Sammy (found NBC animated TV series; 2000)

This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its lack of references.

Promo image showing the main characters James (right) and Sammy (left).

Status: Found

Sammy (originally named Peewee) was an American animated TV series created by David Spade and Drake Sather (who also wrote for SNL, News Radio and the movie Zoolander) and produced by Brad Grey Television, Desert Rat Productions, Adelaide Animation, and Columbia TriStar Television for the NBC network. Only 2 of the produced 13 episodes were aired, those being Denver and Sammy Makes Amends.

The series ran from August 8th until August 15th, 2000, before being cancelled presumably because of low ratings and lack of any major promotion for the show, which could explain why the series has gone lost in the first place. The episodes that aired have never made their way onto the internet, and, until 2021, the series has never been reaired, and aside from a few screenshots, concept art, a couple script pages and some newspaper ads the series remains lost. In 2021, the pilot episode was uploaded to Youtube by Matt thanks to an crew member on the show.^[1]

Plot

The series follows the life of a comedian named James Blake (voiced by Spade), whose father, Sammy (also voiced by Spade) returns after several years to free-load off of his son's success in the industry, and also to attempt to reconstruct his fractured family. The series was loosely based on Spade's own experiences in life, and the titular character, Sammy, was based off of his father Wayne M. Spade, who also served as a consultant writer on the show.

Cast

David Spade as Sammy and James Blake.
Bob Odenkirk as Gary Blake.
Andy Dick as Mark Jacobs.
Maura Tierney as Kathy Kelly.
Harland Williams as Todd Blake.
Julie Sweeney as Marie.
Jeffrey Tambor as Steve.
Olivia Hack as Lola.

Guest Cast

Janeane Garofalo as Gary's wife, Emily and Rebecca.
Pauly Shore as Kathy's ex-boyfriend.
David Cross
AJ Benza as himself
Drew Hastings as Dr. Breman
Frank van Keeken

Crew

Creators: David Spade and Drake Sather.
Executive producers: David Spade, Drake Sather, Brad Grey, Marc Gurvitz and Richard Raynis.
Executive consultant: Joe Fury.
Supervising producer: Frank Van Keeken.
Story editors: Justin Adler, Bonnie Kallman and Keith Leslie.
Consulting producer: Ping Boucher.
Animation line producer: Janet Dimon.
Associate producer: Michelle Perslow.
Supervising director: Bob Hathcock.
Art director: Everett Peck.
Character designer: Kevin Pope.
Casting director: Bonnie Zane.
Produced by: NBC Studios and Brad Grey Television.
Animation production by: Adelaide Productions, Inc.

Episodes

Only two episodes were aired, but NBC themselves as well as TV.com released episode descriptions for episodes 1-8. There is no other information on the final 5 episodes (except for 100th Episode Party, for which a small part of the script for it, as well as a few background character designs were found by Wiki user Loana LaLande) beyond the fact that they were produced, according to a voice actress on the show, Olivia Hack.

Olivia Hack's Instagram reply, confirming that there were in fact, 13 episodes produced. (courtesy of Marisam77)

The descriptions, ripped from TV.com are below:

Episode 1: Denver: When James' mother Marie finds out that her ex-husband Sammy is living with James and Todd, she drags her new husband Steve out to Los Angeles to "save" them, but instead finds herself again falling for his charms. Meanwhile, James' agent Mark gets a book deal for James, but when it has to be written in two days, he forces Mark and Kathy to write it instead.

Episode 2: Sammy Makes Amends: A joy ride in James' new sports car ends in a near death experience for Sammy, causing him to reassess his past and use his "second chance" to make amends with his sons, with disastrous results. Incensed by their ungratefulness at his attempt to become a "normal" father, Sammy runs away to Mexico, and when his sons try bring him home, they end up in trouble and Sammy must come to their rescue in a Tijuana jail. Meanwhile, James' agent Mark has brokered a deal that will bring James' "Mongo Man" movie character to toy store shelves as an action figure. But a broken mold and an ever-accommodating Kathy as the new model turn the toy hero into a doll with a broader appeal than they had originally planned.

Episode 3: Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars (intended as series premiere, was going to be aired out of order):

The start of this animated comedy finds new Hollywood 'It' Boy, James Blake, reunited with his lovable, absentee and philandering father, Sammy Blake. The series kicks off when Sammy tries to re-establish relations with his family just as James' movie career is taking off. Also in the picture are James' incompetent, handyman brother, Todd, who just wants things to be as they were years ago when the family was together. Along the way, James' superagent, Mark Jacobs, attempts to keep the 'heat' on James while fending off Sammy's attempts at getting involved in James' career. Helping to keep things together for James are his trusty, sharp-as-a-tack assistant, Kathy Kelly, and his manager/brother, Gary.

Episode 4: House of Pain: When James hears from his mother, Marie, that they're tearing down his childhood home to build a shopping center, he gets Kathy Kelly's help to put a stop to it. When the house gets delivered to James' California residence on the back of a flatbed truck, tempers erupt between he, Gary and Todd, in terms of what to do with their childhood 'paradise.' Always the optimist, superagent Mark tries to spin this into a publicity opportunity. In the meantime, on the set of his series 'Oh, Rebecca,' Jamie counsels co-star Rebecca on how to get more respect from the writers.

Episode 5: Malibu: James's plans to get some R&R by renting a house in Malibu are foiled when his entire family shows up to hang out. James & Sammy end up feuding over the affections of Cleo, a woman they meet on the beach, and who turns out to be a stalker. Kathy and Mark look after Wiley and Lola at a celebrity children's party where Mark thinks he can make some 'contacts'. Gary and Emily have rekindled their romance with the help of Emily's new bikini.

Episode 6: Fair: James is looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home, until he finds out his agent, Mark has booked him to appear as "Mongo Man" at the county fair. He invites his brothers Todd and Gary and Gary's family to come along, but Gary doesn't want Sammy coming because of his bad influence on the kids. Gary's fears become real when Sammy stows away in the family car and then accidentally is left alone with Gary's kids, who end up stranded upside down on a broken ride while Sammy is at the bar.

Episode 7: Son of Sammy: James hopes Sammy and Gary can heal some old wounds, so he bribes Sammy into spending a quality-time weekend with Gary and his wife, with disastrous results. Meanwhile, James takes in his assistant Kathy when she breaks up with her deadbeat boyfriend but his attempts at starting a romantic relationship are thwarted when the ex-boyfriend shows up at James' house.

Episode 8: Biography: James is ecstatic to learn that he will be the subject of an A&E Biography profile, so the family secretly hustles away unpredictable Sammy to his favorite casino haunt in Laughlin, Nevada, but when, the crew arrives, they are horrified to learn that the program will be on the more scandalous and lurid E! Network. And no one, particularly James, looks forward to being grilled by the inquisitive host, A.J. Benza, with his knack for digging up dirt and putting embarrassing spins on each detail.

Episode 9: Gabriella's Return

Episode 10: Gary's Trophy

Episode 11: Earthquake

Episode 12: 100th Episode Party

Episode 13: Mark's 40th

Availability

Art director Everett Peck said that he video taped each episode, but the tapes are in storage. On May 25, 2021, Youtube user Matt Stated he had all the episodes. He will upload them as they are digitized.