THE STEVEN BANKS SHOW
by Cary O'Dell

In 1994, PBS decided to do something completely different.

That year, for the first--and seemingly last--time in their history, Public Broadcasting produced and aired a situation comedy created strictly for their own air.

The name of that program was “The Steven Banks Show.” 

Steven Banks was an actor, writer, and former street performer who had honed his craft playing comedy clubs and even high school assemblies.  He found his first major success in the Los Angeles theater community, via a one-man show titled “Home Entertainment Center.” 

The show, first staged in the late 1980s, featured Banks, playing “himself,” as lovable slacker and procrastinator who was very easily distracted and a little too preoccupied with popular culture. 

The show was a hit.  After 440 performances at various LA stage venues (and a variety of local theater awards being bestowed on it and its creator/star), the piece was filmed for showing on cable’s Showtime network.  It debuted on the channel in January of 1991.  (A bootleg recording of it can now be found on Youtube.)

The success and charm of the Showtime special featuring Banks and his Walter Mitty-like man-child persona attached a host of new fans.  One of them was the Disney Corporation who filmed an unaired pilot built around Banks but then, afterwards, failed to do anything with it.  Another fan was former NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff, who saw in Banks’s off-kilter worldview the makings of a weekly comedy series.  Tartikoff’s interest dovetailed with that of WYES, New Orleans’s public television station, and its then station-manager, Randy Feldman.  Feldman drummed up support for a Banks program at PBS; Tartikoff would eventually serve as the show’s executive producer. 

Once green-lighted, the show was given an eight episode order and an absolutely minuscule budget.  The show was allotted $840,000 for the entire season.  That’s an amount of money that was less than the cost of one episode of a Disney-produced, network pilot at the time.  To cut corners, the show centered itself mainly on one set (Banks’s studio apartment) and utilized the same actors for multiple roles, even within the same episode.  For example, co-star Teresa Parente played Steve’s mom, his girlfriend and his neighbor.  Another series regular, Michael Kostroff, also performed a similar double or even triple duty.

In crafting the show, Banks and his team built upon many of the same elements as “Home Entertainment.”  Once again, Steven Banks played “Steven Banks” and resided in a horrendously messy, cluttered apartment.  And, once again, he would be afflicted with some extreme ADD and be prone to break into musical interludes at the drop of any hat.

As he did successfully with “Home Entertainment Center,” many episodes of Banks’s sitcom incorporated the stars’s own funny, individualist, self-written novelty songs.

However, referring to Banks’s songs as “novelties’ is to belie the great craftsmanship and musicality that went into their creation.  Lyrically, they are funny and inventive, but Banks also showed the ability to create melodies that are truly top 40 worthy, hummable and enjoyable completely on their own.  Moreover, sometimes Banks does the nearly impossible:  he’s able to incorporate an honest and affecting emotional punch into an otherwise strictly-for-laughs tune.  For example, in his “Who Killed the King of Rock and Roll,” his list of people NOT responsible for Elvis’s demise ultimately becomes a song about how fame itself was the culprit.  His lament to a high-school crush, “Carol (Do You Remember Me?),” is part revenge anthem and, ironically, part still sweet, still-longing ballad.  And his “I Miss Paul,” done in the voice and style of John Lennon, becomes a paean to a lost friendship.

The songs from “The Steven Banks Show” (some carried over straight from “Home Entertainment Center”) became so popular that a group of ten of them were eventually issued on CD and cassette and were available for order by way of an 800 number shown at the end of the program. Copies are now highly-prized collector items.

Though “Steven Banks” is now a somewhat obscure title, upon the program’s debut, it got a considerable amount of press attention; articles on Banks and the occasional program review appeared in various newspapers coast to coast in 1993 and 1994 as the show was rolled out over various public broadcasting stations across the country.

Review-wise, response to “Steven Banks” was decidedly mixed.  Though one critic compared Banks and his iconoclastic show to TV legend/pioneer Ernie Kovacs and another said it was “laugh out loud” funny, another writer called the series “one-joke” and another called it “amateur,” stating further, “This show is so empty it makes ‘Seinfeld’ look like Voltaire.”

TV-wise, “The Steven Banks Show” seems to be the definition of an esoteric, acquired taste.  Though the show was not afraid to be silly (even surreal), it could also—sometimes—embrace a certain dark side:  one episode pivots on a stage musical about Karen Carpenter; another episode has Steven’s favorite childhood TV host dropping dead in his apartment; and yet another is about Steven erroneously being delivered a dead person’s ashes.

“Banks” seemed to happily embrace a certain “outsider-ness.”  A list of the show’s odd guest star list shows it was not afraid to buck trends.  During its run, Peter Lupus, Peter Tork and Billy Mumy all made cameo appearances.

Sadly, though, even though at the time both “Seinfeld” and “It’s Garry Shandling Show” were stretching the sitcom genre, “Banks” and company were perhaps a little too quirky, a little too “meta” for even the most adventurous of viewers.

