Phil Hendrie: You Shouldn't Have Quit Your Day Job

[fred flintstone]

All Access:

Hendrie Sitcom Cancelled By NBCPHIL HENDRIE's sitcom is not on NBC's FALL schedule, to be announced at the annual television "upfront" presentations in NEW YORK MONDAY afternoon (5/15). "TEACHERS" was a midseason entry on the network but was cancelled along with fellow first-season shows "FATHOM," "E-RING," and "CONVICTION" and second-season sitcom "JOEY." HENDRIE is leaving PREMIERE RADIO NETWORKS in JUNE to continue his acting career.

 

[jcolletta275]

All his fans, including myself, have pointed this out. However, I completely understand his reasoning behind leaving radio alone (not considering the acting career). There's so much that he can't do because of the fear of the FCC coming down hard on him. It's not that he wants to use raunchy language, it's the subject matter he wants to do (and hell, look at what happened to Bubba The Love Sponge on that note).We all knew Teachers was going to ultimately fail. Phil himself noted before the show even premiered that NBC had sent some suits in to "tweak" the thing. I'm not saying that if that hadn't happened, the show wouldn't have been cancelled, but it probably would've stood a better chance if they'd left well enough alone. Matt Tarses is no fool... he knows how to make a sitcom work. Unfortunately, NBC went over his head and made changes that seemed to have dumbed the show down, likely the primary cause of it's low ratings.Many have suspected that Hendrie will make the jump to satellite radio. I'm on the fence as to that idea. On one hand, he's praised satellite radio for providing freedom from FCC regulations. On the other hand, he's criticized the two companies for hiring big names that have nothing to do with radio at all. I can think of one bit that hit that note pretty hard... and after the bit was cut short, the show returned pre-recorded, leading me to believe he got in a bit of hot water over it. So obviously he has a love-hate relationship with satellite radio, and that keeps me from making a call either way.Whatever he ends up doing, though, I doubt it will be terrestrial radio. He's made it pretty clear that he's done with the medium. If he does come back though, most of his fans will be rejoicing (even though they'll be calling him a hypocrite for the rest of their lives ;D ).

 

[jcolletta275]

Another good point I should bring up about Hendrie leaving radio is summed up best by "BowlHaircut" over on sweetfeatheryjesus.com, a Hendrie fan forum:

I've been taking a trip down memory lane thanks to some recent clips that I, uh, found from 1998. And I've been finding almost across the board that these bits are funnier than anything I've heard from the live PHS in the last year and a half. Besides for the free-ness with which Phil speaks, I think the part I love most is that Phil liked doing the bits more back then- you can tell.Now I'm a long time fan that has been listening since 98, but I never noticed it before. Phil had a better time back then. There's more laughing, character development, you can just tell he's having a ball with it. Today, he sounds bitter with his callers- both the ones he voices and the ones that call in. You'd rarely hear him hang up on someone back in the day.I heard an Austin Amarka bit (and I rarely find him funny) from '98. Austin accuses Phil of doing the voice of someone who called in, pissed at Austin. He keeps yelling at Phil to talk at the same time as the caller and when Phil doesn't, Austin says Phil is toying with him. It was hilarious, the caller swore she was her own person (which she was) and totally missed it. But this little wink at the fans was just classic Phil. And I miss this type of fun.He hangs up on people a whole lot more today, he gets frustrated, you can hear the stress.I'm gonna miss the old stinkin show. I am. But I, for one, am starting to better understand why our comedic genius needs a little break from it all.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Another good point I should bring up about Hendrie leaving radio is summed up best by "BowlHaircut" over on sweetfeatheryjesus.com, a Hendrie fan forum:

I've been taking a trip down memory lane thanks to some recent clips that I, uh, found from 1998. And I've been finding almost across the board that these bits are funnier than anything I've heard from the live PHS in the last year and a half. Besides for the free-ness with which Phil speaks, I think the part I love most is that Phil liked doing the bits more back then- you can tell.Now I'm a long time fan that has been listening since 98, but I never noticed it before. Phil had a better time back then. There's more laughing, character development, you can just tell he's having a ball with it. Today, he sounds bitter with his callers- both the ones he voices and the ones that call in. You'd rarely hear him hang up on someone back in the day.I heard an Austin Amarka bit (and I rarely find him funny) from '98. Austin accuses Phil of doing the voice of someone who called in, pissed at Austin. He keeps yelling at Phil to talk at the same time as the caller and when Phil doesn't, Austin says Phil is toying with him. It was hilarious, the caller swore she was her own person (which she was) and totally missed it. But this little wink at the fans was just classic Phil. And I miss this type of fun.He hangs up on people a whole lot more today, he gets frustrated, you can hear the stress.I'm gonna miss the old stinkin show. I am. But I, for one, am starting to better understand why our comedic genius needs a little break from it all.

He's pretty much nailed it. Phil admitted on the show on the night he announced his retirement that he wasn't having fun doing the show anymore. He's not as friendly to the callers these days, and if you've ever called the show, they screen the shit out of it. I don't know exactly what caused it, but it's certainly noticable even when comparing the modern shows to the early syndication days. I remember Phil once told fans to call in and mention bits where we the listeners feared Phil would get fired, and people were bringing up old bits like Margaret Grey saying she had small pox. Granted, I understand reasons why he doesn't want certain callers on like the ones who just call to kiss his ass, since I always find those a waste of time as a listener, but the fact that he's less friendly with his listeners just makes the show less fun to listen to.

 

[Legend City]

I just listened to some 95 and 96 stuff, comedy gold!!But, yeah, radio ain't much fun anymore, he had a great premise tonite with the Jimmy Hoffa bit, but the callers sucked.It was still funny as hell, exponentially more enjoyable than anything Combover boy does.

 

[robbbc]

About the FCC issues:In Eastern time Zone the show is on after 10 so the FCC can't touch him there. As for the rest of the country why not just tape delay it to after 10?

 

[jcolletta275]

Well, firstly, he syndicates out of Los Angeles. Secondly, that would ruin the whole premise of the show, which is to fool callers into thinking that the "guests" are real. He already gets callers from stations that delay his show by various amounts of time, thinking the guest they're calling in to talk to is on the air, but in all actuality, it's a previous guest they're trying to get a hold of. Take that problem and apply it to three quarters of the country, and that would pretty much kill off his caller base.

 

[sdwulfdawg]

Still, let's face the fact that after some 4000 shows he is burned out. (I calculated that as 52 weeks x 5 days = 260 shows a year x 15 years.)

 

[Legend City]

Yeah, I downloaded 8 CD's worth of MP3's of his work, and its brilliant, especially the old KFI stuff where he didn't have too many restrictions.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Still, let's face the fact that after some 4000 shows he is burned out. (I calculated that as 52 weeks x 5 days = 260 shows a year x 15 years.)

After vacations and days off, it's probably closer to 3000 than 4000.