-In, and it tries to imitate that classic show’s format, just with teenagers in the ’80s. There are quick blackout sketches. There’s a lot of corny one-liners. There’s a surprisingly large number of musical numbers. Crispin Glover puts on a pair of jeans, and all the girls in the cast start singing “Heartbreaker.” “Special guest star” Jackie Mason plays Mr. O’Reilly and rolls his eyes about the kids nowadays. Crispin looks at the camera and tries to explain why teenagers get a little crazy sometimes. “Try to remember,” he tells the parents watching, “when you were our age.”
There’s one dramatic moment. Nicolas Cage stands on the beach and gives a dramatic monologue about how, if war breaks out in El Salvador, he’ll serve his country. His father served in Korea and still suffers from PTSD. Nic hopes that there isn’t a war, but if there is, he’ll be there.
The Best of Times is energetic and relentless, and it’s also rather corny and predictable. It may have been made by the guy behind Laugh-In, but it feels more like a lesser episode of MADtv. (“Tonight, Mad TV looks at teenagers!”) With the exception of Crispin Glover and Nicolas Cage, most of the members of the cast are interchangeable. This show features not one but two dorky guys who can’t get dates to the big dance. That might be realistic, but it still feels like overkill.
That said, it is a pilot starring a young Nicolas Cage. Compared with the actor he would become, Cage is fairly restrained here. He’s likable, but he’s also clearly an actor carefully following direction. The only time he really gets to let loose is at the school dance. His moves are killer.
The Best of Times was not turned into a regular series. Nicolas, Crispin, and Jill Schoelen went on to become beloved cult actors. As for the rest of the cast, David Rambo is now an award-winning playwright, and Janet Robin is an acclaimed composer and guitarist. I doubt any of them remember much about this pilot, but I’m glad they’ve gone on to live the best of times.
