How about sitting down one day and watching a sitcom about
Adolf Hitler living in an apartment with Eva Braun who, while running Germany
at the time, was having difficulty with his Jewish neighbors? Sound insane?
Well in 1990 a pilot for this idea was shot in England and subsequently
greenlit for an additional eight episodes.
Information
on this show is a little tricky as most people involved seemed to have
forgotten nearly everything about it. Between eleven and sixteen episodes were
planned and apparently eight of them were shot before the pilot debuted in 1990,
after which the plug was quickly pulled. Screams from Jewish organizations and
the “bad taste” patrol shit all over it. Hayim Pinner, secretary general of the
Board of Deputies of British Jews stated, “We are against any trivialization of
the Second World War, Hitler or the Holocaust, and this certainly trivializes
those things. It's very distasteful and even offensive.”
The
material here is odd, considering it’s supposed to be Hitler, you almost want
to stop yourself from laughing at it. This isn’t like in The Producers where they know the material is terrible and are
presenting it anyway, the humor is presented straight up. Not at all tongue in cheek,
it is difficult to know how to take the material. The comedic elements and
sense of pathos for the characters are wildly misplaced. The action revolves
around Hitler entertaining Chamberlain in his apartment and trying to trick him
into signing a nonviolence agreement (which sort-of happened in real life), but
the Hitler’s Jewish neighbors crash the party and try to set up the British
Prime Minister with their unattractive niece. Hilarity sort-of ensues.
It
was defended by the producers by stating that various other comedies have been
set during the Second World War. Allo
Allo and Hogan’s Heroes being two
such examples. While that is true, in both the Nazi’s were taken various
seriously. The idea of being shot out of hand by them was present in nearly every
episode of both series, even if individual Nazi characters were bumbling fools.
In this it was like the entire war existed in an episode of Friends.
Granted
there have been a few similar shows, depicting important people in situational
comedies. That’s My Bush in 2001 for
example, which showed former president George W. Bush (brought to us by the
creators of South Park, apparently they had an alternative ready if Al Gore
won, called Everybody Loves Al). That
show, along with Heil Honey, is more
of a mockery of the sitcom genre than making fun the target. But both were
quickly canceled. At least That’s My Bush
had its eight episodes aired before getting the axe.
The
entire pilot episode is below for you to judge. Enjoy and Caveat Emptor!
For more weirdness try The Foot Doctor Letters: A Serial Killer Speaks Out by Rex Hurst. Available in paperback and on kindle.
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