5.6 /10 1 Votes5.6
5/10 TV Created by Jack SherLee Hewitt Country of origin United States First episode date 25 September 1976 Number of seasons 1 | 6.1/10 IMDb Genre Situation comedy Original language(s) English Final episode date August 1977 Number of episodes 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Richard B. ShullJohn SchuckBruce KirbyAndrea Howard Network American Broadcasting Company Cast John Schuck, Richard B Shull, Bruce Kirby, Larry Hovis, G Wood Similar Future Cop, Mann & Machine, McMillan & Wife, Mission Top Secret, Mr Merlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Holmes & Yoyo is an American comedy television series that aired on ABC for 13 episodes during the 1976-1977 season. The series follows Detective Holmes and his new android partner Yoyo, on their adventures and misadventures, as Holmes teaches Yoyo what it is like to be human, while trying to keep his quirky partner's true nature a secret from criminals and fellow cops.
Contents
Production
The executive producer was Leonard Stern, a former staff writer for and executive producer of Get Smart, which featured an android character named Hymie who was, in most respects, a prototype for Yoyo. Several episodes of Holmes & Yoyo were directed by John Astin. Joint series lead John Schuck also acted out the role of SFPD Detective SGT Charles Enright in the McMillan And Wife made-for-television films that starred Rock Hudson alongside Susan Saint James, of which Stern was also creator and executive producer.
Cast and characters
Richard B. Shull starred as Detective Alexander Holmes; John Schuck starred as his partner Gregory "Yoyo" Yoyonovich. Their co-stars included Andrea Howard and Bruce Kirby. Jay Leno appeared in the pilot as a gas station attendant.
Plot
Detective Alexander Holmes is a clumsy down-on-his-luck cop who constantly injures his partners. The department gives him a new partner, Gregory Yoyonovich. Yoyo, as he likes to be called, is good-natured, if a bit clumsy, and also surprisingly strong. During one of their first calls, Yoyo is shot, and Holmes discovers that his new partner is an android, a sophisticated new crime-fighting machine designed by the police department as their secret weapon on crime. "You're not a person!" is Holmes' stunned response.
Besides super-strength, Yoyo's other abilities include speed reading, and the ability to analyze clues at the scene. Yoyo had a built-in Polaroid camera: each time his nose was pressed, a Polaroid photograph of his view would be taken and ejected from his shirt pocket. Yoyo's control panel was built into his chest, which could be opened by pulling his tie. The level of Yoyo's batteries was critical, because if they ran down his memory and, effectively, his being would be erased. In one episode his batteries came very close to running down completely, and he was charged by being pushed against an electric fence with his arms extended. Yoyo weighed 427 pounds, and his heavy build could absorb the shock of a bomb.
Much of the show's comedy was derived from Yoyo's constant malfunctions. Some of his common problems included:
Another running gag involved Yoyo's ability to read an entire book by simply fanning its pages; his invariable comment after doing so was, "Thanks for the book! I really enjoyed reading it."
Reception
Today, Holmes & Yoyo is considered one of the worst television series ever made. it ranked number 33 on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time. Although the series lasted only 13 episodes (undaunted by the failure of the series, ABC green-lighted a similar concept the same season called Future Cop with Ernest Borgnine alongside Michael Shannon; it had the same lack of success as Holmes & Yoyo), the influence of Holmes & Yoyo can be felt in other "robot cop" series and films that followed, most notably the RoboCop films and TV series and the 1993 series Mann & Machine, which used the same premise as Holmes & Yoyo but had more serious storylines and a sexy female robot instead of the stout Yoyonovich. The 2013 series Almost Human once again revisits the theme.