Throb (1986-1988)
I am not usually that interested in American sitcoms, but when I read the description of this one, I decided that I must find out more, because this is a syndicated sitcom that was made in the mid-80s about the music industry. So I thought that there might a chance that Throb could feature a lot of big-haired pop stars, and after I went on YouTube, I discovered that to some extent this was right.
The main character in Throb is Sandy Beatty (Diana Canova, who was also in sitcom Soap). Sandy is a 33-year-old divorcee from New York who gets a job at an independent New Wave record label. As the music of her childhood was from the 60s, seeing all the trendy people from a younger generation hanging around the office makes her feel older than she is and out of touch.
It was rather odd seeing all these pop stars come and go and also perform their songs in the office while the staff tried to work (and there were no computers!). Maybe with some work they could end up on the cover of Billboard or Cash Box. Sandy’s boss is Zachary Armstrong, and his look and mannerisms were based on Michael J Fox, who was increasing in popularity at the time.
Other characters include Sandy’s colleague Phil, along with her friend and neighbour Meredith, and her son Jeremy (Paul Walker, who would become better known for appearing in the Fast And Furious film franchise). Among the real pop stars making guest appearances were Donny Osmond and Frankie Valli, and a young George Clooney played an aspiring singer in an early episode.
But what really interested me about Throb was that there was a character called Blue, but it turns out that she didn’t have blue hair though. Her real name was Prudence, she was rather mouthy and trendy, and she was played by the English-born Jane Leeves. Now it is always rather strange to hear London accents turn up in American shows. There is something of a personality clash between her and the more reserved Sandy.
Blue did have some rather spectacular 80s hair though, and her dress sense was remarkable too. I would bet that even the cast of Jem wouldn’t want to wear half of the costumes that she did. Blue later moves in with Sandy. Leeves would eventually become a big name when she was in sitcom Frasier in the 90s, and in this she would have a Manchester accent instead of a London one, but Leeves is actually from East Sussex.
There were 48 episodes of Throb in two series. Some early episodes were shown in some ITV regions in a late-night slot in the late-80s. And all of the episodes were shown on Channel 5 in the late-90s, in the not very coveted timeslot of 4:40am, seemingly when they had run out of editions of Move On Up to repeat. But I was pleased to have seen this, what times they were.
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