History Series / TheWeirdAlShow

* ImaginaryFriend: Weird Al has an "imaginary" friend named "Gilbert". He's actually GilbertGottfried, and he professes that he's real, even going so far as to try to show Weird Al his driver's license. Al ignores him.

Yankovic had wanted to make a straight entertainment program for kids (a la ''PeeWeesPlayhouse''), but the show ran into severe ExecutiveMeddling. The previous year, the Children's Television Act had been amended to require U.S. broadcast stations to air a minimum three hours of educational programming for children each week. As such, CBS wanted its Saturday morning lineup to focus on shows that met the guidelines, and thus ''The Weird Al Show'' had to incorporate pro-social Aesops into each show, which the creators found frustrating to say the least — and that was only part of the meddling they faced. Still, the makers did their best under the circumstances.

** The commentaries recall one film which was so hilariously bizarre that they wanted to just air the real thing...only for the execs to tell them it would be too disturbing.

* AndroclesLion: Per the ExpositoryThemeTune, how Weird Al got the show. Al was in the forest trying to get a tan when he heard the tortured screaming of a funny little man. He was caught in a bear trap and Al set him free, and the guy that he rescued was as grateful as can be, and it turns out he's a big shot producer on TV. So he gives Al a contract, and whadda know? Now he's got his very own ''Weird Al Show''!

* TheDanza: The show's character claims to be Weird Al, even though the real Weird Al never lived in a cave (that we know of) nor acted like a monstrous jerk to everyone he knew.

* ExecutiveMeddling: So much. The commentaries on the DVD box set go into great detail about the various forms of creative interference this show faced (concern over "imitatable behavior", for instance).

* HeyItsThatVoice: Billy West played the voice of Harvey in the Fatman cartoons.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: All the ExecutiveMeddling meant the show never reached its full potential, and the makers knew it. Not to mention that it was on different times on every station, often very early in the morning, and its only advertising was during the Saturday-morning block itself.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Obviously had it not been for the ExecutiveMeddling, the show would have been more like a 1990s version of ''PeeWeesPlayhouse''.
** One of the DVD commentaries also talks about dropped characters, such as "The Guy Who Keeps Ringing the Doorbell and Running Away".
** Other bits that ended up not happening due to outside reasons included a sketch with Al as "Luke Skywalker's annoying little brother" in the original ''StarWars'' (which was vetoed by MarkHamill) and a possible cameo by WilliamShatner, Leslie Nielsen, or ChristopherWalken performing in "The Obligatory Holiday Episode".
** The Guy Boarded Up In the Wall was originally going to be TheUnintelligible with only Al understanding his muffled lines. Though changing it allowed them to make him a stand-up comedian.

* WriterRevolt: One episode sees Al forced to babysit an executive's nephew...who proceeds to order him to completely redesign the show to his whims. Given what the ''actual'' show went through, it's clear they were venting some frustration.
** The commentaries note that beginning each episode with a piece of paper with the moral of the day, which then gets ripped in half, was their protest over being forced to include the morals.

* The Guy Boarded Up In the Wall was originally going to be TheUnintelligible with only Al understanding his muffled lines. Though changing it allowed them to make him a stand-up comedian.

* AndroclesLion: per the ExpositoryThemeTune, how Weird Al got the show. Al was in the forest trying to get a tan when he heard the tortured screaming of a funny little man. He was caught in a bear trap and Al set him free, and the guy that he rescued was as grateful as can be, and it turns out he's a big shot producer on TV. So he gives Al a contract, and whadda know? Now he's got his very own ''Weird Al Show''!

* TheCelebrityLie: Weird Al claims to know John Tesh.

* ClassyCatBurglar: Valory Brentwood: Gal Spy.

* ExecutiveMeddling: So much. The commentaries on the DVD box set go into great detail about the various forms of creative interference this show faced (concern over "imitatable behavior", for instance). Possibly held the record, at least until [[TheTonightShow The NBC Late Night Pileup Of 2010]].
* ExpositoryThemeTune

* ParodyCommercial: Several. One was for just the head of a toy with other body parts sold separately. Another was for prepackaged meals a la Lunchables but with [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot strange, sometimes inedible combinations]].

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Val brentwood, Gal Spy doesn't actually perform any espionage or anything spy-like. Given the number of episodes where actual spy work would be useful to Al or his friends, it's surprising that she pretty much doesn't do anything but hang around at Al's house.

