Does anybody out there remember the sitcom “Working Stiffs”? Jim Belushi isn’t surprised.
“Four episodes,” he told us. “Just four episodes.”
This was back in 1979, and CBS was looking for shows to compete with ABC’s strong stable of comedies, including “Happy Days” and “Mork & Mindy.” So the network briefly paired Belushi and Michael Keaton (yes, that Michael Keaton).
“Back then, there were instant hits,” Belushi recalled a few days ago in the Blues Brothers Suite at the House of Blues Hotel. “When the networks didn’t get the next huge hit, they just got rid of the show.”
Those days are long gone for the Second City alum. Belushi’s ABC sitcom, “According to Jim,” has been on the air five years now and headed to syndication this fall (on WGN).
About that title–why not simply call it “The Jim Belushi Show”? “Hey, they wanted to call it `The Big Guy,'” Belushi told Armour & Co. “In the airport, I’m already used to people saying, `Hey, that’s John Belushi’s little brother.’ I didn’t want to go through the airport with guys going, `Hey, big guy!'”
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Book details last days of Belushi, others
Speaking of John Belushi, Mitchell Fink has written the book “The Last Days of Dead Celebrities,” which offers details of the final days of the famous, including Orson Welles, Warren Zevon and Belushi. During his research for the book, Fink found out Belushi’s closest friend–Dan Aykroyd–is still troubled by Belushi’s death. The former “Saturday Night Live” star died of a drug overdose in Hollywood in 1982.
“I wanted to deal with the frustration of dealing with an addict,” Fink told us. “Aykroyd tried many times to help Belushi. Everybody who was close to Belushi knew that he was like a Hoover vacuum when it came to cocaine.”
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Terry Armour co-hosts “The Stan and Terry Show” with Stan Lawrence at 10 a.m. Monday-Friday on WCKG-FM 105.9.