Madman of the People

The series stars character actor Dabney Coleman as Jack "Madman" Buckner, an outspoken newspaper columnist who had written a popular column, Madman of the People, in Your Times magazine for 30 years. The premise of the show involves Buckner's daughter, Meg (Cynthia Gibb), being brought in by the publisher to bring Buckner's column into the 1990s.

• Dabney Coleman as Jack "Madman" Buckner
• Concetta Tomei as Delia Buckner
• Cynthia Gibb as Meg Buckner
• John Ales as Dylan Buckner
• Amy Aquino as Sasha Danziger
• Craig Bierko as B.J. Cooper

{{No plot|date=August 2018}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 1

|Title = Pilot

|DirectedBy = James Burrows

|WrittenBy = Chris Cluess & Stu Kreisman

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|9|22}}

|Viewers = 22.7{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=September 28, 1994}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 2

|Title = Murder Most Fowl

|DirectedBy = John Ratzenberger

|WrittenBy = Sally Lapiduss & Pamela Eells

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|9|29}}

|Viewers = 23.2{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=October 5, 1994}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 3

|Title = All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Mad Boy

|DirectedBy = James Burrows

|WrittenBy = Steve Paymer

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|10|6}}

|Viewers = 21.7{{cite news|title=CBS edges into No. 1 spot, but can it stay?|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=October 12, 1994|author=Graham, Jefferson}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 4

|Title = Guys Just Wanna Have Fun

|DirectedBy = John Ratzenberger

|WrittenBy = Bill Fuller & Jim Pond

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|10|13}}

|Viewers = 20.9{{cite news|title=Regular series put ABC back on top|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=October 19, 1994|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 5

|Title = 'Til Death Do Us Part

|DirectedBy = Jim Drake

|WrittenBy = Sally Lapiduss & Pamela Eells

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|10|20}}

|Viewers = 18.8{{cite news|title='Grace' leads ABC to tie with CBS|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=October 26, 1994|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 6

|Title = The Jack Buckner Society

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Alison Rosenfeld Desmarais

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|10|27}}

|Viewers = 18.9{{cite news|title=ABC is 'Home' alone at the top|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=November 2, 1994|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 7

|Title = Birthday in the Big House

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Bill Fuller & Jim Pond

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|11|3}}

|Viewers = 21.5{{cite news|title='Cagney & Lacey' makes winning return|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=November 9, 1994|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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|LineColor =000

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 8

|Title = Jack Has Left the Building

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Tom Seeley & Norm Gunzenhauser

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|12|1}}

|Viewers = 18.1{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=December 7, 1994}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 9

|Title = Life Without Father

|DirectedBy =Jim Drake

|WrittenBy =Steve Paymer

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|12|8}}

|Viewers = 21.4{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=December 14, 1994}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 10

|Title = It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Christmas

|DirectedBy =Jim Drake

|WrittenBy =Deidre Fay & Stuart Wolpert

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|12|15}}

|Viewers = 21.9{{cite news|title=ABC's winning way with comedy|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=December 21, 1994|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 11

|Title = What a Big Mouth You Have, Grammy

|DirectedBy =John Ratzenberger

|WrittenBy =Tom Seeley & Norm Gunzenhauser

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|12|29}}

|Viewers = 17.9{{cite news|title=Football kicks of '95 on top|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=January 4, 1995|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 12

|Title = Notes from the Underground

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Dinah Kirgo

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|1|5}}

|Viewers = 26.9{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=January 11, 1995}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 13

|Title = Truths My Father Told

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Bill Fuller & Jim Pond

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|1|12}}

|Viewers = 24.3{{cite news|title='ER' rolls into the No. 1 spot|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=January 18, 1995|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 14

|Title = The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

|DirectedBy =Jim Drake

|WrittenBy =Tom Seeley & Norm Gunzenhauser

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|1|26}}

|Viewers = 24.2{{cite news|title=Super Bowl kicks ABC to the top|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=February 1, 1995|author=DeRosa, Robin}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 15

|Title = Anytime, Anywhere

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Stephen Neigher

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|6|10}}

|Viewers = 6.7{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=June 14, 1995}}

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 16

|Title = The Madman and the Showgirl

|DirectedBy =Philip Charles MacKenzie

|WrittenBy =Dava Savel

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|6|17}}

|Viewers = 6.5{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|department=Life|work=USA Today|page=3D|date=June 21, 1995}}

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Though the series earned good ratings, ranking 12th{{cite web |url=https://jacksonupperco.com/2018/06/06/mstv-flops-a-look-at-madman-of-the-people/|title=MSTV Flops: A Look at MADMAN OF THE PEOPLE|last=Upperco|first=Jackson|date=June 6, 2018|website=jacksonupperco.com|publisher= |access-date= |quote=}} for the season with a 14.9 average household share, it was pulled from NBC's schedule in January 1995 and cancelled before the 1994-95 season was officially over. It is one of the highest-rated 1st-year shows to ever get cancelled during its initial season. NBC soured on the show because it lost a considerable portion of its lead-in audience from Seinfeld and was also hindering the then-freshman hit drama ER. NBC noticed the early success of Friends and decided to re-shuffle its lineup to put that show in the 9:30 PM EST spot, leading to one of the most dominant programming blocs in TV history.{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/1994-friends-seinfeld-er-warren-littlefield-transcript.html|title=The Architects of NBC's Classic Must-See Lineup Reveal How Friends and ER Became Legends|publisher=Vulture|date=September 4, 2014|last=Adalian|first=Josef|access-date=23 May 2015}} The last two episodes aired in June 1995, during the period that was formerly called "Burn-off Theatre", when in the pre-reality TV era networks would make more money airing new episodes of already-doomed shows than it would for repeats from most shows that would return the following fall.

When it first aired, Madman of the People was considered by critics as one of "the fall season's least likable new comedies" and not deserving of its comedy label.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-22-ca-41409-story.html|title=TV Reviews : NBC's Strongest Evening of the Week Has Its Weak Spot|last=Rosenberg|first=Howard|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 22, 1994|access-date=July 8, 2018}}

Episode 7, "Birthday in the Big House", was promoted to directly tie in with the same night's episodes of both Friends and Mad About You. All three series were set in New York City and all aired on NBC on Thursday evenings. Accordingly, a continuing plot thread ran through all three shows broadcast on November 3, 1994: a city-wide blackout caused by the character of Jamie in the Mad About You episode "Pandora's Box" continued through to the Madman of the People episode "Birthday in the Big House", and concluded in the Friends episode "The One With The Blackout". None of the characters crossed over from one series to another in these episodes; only the details of the blackout situation were used to create a crossover effect. (The series Seinfeld, which also aired on Thursday evenings on NBC and was also set in New York, chose not to participate in this crossover event.)

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0108846}}

Category:1994 American television series debuts

Category:1995 American television series endings

Category:1990s American multi-camera sitcoms

Category:1990s American workplace comedy television series

Category:American English-language television shows

Category:Television series about journalism

Category:Television series by CBS Studios

Category:Television shows set in New York City

Category:NBC sitcoms