More problematic, however, was the fact that few viewers were used to getting their home-grown humor (as opposed to imported-from-England humor) from public television.  And with only ten episodes and a pilot produced and aired, the show’s lifespan did not allow it to build the word-of-mouth necessary for its survival.  Hence, eleven episodes is all there is.

Still, Banks himself was far too talented to be kept at bay for long.  He has gone on to appear in various films and television roles.  His alter ego, Billy the Mime, has toured, and nearly stole the show in the 2005 documentary/comedy “The Aristocrats.” 

But, in the years since the PBS show, it’s been as a writer that Banks has had his greatest success, bringing his unique voice and vision to such sophisticated animation programs as “Jimmy Neutron” and, most extensively, “Spongebob Squarepants.”  Creating the oddball adventures for that undersea organism has proved to an excellent fit for Banks’s uniquely funny and media-savvy viewpoint.

Actually, Banks also found an excellent fit for himself in “The Steven Banks Show,” too.  Though perhaps too eccentric and irreverent for the masses—and for public television—“Banks” nevertheless still retains its charm and an undeniable freshness.  In other words, it’s the perfect cult show.

It is what it is!

The Steven Banks Show

Buy this fantastic book!

Amazon Prime - unlimited streaming
of your fave TV shows and movies!
Get your FREE 30 Day Trial!

