When Norm Macdonald died in 2021, the world has deeply afflicted. Macdonald, with its impassive delivery and deliberately insipidly jokes, has often treated anti-Humor by telling so cheeky and dated jokes that people made fun of the daring of norm more than the joke itself. Just like many people were indignant that the depths of his insert during his visit on “Saturday Night Live”, on which he would openly and repeatedly mention the crimes and the so -called horrible acts committed by celebrities like Oj Simpson and Michael Jackson. Macdonald, like too many actors of his generation, also made a series of transphobic jokes during his career, although he ends up clumsily) for them. “May God bless trans people,” he said, “they should have all the rights in the world, and whoever wants to hurt them is bad.”
Macdonald may have been appreciated, but it has never been completely common, at least outside Standup and “SNL”. He appeared in several films, but it was generally in cameo roles or by providing vocal performance. He also co-written and played in the 1998 comedy led by Bob Saget “Dirty Work”, although this film has somehow landed at the box office.
Macdonald’s largest post-“SNL” program was his. “The Norm Show” of 1999 was a network sitcom that Macdonald co-created (with Bruce Helford) and played, and he ran on ABC for 54 episodes in three seasons. The premise was cute: Macdonald played a character named Norm, a former hockey player who had been taken from the NHL after a scandalous game and tax fraud fight. In order to stay outside the prison, norm – a comic and selfish guy without talent for civic construction – has agreed five years of community service. Meanwhile, her best friend and former social worker Laurie (Laurie Metcalf) had to keep him straight and train.
In a frustrating way, “The Norm Show” is not available to broadcast anywhere today.
What happened to the standard show?
“The Norm Show” was both popular and unpopular. Critics hated that, not knowing how much the series was supposed to be self -aware. The central gag was that norm was a horrible person, but the spectacle was often caustic and mean. He was supposed to help people against his will, but generally flinching them arrogant. This did not help that MacDonald’s comedy style was based on his emotional and emotionless delivery, often associated with a sufficient smile and stone face. Did he really become more human with his social work? Because he never looked like that. In addition, the cruelty of humor assured that the series would not age well.
Critics were not often sure of what to do with “The Norm Show”, and it currently has a 67% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Michele Gregpi, writing for the New York Post, visibly complained about Macdoland’s expression, saying that it was up to Metcalf to wear the series. Meanwhile, Joel Stein, writing for Time Magazine, noted that the series was simply not so entertaining.
And yet, “Norm” managed to last three seasons. The series was finally published on DVD in 2010 by The Shout! The factory, which, as it always does, included excellent bonus features, the least of which was complete comments (for the first two seasons, anyway) of Macdonald and Helford. After that, the DVD was exhausted, however, the show has somehow disappeared and can now only be seen on the second -hand market or via online bootlegs. Maybe the DVDs did not sell well. Maybe humor is considered too dated. For any reason, “The Norm Show” has never made its way on official streaming platforms.
It is also possible that the original videos of “The Norm Show” require digital brushing before modern broadcasting, and no studio wants to bother to pay money to save obscure opposition of dubious quality. Macdonald was loved by actors from around the world. His series, however, can remain forever in darkness.
