Inside Schwartz

Television series

Breckin Meyer
Miriam Shor
Bryan Callen
Jennifer Irwin
Richard Kline
Dondré T. Whitfield
Maggie Lawson

ComposerBen VaughnCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo. of seasons1No. of episodes13 (4 unaired) (list of episodes)ProductionExecutive producerStephen EngelProducerJohn ZiffrenProduction locations20th Century Fox Studios
10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, CaliforniaCinematographyPeter SmoklerCamera setupMulti-cameraRunning time30 minutesProduction companies

Stephen Engel Productions
NBC Studios
20th Television

Original releaseNetworkNBCReleaseSeptember 27, 2001 (2001-09-27) –
January 3, 2002 (2002-01-03)

Inside Schwartz is an American sitcom television series created by Stephen Engel, that aired on NBC from September 27, 2001, until January 3, 2002, starring Breckin Meyer as the title character. The show was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and NBC Studios and first aired on NBC on Thursday Night at 8:30 EST.

Plot

After losing a long-time girlfriend, minor-league sportscaster Adam Schwartz's (Meyer) dating life is illustrated by sports highlights (as presented by Fox Sports Net) in which various pro sports personalities appear. For instance, when Adam's date reveals that she has three children a referee appears and makes the call "Too many players on the field".

Cast

Breckin Meyer as Adam Schwartz
Miriam Shor as Julie Hermann
Bryan Callen as David Cobert
Jennifer Irwin as Emily Cobert
Richard Kline as Gene Schwartz
Dondré T. Whitfield as William Morris (episodes 2–4, 9)
Maggie Lawson as Eve Morris (episodes 7–8; recurring, previously)

Recurring

Van Earl Wright as Himself
Kevin Frazier as Himself

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Pamela Fryman	Stephen Engel	September 27, 2001 (2001-09-27)	1AFP79	22.52^[1]
2	"Let's Go to the Videotape"	Pamela Fryman	Stephen Engel	October 4, 2001 (2001-10-04)	1AFP01	20.59^[2]
3	"The Pinch Hitter"	Gil Junger	Gail Lerner	October 18, 2001 (2001-10-18)	1AFP05	15.09^[3]
4	"Event Night"	Michael Lembeck	Gail Lerner & Bill Kunstler	October 25, 2001 (2001-10-25)	1AFP07	16.56^[4]
5	"Comic Relief Pitcher"	Gail Mancuso	Story by : Stephen Leff & Jim Patterson Teleplay by : Bill Kunstler	November 29, 2001 (2001-11-29)	1AFP09	14.26^[5]
6	"Roommates"	Gail Mancuso	Story by : Michael Gannon & Jon Hotchkiss Teleplay by : Jack Burditt	December 6, 2001 (2001-12-06)	1AFP11	15.22^[6]
7	"Play-Action Fake Boyfriend"	Gail Mancuso	Story by : Debora Cahn Teleplay by : Gail Lerner	December 20, 2001 (2001-12-20)	1AFP10	10.57^[7]
8	"Eve's Date with Schwartz's Destiny"	Gil Junger	Jeff Lowell & Marc Sedaka	December 27, 2001 (2001-12-27)	1AFP12	10.69^[8]
9	"Kissing Cousin"	Gil Junger	Stephen Leff & Jim Patterson	January 3, 2002 (2002-01-03)	1AFP08	10.51^[9]
10	"It's All in the Footwork"	Gil Junger	Jim Patterson	Unaired (Unaired)	1AFP02	N/A
11	"Service, Schwartz?"	Gail Mancuso	Stephen Leff	Unaired (Unaired)	1AFP03	N/A
12	"Bless Me Father, for I Have Fired You"	Gil Junger	Stephen Engel	Unaired (Unaired)	1AFP04	N/A
13	"He Ain't Funny, He's My Brother"	Gail Mancuso	Stephen Engel	Unaired (Unaired)	1AFP06	N/A

Cancellation

The series followed Friends, which was in its 8th and highest-rated season. Inside Schwartz debuted with 22.5 million viewers. Of the 9 episodes to air, 5 followed new episodes of Friends. But despite having an average household rating of 9.8 and being ranked 16th among all programs in the ratings, Inside Schwartz was cancelled as network executives believed that the valuable time slot could get higher ratings.^[10]

The time slot was filled with a new series, Leap of Faith, which aired for six episodes, and finally NBC simply aired repeat episodes of Friends which had higher ratings than either Inside Schwartz or Leap of Faith.

Legacy

Prominent television writer and producer Dan Harmon cited the premiere of Inside Schwartz as a watershed moment in the history of television and the end of an era for traditional network programming.^[11]

In September of 2001 everything really changed, and the way we perceive television changed, because of a tragedy called the premiere of NBC's Inside Schwartz. It was at that point that we realized television was broken and could never be fixed.
— Dan Harmon, XOXO Festival Keynote (2012)

References

^ "Top 20 Network Primetime Report". Zap2it. Archived from the original on October 6, 2001. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 1-7)". The Los Angeles Times. October 10, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 15-21)". The Los Angeles Times. October 24, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 22-28)". The Los Angeles Times. October 31, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 26-Dec. 2)". The Los Angeles Times. December 5, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times. December 12, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. December 28, 2001.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 24-30)". The Los Angeles Times. January 4, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 30-Jan. 6)". The Los Angeles Times. January 9, 2002. Retrieved June 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present.
^ Harmon, Dan (September 2012). XOXO Keynote (Speech). XOXO Festival. Retrieved March 9, 2022.