Charlie Hoover

Today's technical wizardry wasn't available when Charlie Hoover was in production. Sam Kinison's character was a little guy standing on Charlie's shoulder. The technical challenge of hand-coordinatng two cameras required Sam to stand still so they could position him -- maybe bowing a little, or maybe making a hand gesture or two. But his natural high energy was lost and his comedic genius was stifled. The whole thing could have been cured by allowing Sam to be a full-sized person. But no, a suicidal embrace of the "little guy" concept sent this show into the crapper. And more, the set was plagued by a director who micro-managed every tiny aspect of expression, vocal emphasis and movement. They couldn't have done a better job of suffocating the special talents of Sam Kinison, Tim Matheson, and Leslie (Engleberg) Kendall.