Nikki (WB, 2000-2002)
Following on from Jesse (that I reviewed recently), this is another American sitcom featuring a young female character in the lead role, that was only shown in this country on Channel 4 in an afternoon slot in the early-2000s for a short while. Nikki (there was also a girls’ comic in the 80s called Nikki) starred Nikki Cox, who had previously featured in the WB sitcom Unhappily Ever After, and the ABC sitcom The Norm Show (which was also shown in this country on Channel 4, but in a very late-night slot).
She impressed enough in these to be given the leading role in a sitcom. Nikki played Nikki White, who was a dancer at the Golden Calf Casino in Las Vegas. Her choreographer is the English-born Martine, who has outrageous ideas for routines, and often struggles to keep all of the women under his guidance. They all dream of becoming famous dancers, although that is rather unlikely.
One of Nikki’s fellow dancers and friends is Mary (who had a rather terrific hairstyle). Nikki’s husband Dwight also often dreams of fame. He is a professional wrestler who is known as The Crybaby. But again, his coach Jupiter doubts if he has got what it takes to get to the top. This meant that Nikki contained plenty of action, with several scenes featuring dance routines or wrestling in the ring.
By the second and final series, various ideas were tried out. One episode featured a parody of sitcoms including Married… With Children for some reason, and even had a guest appearance from neighbours Steve and Marcy (played by the same actors from the actual show). And one episode also featured a guest appearance from the wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage, how exciting!
There were 41 episodes of Nikki, although it seems that the final six were never shown in either the US or this country, and because I’m fairly sure that there has been no DVD release, they remain unseen. Although this was not a big success, the combination of all this definitely livened up an afternoon. Nikki Cox doesn’t seem to have done too much TV work after the end of this though, which is a disappointment because she was great.
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