Questions/comments on old TV show, Starman

Back in the 1980's there was a briefly-lived TV show with Robert Hays
and a teenage actor (name eludes me), Starman, adapted from the Jeff

Stan Brown...

Typing "Starman" in the search window for imdb.com gets one pretty
quickly to the answer: Christopher Daniel Barnes, who was 14 years
old at the time of the show. He later voiced Prince Eric in /The
Little Mermaid/.

ANIM8Rfsk...

Christopher Daniel Barnes, who now does mostly voice work and was one of he
replacement Brady kids.

Starman, adapted from the Jeff

Bridges/Karen Allen film of the same name. I've recently watched the
old movie again, and had some thoughts about the show. Just curious
if anyone else has similar thoughts to mine:

ANIM8Rfsk...

Please post this to the appropriate groups: rec.arts.tv.old or
rec.arts.tv.classic

1. In the movie, at the end, the Starman makes very clear that he is
never coming back -- Jenny Hayden will never see him again. So, just
in terms of a concept for a TV show, how about instead of having the
Starman return (the Robert Hays role), wouldn't it have been better to
simply do a show called StarChild? You have the young adult offspring
of Jenny Hayden and the Starman, say a young man in his early
twenties, venturing out into the world, deciding what to do with his
knowledge? He's probably got some limited magical powers, plus that
magical sphere, but he's not as incredibly magical as the original
Starman. A recurring role could have been for an actress playing the
mother, Jenny Hayden, whom the young man consults fairly often for
wisdom and guidance. I'm just wondering, does anyone besides me think
a viable show could have been done without the Starman character?

2. From my recollection of the show, the Starman as portrayed by
Robert Hays just never struck me as being the same "spirit" or life
force as the Starman portrayed by Jeff Bridges. Of course it's two
separate actors, but it was supposed to be the same "person". Was
that flawed acting on Hays part -- maybe he wasn't the right man for

ANIM8Rfsk...

Yes

maybe he wasn't the right man for

the role -- or was it the writing that never lived up to the original

ANIM8Rfsk...

Yes

or was it the writing that never lived up to the original

movie? I sometimes thought the Robert Hays Starman was, at best, a

ANIM8Rfsk...

that too, but I don't think it would have mattered how good the writing was;
Hays would have been lousy

I sometimes thought the Robert Hays Starman was, at best, a

distant cousin to the Jeff Bridges Starman.

ANIM8Rfsk...

A distant retarded cousin. Think Scooby Dumb.

Uniblab...

Hays' Starman was supposed to be Bridges' Starman, but inhabiting a
different human body.

3. In the movie, the Starman says the kid will know everything he
knows. My recollection of the show, however, was that the kid was
basically dumb as a brick, or at best just a typical average-Joe
adolescent. Anyone agree?

4. Finally, am I mistaken, or was the show shot on an insultingly low
budget? I recall one episode, near the end of the show's run, where
they re-enacted the Jenny Hayden/Starman racing down the meteor crater

ANIM8Rfsk...

Portrayed by the delectable Erin Gray. Sigh.

/Starman racing down the meteor crater

scene from the movie -- only they couldn't be bothered to hire an
actor to fill the Jeff Bridges role? Was that a creative choice, or
were they just cheap?

The movie was great, I always felt the show fell way short. Just
curious what impressions others had.

ANIM8Rfsk...

I think you liked it a LOT more than I did.

Steve O.

"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.
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