During the years 1994 - 1995, I loved the FX cable channel. I watched more hours of TV (via live viewing, and VCR viewing) tuned to the FX cable channel, than several of the major networks combined. FX had everything you could want. The problem, I guess, was they received very few viewers, comparitively speaking. I assume they were on too few cable systems. 

The first live show on FX was Breakfast Time. Tom Bergeron & Laurie Hibberd were co-hosts. The studio was designed as an actual penthouse apartment. It had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen & every other possible room you can think of, including a ballroom. This apartment was incredibly huge, it filled the entire second floor of a 3 story New York office building. They would do interviews in each and every one of the rooms, including the bathroom. They would do the interview while the celebrity was sitting in the claw-foot bathtub and the interviwer was sitting on the edge of the tub. They also had celebrity interviews while the interviewer & celebrity were in bed together. THIS SHOW WAS FAR DIFFERENT, THAN ANYTHING ELSE ON TV. It was fantastic.

For comic relief, they had "Bob the Puppet." Bob was a wart laden, furry creature, who had the arm of Al Rosenberg up his body, which of course, was a neccessary evil. Rosenberg gave "Bob the Puppet" life. Bob was usually incredibly funny, with his off-the-cuff and sarcastic comments.

The show had a roving band of "Road Warriors", who were young reporters, that were sent out to interesting spots around the country. They would show the TV viewers the lifestyles of people around the country. They might go to an unusual event, such as, a recreation of a New Orleans funeral, with a New Orleans jazz band. Everything on the show was done with silliness in mind, including, explaining serious and large concept subjects. If they wanted to explain the war in Bosnia, they would lay props out in the huge ballroom & recreate the events. As the camera would look down on the "battlefield", the TV viewer would have a God-like view of the events unfolding. 

One of the Road Warriors was Phil Keoghan, who later went on to host Amazing Race. I met Mr. Keoghan at a charity event in Louisville, a few years ago. I complimented him on his work on Breakfast Time. The conversation was very brief, he didn't seem to have anything to say. Maybe, he was pissed off that I didn't compliment him on Amazing Race, which I have only seen one time, when the race ended in Chicago. Maybe, Breakfast Time was ancient history to him. Maybe, he doesn't like cocktail party small talk.

Many times the hosts of Breakfast Time would go out on the street or do interviews in the park, which was across the street from the apartment. FX created the park so they would be able to use it for interviews and demonstrations of important subjects. On one occassion, they had a "Thanksgiving parade," which was in reality, a Thanksgiving street crossing. The entire parade was less than a block long. The reviewing stand was on the corner of the FX building, and the end of the parade was in the park, across the street from the reviewing stand.

Every day they would invite guests to have breakfast with them. The guests were viewers of the show who simply asked to come on the show. They were even served an actual breakfast which was cooked in the kitchen, located in the apartment. When was the last time somebody asked, and was granted the opportunity, to come on Good Morning America or Today to eat a cooked breakfast? Oh yeah, every single day!!!

Another great addition to the show was the occassional appearance of Captain Kangaroo - a.k.a. Bob Keeshan. Up until I met Phil Keoghan, Bob Keeshan was the only person that I met from Breakfast Time. Bob was the first celebrity that I ever met. I have met many celebrities - Larry Bud Melman on the bottom rung, going up to a photo opportunity with President Clinton, on the top rung. Bob Keeshan was my FIRST. Yes, you can say that I broke my cherry with Bob. HA! HA!

I grew up with the Captain and it was an incredible thrill to meet him.  I met him when he was doing a book signing. He was placed in a terrible location, located in the basement of the Marshall Fields store, on State Street, in Chicago. Only myself & one other person were in line to see him. It was pitiful. Even worse, Stephen J. Cannell, the producer/writer of Rockford Files, A-Team, Hunter, and many more, was across the aisle. He didn't have anybody wanting to meet him. Including myself.

Getting back to Breakfast Time, the show lasted for less than 2 years. The cast was "promoted" to the Fox network. FX was owned by Fox, but had far fewer viewers than the parent station (or should I say, MOTHER) and the hosts seemed to have some reservations about the move. Well, there was good reason to have reservations. The suits at Fox ruined the show. The suits seem to think they are all-knowing. In reality, they know next to nothing. Granted, they do know how to act important and to talk with authority, even though they are constantly fighting the flow of ignorance cascading out of their mouths.

The suits reduced the show from 3 hours to, I believe, 90 minutes. As a result, most of the good and funny parts of the show were gone. The show was a poor imitation of the FX show. Tom & Laurie were originally on the Fox After Breakfast show. Tom was later replaced by Vicki Lawrence. I assume, Tom didn't want to put up with the all-knowing suits anymore. The show lasted for about a year with Tom & Laurie, and for a year with Laurie & Vicki Lawrence. It got worse, and worse, as time went on. 

For your enjoyment, I have uploaded several videos, that give a tiny taste of the fun that occured on Breakfast Time. The first video has a demostration of the process, that your brain goes through, when a word is on the tip of your tongue. They did it by creating a gigantic outline of a head in the outdoor park and having "words" running around the brain. The words were moved around the gigantic head by FX employees. The video also decribes the natural creation of fog.  They recreated the fog demonstration in the huge ballroom. This video segment also shows snippets, from the appearances of the musical guests that have appeared on the show.




The following video is a FX promo commercial, which shows a montage of silliness.


   

The next video is from John Davis, one of the Road Warriors. Clips include two seperate interviews in the apartment, with Eartha Kitt and James Brown, along with two Road Warrior assignments. He visits Mount Rushmore and is on top of Jefferson's head. The other clip is the New Orleans funeral recreation with the New Orleans jazz band.










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