Just Our Luck

Main plot

Keith Burrows (Richard Gilliland) is a young TV weatherman working at KPOX-TV Channel 6 in Venice, California. One day while jogging on the boardwalk, he passes a flea market and bumps into one of the tables causing an old green bottle to fall off and crack. Burrows is forced to buy the bottle and brings it home with him. Later that night, his cat breaks the bottle and releases Shabu, a 3,000 year-old genie. The genie tells Burrows that he had been imprisoned in the bottle for 196 years and offers to serve Burrows for 2,000 years or until his death, in Shabu's words, "whichever comes first".

Although the grateful Shabu decides to abide by the traditional role of a genie, he is somewhat disappointed by Burrows' modest lifestyle, having lived in royal palaces with historical figures such as Cleopatra, King Arthur and Napoleon Bonaparte. Much of the show's humor came from Shabu using his powers to play practical jokes on Burrows and generally causing him embarrassment in daily life. He did, however, sometimes help Burrows with social and work related problems. In one episode, he helps liven up a party thrown to impress the station manager so Burrows could keep his job. At times, Shabu's efforts would backfire. In the episode "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Burrows", for example, Shabu gives Burrows "a jolt of self confidence", causing him to become extremely egotistical, self-centered and obnoxious.

The pair would frequently interact with Burrows' co-workers at KPOX-TV; program director Meagan Huxley (Ellen Maxted), her fiancee and station manager Nelson Marriott (Rod McCary), weatherman Professor Bob (Hamilton Camp) and Burrows' neighbor Chuck (Richard Schaal). Jim Dexter (Leonard Simon), a news anchorman, was introduced later in the season.

History

The series was initially conceived by brothers Lawrence and Charles Gordon as a modern-day television adaptation of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. The two were both experienced television producers and, in association with Lorimar, were supported by the American Broadcasting Company hoping for a viable challenger to run against rival network NBC's The A-Team.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, ABC had dominated Tuesday nights with children's-themed shows (coined by Newsweek as "kidcoms") such as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and similar programming. When The A-Team debuted in the spring of 1983, however, the network was forced to regroup. Happy Days, then in its final season, was moved back half an hour to 8:30 p.m. and a new series, Just Our Luck, took its place. It was one of two shows starring an African-American lead, the other being Webster, to make its debut in the 1983 fall season. Just Our Luck was promoted by the network as one of its new ambitious comedy series and was the focus of memorable and humorous advertisements. In one of these, Shabu appeared with Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli of Happy Days and shrunk a Mr. T look-alike to the size of a midget.

Just Our Luck was T. K. Carter's first starring role in a television series. Carter was very enthusiastic about the series and at a later press conference told journalists that he wanted Shabu to be seen, in regards to younger viewers, as "the first black superhero". He later objected to comparisons of I Dream of Jeannie and responded to critics charges of racial stereotyping,

His co-star Richard Gilliland, who had appeared in a string of failed sitcoms from McMillan & Wife to Little Women, was optimistic about the show's chances. After the cancellation of Little Women, he was reluctant to audition for the show at first but agreed to read for the part of Keith Burrows at the last minute. John Astin, a fellow cast member from Operation Petticoat, directed the pilot episode. In regards to the relationship between the two characters, Gilliland commented "I think the two characters will have a dual dependency. In the future, Keith will become more magical and Shabu more mortal. Figuratively, Shabu is the master. I want to get rid of him but I can't. I'm stuck with him."

Reception

Just Our Luck premiered on September 20, 1983, as part of ABC's Tuesday night lineup, and featured Tab Hunter in a cameo appearance. Almost immediately after its first episode, it was panned by many TV critics.

The series would continue to receive generally poor reviews from many TV critics throughout the season. These were mostly complaints of the writing being uninteresting or cliched as well as unfavorable comparisons to the 1960s series I Dream of Jeannie. Some noted Carter's character as being similar to the type of "streetwise" character acting often played by African-Americans on television and the racial nature of the relationship between the two main characters. One reviewer, Kathryn Olney of Mother Jones Magazine, compared it to a 1980s version of Amos 'n' Andy. Baird Searles decried the series as "cutesy drivel". A few, however, were more supportive, such as Stuart Bykofsky of The Day, who reported "an occasional spark of wit that is very easy to take". Richard Corliss from Time also wrote Just Our Luck "scores as hip, underplayed farce".

Chuck Gordon, one of the show's four executive producers, said "When we wrote the script, there was no dialect. T.K. designed the role. He was allowed to play himself." The show's star, T.K. Carter, supported the producer's and commented on his character at an October 22 press conference.

The NAACP objected to the series, claiming a black character being portrayed as a thankful servant to a white male was offensive, and called for a national boycott of ABC until it was taken off the air. Willis Edwards, president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP, stated Shabu was "an embarrassing and degrading portrayal of a black male in the 80s." In October 1983, the organization announced that ABC had conceded to their demands and allowed the NAACP partial creative control over the series. Among the changes they made included removing the term of "master" and "servant" in the show dialogue, restricting so-called "jive talk" from Carter, the hiring of African-American writers and actor Leonard Simon to play anchorman Jim Dexter.

Just Our Luck attempted to recover from the bad publicity and brought in Roy Orbison, Dr. Joyce Brothers and Wink Martindale as guest stars. Though it did find some appeal among children, particularly for its special effects, it failed to win the 18-49 demographic and was consistently beaten in head-to-head competition by The A-Team throughout its run. In spite of its efforts, ABC canceled the series after eleven episodes.

The series was broadcast overseas in late-1984 and 1985 in countries as far away as Malaysia and Australia. The show was unable to escape its reputation as The Age's Philippa Hawker found the main characters unappealing referring to Shabu as "your standard irritating genie" and Burrows as "a rat". Just Our Luck was featured in TV Turkeys (1987) by Kevil Allman.

Characters

Episodes

Production Codes were taken from the U.S. Copyright Office.