PR4 & PR5 Pages for Advertising

Post-Modern Sitcoms / Actors That Wrote Books / 1987 Gilbert Gottfried Pilot Written By Larry David / Tarantino, DiCaprio & Pitt on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood / Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci Talk Goodfellas / Coming to America - The Awful Sitcom? / Robert Wagner Interview / Helen Mirren on 1923 / Lucky 19-Year Old Birthday Boy on The Price is Right / 1990-1999 TV Commercials / James Hong on the First & Only Asian Talent Agent in Hollywood / More Than Myagi: The Pat Morita Story / Chevy Chase 2021 Interview / Ally McBeal and that Darn Dancing Baby / Ed Begley Jr. Interview / Rap Folk Artist Demeanor Interview / Peter Boyle's Heart Attack on the Set of Everybody Loves Raymond / Patrick Swayze Refused To Do 'Ghost' Without Whoopie Goldberg / Clark Furlong on Stephen King's Mini-Series Lisey's Story / 14-Year Old Brody Bett Steals the Show at a David Foster Concert / Worst Big Budget Superhero Movie of All Time / Jerry Springer's Toxic TV Legacy / Three Generations of Talent / Mary McCormack on The West Wing / One Season Too Many / Dick Wolf on the Writer's Strike / Angela Lansbury Tribute / Sam Fribush Organ Trio / Why The Nanny Matters / Houston Knights / Rissi Palmer is Still Here / Uncle Buck Sitcom / My Brush With King Charles / Bonnie Bartlett Daniels Interview / Frank Zappa Talk Show? / Remembering Marvel & Buffy Scribe Pierce Askegren / Piper Laurie Tribute / 1993 Route 66 Reboot / David Hyde Pierce on the Last Days of ‘Frazier’ / Angela Lansbury Interview / The Shadow Movies of the 1930s & 40s / Remembering Hal Holbrook / Remembering Angela Lansbury / Greensboro Movie Theaters : Star Theatre / Police Squad Shot-By-Shot Remake of M Squad! / A Painting Saved Bill Murray's Life / Why Jim Carrey Fought to Cast Jeff Daniels in 'Dumb and Dumber' / Meredith Baxter Talks Breast Cancer / Sopranos Creator David Chase Had to Fight to Make Tony Soprano the Mobster He Was / Joan Collins on Working With Drunk Actors / Snowmaggedon 1969 / Joe Pesci HATES Practical Jokes / Books About Showbiz / Making It in Showbiz / Dark Justice / My Fave Book About Showbiz / Remembering Billy Packer / More Celebrity Biographies / Peter Falk : Inside The Actor's Studio / Jason Alexander on Duckman / Robert Ebert on Robert Mitchum / Watch Dave Chappelle's New Netflix Special for Free / Margaret (Wicked Witch of the West) Hamilton Was Almost Scarred For Life Filming Wizard of Oz / Restaurant Chains We Might Lose In 2020 / Night Heat / Short History of TV Advertising / Is Ellen A Monster? / To Binge Or Not To Binge? / 1986-87 TV SEASON / Celebrity Bios 4 / 1988-89 TV SEASON / 1990-91 TV SEASON / Can Comic Book City Survive? / When TV Plays Politics for Laughs / The Worst Thing I Ever Saw (Part 2) / Greensboro's Beef (Biff) Burger Has Closed! / Sally Field Looks Back on Smokey and the Bandit / Actors Writing Memoirs 2 / Gene Wilder's Sexual Chemistry with Richard Pryor / WORST Pizzas Served On Kitchen Nightmares / Ricky Gervais' Cruelly Funny 2020 Golden Globe Monologue / What It's Like To Win A New Car on The Price Is Right / Night Train! 3 - Las Vegas Comic Pat Cooper / Night Train! 4 - Resurrection and Death of Louis Prima / Denis Shepard of Paradise Lost / Space Force Logo is a Ripoff from Star Trek! / Batman Movie from 1939? What?!? / Michael Richards (Kramer) Really Hated It When his Seinfeld Co-Stars Messed Up / Melissa McCarthy Almost Quit Acting Days Before Landing Gilmore Girls / Bar Rescue's Wildest Customers! / How The Golden Girls and Elvis Got Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs Made / Charlie Brown Voice Actor Released From Prison / New Year's Eve on TV / Sir Laurence Olivier on the 'Genius' of Marlon Brando / 1967 Futurists Predict The 21st Century / Remembering Diahann Carroll / 50 Funniest Niles Crane Insults / TV HITS - By the Numbers / How Tom Hanks Played Mr. Rogers / Colin Farrell as The Penguin? / Alex Baldwin On His TV and Film Roles / Ray Charles' BIG Problem With TV / Malcolm Gladwell on TV Crime Dramas / Why Dolly Parton Would Not Let Elvis Record 'I Will Always Love You' / Top Ten Sitcoms of the 1970s / Danny McBride Rebooting Hogan's Heroes? / Fashion on TV / Alive & Well / James Cameron Made No Money for Titanic / Whatever Happened To Miss Cleo? / Lucy Blows Off Burt Reynolds / Dave Navarro Meets His Mother's Killer / The Real Mindhunters Killers / John Goodman Breaks Down His Iconic Roles / Growing Up In The Playboy Mansion / Ed McMahon Drunk on the Air! / Lucy Interviewed by Barbara Walters / Valerie Harper Cancer / Jeff Bridges Breaks Down His Iconic Roles / Dog Fight! The KCNC Scandal / Buckley vs Hefner / Laurence Olivier vs Marilyn Monroe / Dallas vs Eight is Enough / 1974 MAD Magazine TV Special - Never Aired! / Iconic M*A*S*H Restaurant Coming To Kroger? / Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and Graham Norton - Big Laughs! / When Lucy Got Fired / Partridge Family and Brady Bunch at Kings Island theme park 1972-73 / Awkward Talk Show Moments / Allan Blye Interview / Jack Benny's Last Tonight Show 1974 / Patricia Heaton's Audition for Everybody Loves Raymond / Luke Perry's Last Role / Johnny Cash's Last Interview / Judy Garland's Last Film / Who Was Bob Gordon? / Richard Dreyfuss vs Bill Murray / Jeff Ross vs Everybody / Tennessee Williams 1972 Interview / Ed Asner Interview / Norm Macdonald vs OJ Simpson / Tony Kornheiser Interview / Freddy's Nightmares TV Series / Awful 1990s TV Shows / The Funniest Comebacks in Talk Show History / Was Sonny Bono Murdered? / Robin Williams' Mrs. Doubtfire Screen Tests / Robert Downey Jr Asks for Forgiveness for Mel Gibson / Russell Brand / Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave / Judy Garland vs Liz Taylor / Emmy Award Multiple Winners / Nathaniel Taylor aka Rollo Lawson / Anthony Zuiker: Mr. CSI / Jimmy & Cher / Diana Muldaur: A Viewer's History / Uncle Andy's Funhouse / Bea Arthur vs Betty White / Skidoo: Worst All-Star Comedy Ever? / Every Marvel Cartoon Opening Theme From 1966 - Present / When Stars Play Themselves / My Pen Pal is in the Pen, Pal / Small Roles Big Performances / Barbara Hall / Stars Before They Were Famous / Stars Before They Were Famous 2 / Stars Before They Were Famous 3 / A Better Classic TV Network / Bill Paxton / Who Was the Black Daliah? / How Frasier Was Created / Music Videos / Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Behind the Scenes / Shirley Jones Interview / What We Lost When We Lost VHS / When Hit TV Shows Return / Commercials Starring Sopranos Cast Members / Shows Nobody Remembers But Me 4 / Shows Nobody Remembers But Me 1 / Bryan Cranston Interview / FREE streaming movie service you didn’t know you have / The Great Cable TV Migration / Sportscaster Woody Durham / Movie Posters and the documentary 24x36 /Chris Robinson /Dallas Reboot /David Letterman /Auditioning For Game Shows in the 80s /Ghosts of Cable TV past / Honey Boo Boo - WTF?!? / Steven Bochco Tribute / Ian Abercrombie / Joe Franklin / John Nettles / Gotham / Family Fued: Gilligan's Island vs Lost In Space / Jon Cryer / Jon Stewart / Lana Wood / David Letterman / Matt Bomer / Molly Ringwald / Morgan Brittany / Music Rights for TV Shows / Neilsen Ratings / Norman Lloyd / Not Your Dad's TV / TV Series Reunions / Rich Little / Special Bulletin with George Clooney / Howard Stern VS Jamie Foxx / Top Ten Action Movies / 2013 Emmy Awards / 2010 Celebrity Deaths

Lost Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / TV Goodbyes / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

Classic TV on the Internet!