* ImaginaryFriend: Weird Al has an "imaginary" friend named "Gilbert". He's actually Gilbert Gottfried, and he professes that he's real, even going so far as to try to show Weird Al his driver's license. Al ignores him.

Yankovic had wanted to make a straight entertainment program for kids, but the show ran into severe ExecutiveMeddling. The previous year, the Children's Television Act had been amended to require U.S. broadcast stations to air a minimum three hours of educational programming for children each week. As such, CBS wanted its Saturday morning lineup to focus on shows that met the guidelines, and thus ''The Weird Al Show'' had to incorporate pro-social Aesops into each show, which the creators found frustrating to say the least — and that was only part of the meddling they faced. Still, the makers did their best under the circumstances.

** {{Anvilicious}}: Every episode would also spend the next half hour pounding the moral into your head from all directions, to the chagrin of the creators.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Obviously because of ExecutiveMeddling. One of the DVD commentaries also talks about dropped characters, such as "The Guy Who Keeps Ringing the Doorbell and Running Away". Other bits that ended up not happening due to outside reasons included a sketch with Al as "Luke Skywalker's annoying little brother" in the original ''StarWars'' (which was vetoed by MarkHamill) and a possible cameo by WilliamShatner, Leslie Nielsen, or ChristopherWalken performing in "The Obligatory Holiday Episode".

* AndroclesLion: per the ExpositoryThemeTune, how Weird Al got the show. Al was in the forest trying to get a tan when he heard the tortured screaming of a funny little man. He was caught in a bear trap and Al set him free, and the guy that he resuced was as grateful as can be, and it turns out he's a big shot producer on TV. So he gives Al a contract, and whadda know? Now he's got his very own ''Weird Al Show''!

* TagalongKid (for lack of a more descriptive trope): Most of Fatman's villains have sidekicks that are completely useless, like Egg Man's "[[Music/TheBeatles The Walrus]]" and Evil Uncle Frank's "The Procrastinator".

* TagalongKid (for lack of a more descriptive trope): Most of Fatman's villains have sidekicks that are completely useless, like Egg Man's "[[TheBeatles The Walrus]]" and Evil Uncle Frank's "The Procrastinator".

-->''And he really makes a mighty fine jellybean and pickle sandwich / For what it's worth.''

''The Weird Al Show'' is a half-hour, Saturday morning live action show hosted by Music/WeirdAlYankovic. It showed a little adventure of Weird Al living in a cave 20 miles below the surface of the earth with his hamster, Harvey, then taught AnAesop. It was only on for 13 episodes in 1997 before CBS took it off.

Yankovic had wanted to make a straight entertainment program for kids, but the show ran into severe ExecutiveMeddling. The previous year, the Children's Television Act had been amended to require U.S. broadcast stations to air a minimum three hours of educational programming for children each week. As such, CBS wanted its Saturday morning lineup to focus on shows that met the guidelines, and thus ''TheWeirdAlShow'' had to incorporate pro-social Aesops into each show, which the creators found frustrating to say the least — and that was only part of the meddling they faced. Still, the makers did their best under the circumstances.

* OneSceneWonder: The show was filmed in the same building as ''{{The Tonight Show}}'', and Al would often troll the halls trying to get Leno's guests to do a scene. A remarkable number of them agreed, like Drew Carey and Bill Mumy.

* ArtShift: The intro shifts animation styles from 2D animation, CGI, and claymation. Then, at the very end, it switches to live action.

* {{Continuity}}: Quite a few lapses occurred, most of which are pointed out (and mocked) in the DVDCommentary. Two notable ones include the youngest Hanson brother's hairstyle switching back and forth occasionally from regular to a ponytail (due to his refusal to keep his hair the same way as previous takes during the last take of their performance) and the Hooded Avenger putting on a party hat in one shot and the hat going back into his hand in a shot barely two seconds later.

''The Weird Al Show'' is a half-hour, Saturday morning live action show hosted by WeirdAlYankovic. It showed a little adventure of Weird Al living in a cave 20 miles below the surface of the earth with his hamster, Harvey, then taught AnAesop. It was only on for 13 episodes in 1997 before CBS took it off.

* OutOfOrder: To the point where the premiere, which introduced the regular characters and sketches, aired ''tenth''. Al and friends make a drinking game out of it in the DVD commentary.

* ThematicRoguesGallery: Fatman's villains are all either food-based or have food-based plans. Or both.