THE GARY COLEMAN SHOW
(NBC, September 18-December 11, 1982)
Hanna-Barbera Productions
MAIN CAST:
Gary Coleman –
Andrew “Andy” LeBeau
Jennifer Darling –
Angelica
Sidney Miller –
Hornswoggle
Lauren Anders –
Chris
Julie McWhirter Dees
– Lydia
Geoffrey Gordon –
Haggle
LaShana Dendy – Tina
Jerry Houser –
Bartholomew
Calvin Mason –
Spence
Steve Schatzberg –
Mack
Casey Kasem –
Opening narrator
While small in
stature, Gary Coleman was pretty big in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Coleman began his
career in 1974 by appearing in a commercial for Harris Bank. After several
guest spots on established television shows, he found his claim to fame when he
was cast as Arnold Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes. With
that role came other opportunities, including the chance to star in several
television movies.
In 1982, Coleman
starred in The Kid with the Broken Halo. He
was Andy LeBeau, a wise-cracking angel-in-training who was sent to Earth in
order to perform good deeds to win his wings. While the movie itself wasn’t a
runaway hit, Coleman was still a name to bank on and NBC decided to translate the film into an
animated series.
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Character model sheet. |
Produced by Hanna-Barbera and Zephyr
Productions, one of the studios behind the film, The Gary Coleman Show focused on the continuing adventures of apprentice
guardian angel Andy (Coleman) as his supervisor Angelica (Jennifer Darling)
sent him down to perform assigned good deeds in the town of Oakville. Hampering
his efforts most of the time was a being known as Hornswoggle (Sidney Miller),
who would trick Andy into making the wrong choices and having to clean up the
resulting mess afterwards (although, Andy was quite capable of fouling things up
himself). To make matters worse Hornswoggle was invisible to Angelica, leading
her to doubt his existence in Andy’s explanations.
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Angelica is unable to see Hornswoggle. |
The subjects of Andy’s help (and trouble) were his
Earth-bound friends. Amongst them was klutzy Batholomew (Jerry Houser) who had
a crush on spoiled rich girl Lydia (Julie McWhirter Dees); genius Spence
(Calvin Mason) with a verbose vocabulary; Spence’s little sister Tina (LaShana
Dendy), who had a crush on Andy; Haggle (Geoffrey Gordon), who often spoke in
rhyme; and athletic Chris (Lauren Anders). Occasionally they were at odds with the
local bully and braggart Mack (Steve Schatzberg). While on Earth, Andy would
remove his halo to become visible to his friends and appear human. Donning it
again allowed him to access his angelic powers.
![]() |
Spence finds Andy's halo. |
The Gary Coleman
Show debuted on September 18, 1982 on NBC. The opening narration describing
the premise was provided by Casey Kasem over music by Hoyt Curtin. It was written by
Cliff Roberts, Dianne Dixon, Martin Werner,
Robert Jayson (who also
wrote for Diff’rent Strokes), Paul Dini,
Peter Dixon,
John Bates, Janis Diamond, Mark Shiney, David Villaire,
Bob Langhans, Larry Parr, Sandy Fries, Allan Heldfond, John T. Graham and Tom Ruegger. It was animated by a
Mexican animation studio that Hanna-Barbera had set up expressly for work on
this series. However, complications arose when animation came back incorrect;
such as Andy’s skin being rendered as Caucasian. Geoffrey Gordon was an NBC
page when he was cast in the role of Haggle, which became the first cartoon
character ever to rap.
![]() |
Batholomew tries to get in shape to impress Lydia. |
The series only
lasted a single season of 13 episodes, each broken up into two 11-minute
segments. It re-aired in syndicated reruns on Cartoon Network in the 1990s and again
in 2006 as part of their Adult Swim
programming block. The reruns omitted the Kasem narration from the intro. Antioch
Publishing Editors produced several
books based on the series both adapting the episodes and featuring original
stories.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Fouled Up Fossils / Going, Going, Gone” (9/18/82) – Spence, Tina and
Andy join an archaeologist on a dig in Oakville. / Andy helps Bartholomew round
up items for an auction.
“You Oughtta’ Be In Pictures / Derby Daze” (9/25/82) – Andy has to
save Lydia’s film in order to help Chris become a star. / Andy tries to help
Bartholomew win the soap box derby for a date with Lydia.
“Hornswoggle’s Hoax / Calamity Canine” (10/1/82) – Hornswoggle
disguises himself as Angelica to trick Andy into exposing his identity. / Andy
takes to protecting a klutzy dog from the dog catcher.
“Cupid Andy / Space Odd-Essey” (10/8/82) – Andy is assigned to help
Bartholomew win over Lydia. / Andy and Tina mistake a movie production for an
alien invasion.
“Hornswoggle’s New Leaf / Keep On Movin’ On” (10/15/82) – Hornswoggle
tricks Andy into believing he’s turned good in order to discredit Andy with his
friends. / Andy and the gang help Mrs. Trindle move into her new house.
“Mansion Madness / Wuthering Kites” (10/22/82) – A sick Bartholomew
accidentally messes up Lydia’s mother’s new carpet. / Andy and the gang try to
retrieve Tina’s kite.
“In the Swim / Put Up or Fix Up” (10/29/82) – Lydia invites everyone
but Chris to her pool party. / Angelica assigns Andy to fix up an old building
so that the gang can have a safe place to hang out.
“Haggle and Double Haggle / The Royal Visitor” (11/6/82) – Hornswoggle
frames Haggle for spending the gang’s money on a new baseball mitt. / Lydia
goes on a gift-shopping spree for a visiting royal guest while Tina makes one.
“The Future Tense / Dr. Livingston, I Presume” (11/13/82) – Tina gets
a crystal ball that seems to actually predict the future. / Andy goes with Tina
to meet her scientist cousin at the airport.
“Haggle’s Luck / Head in the Clouds” (11/20/82) – Hornswoggle tricks
Haggle into thinking a charm will protect him from any kind of harm. / Spence
becomes so engrossed in his studies that he forgets about everything else.
“Teacher’s Pest / Andy Sings the Blues” (11/27/82) – Andy takes a
final examination. / Mack gets credit for Andy’s preventing a train disaster.
“Easy Money / Take My Tonsils – Please” (12/4/82) – Andy helps Haggle
on his babysitting job. / Tina runs away to avoid having her tonsils taken out.
“The Prettiest Girl in Oakville / Mack’s Snow Job” (12/11/82) – Spence
and Bartholomew go crazy over Chris when she shows up in a new dress. / The
gang just wants to enjoy the snow, but Mack has other plans.
Originally posted in 2016. Updated in 2020.
Originally posted in 2016. Updated in 2020.
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