Maniac Mansion, based on a 1987 video game developed by LucasArts, was adapted for television three years later, airing in Canada on YTV, and here in the US on the Family Channel (now Freeform). The series ran for 3 seasons, usually airing on a weeknight with a rerun on Saturday mornings.
The series also had a decided Second City bent to it, with members of the troupe's Toronto branch making up much of the cast, led by Joe Flaherty. Eugene Levy not only was an executive producer and writer, but was credited with composing some of the music as well.
The satirical premise was what if a man named Edison had invented weirder things than Thomas Edison had. Two experiments led to Fred Edison (Flaherty) giving his toddler son an adult body, but with the child's mind intact, and tramsmuted Harry, giving him the body of a fly, poking fun at a movie franchise that had been revived four years earlier. In fact, Harry, the fly (John Hemphill, a later member of Second City), is the focus of an episode. Here's a sample clip.
2 comments:
Just a minor correction: It was Edison's toddler son Turner who due to a lab accident, was rapidly aged into an overweight middle aged man, but retained his young mind.
Oh. I'll correct the text, Goldstar. Thanks.
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