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*(Season One) Sabrina is afraid to go to school for the first time.
 
*(Season One) Sabrina is afraid to go to school for the first time.
 
*"''Sabrina's Christmas Wish''" (Season One), The Horse's first Christmas with the orphans.
 
*"''Sabrina's Christmas Wish''" (Season One), The Horse's first Christmas with the orphans.
*[[Cindy Crawfish|Cindy Crawfish's]] plane crashes into the Horse's backyard and they start a relationship. However, Sabrina runs away because Cindy isn't going to be her new mommy. This was BoJack's first onscreen kiss on the show.
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*[[Cindy Crawfish|Cindy Crawfish's]] plane crashes into the Horse's backyard and they start a relationship. However, Sabrina runs away because Cindy isn't going to be her new mommy. This was BoJack's first onscreen kiss on the show.
 
*''I'm Ready For My Closeup, Mr. Dementia'': The gang takes in an elderly man with dementia after he follows Ethan home.
 
*''I'm Ready For My Closeup, Mr. Dementia'': The gang takes in an elderly man with dementia after he follows Ethan home.
 
*Olivia has a school project where she pretends an egg is a baby.
 
*Olivia has a school project where she pretends an egg is a baby.

Revision as of 16:21, 28 November 2019


Introduction

Horsin' Around is a situational comedy created by Herb Kazzaz in the BoJack Horseman universe that premiered on ABC in 1987.

It was filmed, in front of a live studio audience, and lasted for nine seasons. Each episode lasted twenty-two minutes.

Synopsis

The show, which is set in Omro, Wisconsin, portrays a young bachelor horse-simply called The Horse. The Horse is forced to reevaluate his priorities, when he agrees to raise three human children.

They are Olivia the sensible oldest daughter, Ethan the nerdy middle son, and Sabrina the adorable youngest daughter.

In the series finale, The Horse dies of a broken heart, because the children didn't appreciate him enough. They are then handed back over to Child Protective Services.

Cast

Actor Character
BoJack Horseman ... The Horse
Joelle Clarke ... Olivia
Bradley Hitler-Smith ... Ethan
Sarah Lynn ... Sabrina

Guest Starring

Actor Role
Hulk Hogan Guest starred in an episode telling BoJack Horseman and Sarah Lynn to say no to drugs.
Ritchie Osbourne Goober, recurring role
Erika Eleniak Guest starred as Goober's cousin from out of town.
Jose Canseco Guest starred as Olivia's angel.
Nancy Reagan Guest starred
Barry Sheck Guest starred
Cindy Crawfish Guest starred

Behind the Scenes

History

The show was first pitched in the mid-1980's by comedian Herb Kazzaz to the executives of the ABC network while they were drunk, and the executives agreed to pick up the show. On Herb's insistence, ABC agreed to allow a fellow comedian and Herb's friend BoJack Horseman to be the lead role. The show was launched by ABC in 1987, and went off to a great start.

For much of the late 80's and early 90's, Horsin' Around was a major success, to the point of regular guest appearances from various celebrities and major figures of the time, including wrestler Hulk Hogan, baseball player Jose Canseco, supermodel Cindy Crawfish, actress Erika Eleniak, O.J. Simpson defense attorney Barry Scheck, and even former first lady Nancy Reagan. Horsin' Around also made attempts to touch upon social issues, with some episodes discussing racism, drug use, and the Armenian Genocide.

However, problems soon began to brew amongst the cast and crew. Lead actor BoJack Horseman began to drink, leading to a shift of attitude into a depressed cynical state, present as early as 1990. BoJack also began sleeping with several women around this time as well, including fellow actor Bradley Hitler-Smith's mother, resulting in his parents' marriage collapsing. Teen actress Joelle Clarke began to become jealous and eventually resent fellow child actress Sarah Lynn due to the attention the latter got. Sarah Lynn, whose parents were neglectful and abusive, sought affection and comfort in fellow cast and crew members but only got attention on set from Herb and hairstylist Sharona. This resulted in Sarah Lynn's chronic sense of loneliness, which would start to snowball after both Herb and Sharona would eventually be forced off the show’s team.

By the early-mid 1990s, the show began to decline with the debut of rival sitcom Mr. Peanutbutter's House, which was a blatant ripoff of Horsin' Around, yet went on to be even more successful.

Around this time, Herb was publicly revealed to be gay after being arrested in a public indecency string, resulting in conservative groups boycotting Horsin’ Around and calling for Herb’s termination. ABC wasted no time in terminating Herb, with executive Angela Diaz completely disarming BoJack’s attempts to stand up for Herb. Herb was then replaced by Danny Bananas as the showrunner. 

In 1994, not long after Herb’s termination, BoJack, feeling immense guilt from the ordeal, verbally attacked Sarah Lynn and Sharona out of anger, which leads a confused and hurt Sarah Lynn to drink a water bottle filled with vodka that belonged to BoJack. As a result, Sarah Lynn was forced to leave the show early that day, and Danny Bananas informed BoJack on the situation.

BoJack pulls Sharona into his dressing room and then tells her Sarah Lynn got into the vodka, and that Danny knows he got it from her. Sharona defends herself and says it was BoJack's, but BoJack asks what difference it makes and that if he gets fired for this the show is over and everything he did was for nothing, including what he did to Herb. He tries to promise Sharona that if she takes the fall he can help her get a fresh start afterward, but when she tries to reject him and questions what happens if she says no, BoJack replies no one is asking her.

