Mr. Belvedere

Its time for…80’s TV intro breakdown!!! The first in this series is of the mid to late 80’s classic…Mr. Belvedere. Not only does it feature one of the greatest theme songs ever, it has a somewhat odd intro….follow along in the clip below to the time stamps.

0:00-0:03- Mr. Belvedere is writing in his diary. He must be a narcissist as a magazine with his picture on the cover is next to him.

0:04 – A closer look at that magazine cover tells us that he was “Housekeeper Of The Year”. The magazine is called “World Focus” and apparently there is no other news that merits mention on the cover besides him.

0:06 – The money shot of the title credit and the greatest trombone note ever.

0:08 – Apparently Mr. Belvedere got around in his younger days. He served tea to Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, and FDR during WWII which, if this show took place in 1986, Mr. Belvedere would be about 95 years old at the time this show took place.

0:10 – He also meditated with Gandhi and seems put off by Gandhi’s refusal to accept his offer of tea.

0:12 – Mr. Belvedere also climbed Mount Everest, most likely in the same suit he always seems to wear.

0:15 – Looking a bit younger, Mr. Belvedere is seen here receiving a gold record from Dick Clark.

0:17 – Apparently the royalties from the above hit record were not enough monies to prevent Mr. Belvedere from resorting to hitchhiking to Pittsburgh to look for work. Did he have a major heroin, gambling, and/or hooker addiction? Who could hire this man?

0:20 – Mr. Belvedere appears at the door for the first time with a shit eating grin and eyes darting around to see what expensive collectibles are his for the taking.

0:22 – Apparently Bob Uecker doesn’t initially trust Mr. Belvedere as he serves him his first breakfast. If you look at the background, the characters seem much taller than the refrigerator and other appliances in the background….early versions of the blue screen technology?

0:25-0:26 – Nice cleavage…if you look close enough, you’ll see the son standing on her left admiring at it as well. Creepy!

0:27 – My favorite part of the credits…the part where they take two or three photographs of the actor when they introduce them. I love her facial expressions. Its like the director told her to make a funny face in the first one and then told her to smile normally in the second.

0:27-0:31 – The older son’s intro…he looks completely hammered in the first clip. His photo montage shows him looking away and then into the camera. I like that.

0:31-0:35 – The daughter intro…damn, she looks better than I remember. I was probably 10 years old when this show was originally on the air and had barely enough testosterone to know if she was good looking or not.

0:36-0:39 Ah yes…Wesley. You either liked him or you hated him. I didn’t mind and enjoyed his battles with Mr. Belvedere. I remember him having a friend in the show who wore a night brace which basically was like wearing a giant bear trap around your face. Thank got braces were invented by the time I needed them….but I digress. Sadly I think I owned the same sweater he’s wearing during his photo shots.

0:40 – 0:44 – Some quick clips and the intro of Bob Uecker… one of the greatest announcers/actors alive today (see Major League and any Milwakee Brewers game).

0:50 – Mr. Bevedere and Bob Uecker ignore the fact they have three children in the house and decide to smoke cigars inside. Looks like someone told the other a dirty joke too.

0:54 – Mr. Belvedere turns off the porn and calls it a night.

As a bonus, you get to see the end credits but there’s nothing exciting except the instrumental version of the theme song.