The show eventually ended after nine seasons in 1996, and the cast largely went their separate ways after the show’s conclusion.

Reception

Horsin’ Around was initially dismissed by critics as broad, saccharine, and mediocre. However, the family comedy struck a chord with the United States and went on to air for nine seasons.

The reviews apparently got worse after creator Herb Kazzaz was fired and replaced by Danny Bananas.

Cancelled Revival

In 2016, Bradley Hitler-Smith attempted a revival of Horsin’ Around called Ethan Around. It would have been about Ethan and his three adopted horse children. The Horse would also appear, despite the fact he died in the series finale of Horsin’ Around.

BoJack Horseman did agree to it, and the cast attempted to film the first episode. However, BoJack had a panic attack after one of the child actors said she wanted to be just like him. It reminded him of Sarah Lynn and how he ruined her and played a part in her death, and he left the set. The series was never brought up in Season 4 and it is likely that it got canceled shortly after.

Catchphrases

  • Sabrina: “That’s too much, man!”
  • The Horse: “I’ve heard of (x) but this is ridiculous!”
  • Ethan: “Yowza Yowza, Bo-Bowza!”
  • Various Characters: “Go home Goober!”

Trivia

  • Horsin' Around is listed as a show on Netflix but only the title sequence is available to watch.
  • Horsin' Around is based on various stereotypical late 80s, and early 90s television shows, one of the major inspirations being Full House.
  • Horsin' Around had nine Christmas Specials.
  • Executive Producer of the show was Garry Marshall, creator of the sitcom Happy Days.
  • The production company for Horsin' Around is implied to be Ubu Productions. However, Sabrina's Christmas Wish includes a vanity plate for "All That Kazzaz Productions" in place of the Boxer Vs. Raptor logo, suggesting Herb has his own production company.
  • The episodes are shown to be filmed in 16:9 ratio, despite the standard ratio during the time the show was supposed to have been made being 4:3
    • It could also just be a combination of narrative convenience and how older shows are often digitally remastered to fit widescreens.

Known episodes

Titles

Plots

  • Herb Kazzaz wanted to write a treasure hunt episode but the network said it was too edgy.
  • (Season One: Pilot episode) Sabrina accidentally breaks the Horse's "expensive bachelor vase."
  • (Season One) Sabrina is afraid to go to school for the first time.
  • "Sabrina's Christmas Wish" (Season One), The Horse's first Christmas with the orphans.
  • Cindy Crawfish's plane crashes into the Horse's backyard and they start a relationship. However, Sabrina runs away because Cindy isn't going to be her new mommy. This was BoJack's first onscreen kiss on the show.
  • I'm Ready For My Closeup, Mr. Dementia: The gang takes in an elderly man with dementia after he follows Ethan home.
  • Olivia has a school project where she pretends an egg is a baby.
  • Sabrina wanted to be a mermaid.
  • There is an episode where Sabrina has a black friend, which started a conversation about racism.
  • There is an episode where Ethan looks directly at a solar eclipse.
  • (Season Three) The Horse got elected president and scenes of the oval office were filmed in Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.
  • (Season Four) The Horse discovers that he wasn't the president and all was a dream.
  • "Goober Goes Home," because The Horse and Goober were on a softball team together and the home was home plate.
  • Olivia put too much detergent in the washing machine.
  • Joelle dressed up like a pumpkin, and the whole episode was fat jokes, so then Joelle got an eating disorder.
  • Olivia went to the frat party, but Penny doesn't have a kind angel played by Jose Canseco to help her get out of this jam.
  • Goober's cousin comes to town and they learn about the Armenian Genocide.
  • It's The Horse's birthday and Sabrina wants to make him a big surprise, but she ends up making a mess in the kitchen.
  • Another birthday episode. It's The Horse birthday but everybody forgets to buy him a present.
  • (Season Six Finale) Olivia meets her birth mother and she contemplates moving to California with her.
  • (Season Seven Premiere) Olivia's mom relapses and she has to go on a road trip with Mr. T, Alf, and the cast of Stomp to get back home.
  • (Season Eight, Episode 4) The introduction of The Horse's identical cousin
  • The Horse accidentally walks in on Joelle in the shower.
  • Sabrina is upset with the Horse after he embarrasses her after he is invited on stage at a concert.
  • Sabrina wonders if she can find her biological family with her DNA.
  • Originally one episode was going to be about Sabrina skipping school to sneak into the Horse's office in his briefcase. However, Sarah Lynn got sick from drinking vodka and had to go home early, so the episode was about Sabrina not going to the office.
  • In the last episode, The Horse dies of a broken heart, because the kids didn't love him enough.

Opening titles

Horsin’_Around_Intro

Horsin’ Around Intro

♫Lyrics♫

Three little orphans one, two, three.
Without a home or a family tree.
Until this horse said, "Live with me,"
And now they've got a new family!

We're laughin' and learnin' and lovin' a lot.
Every new day is a dream.
We were lost and now we're found.
And we're Horsin' Around.

Awards

  • BoJack Horseman was nominated for "Male Animal in a Comedy Drama or Variety Show" at the 1994 Animal Choice Awards.

Trivia

  • The Horsin' Around house has two sets of stairs (one in the living room, and one in the kitchen), much to Diane's confusion.