Looking at FX now, it's almost hard to imagine it started as this hipster, artsy network hosted in a coffeehouse/loft setting.
Yep, I remember those days quite well…some really fun and truly original programs on the old fX, including the wacky “Breakfast Time” in the mornings with Tom Bergeron, “Personal fX” with John Burke (an antiques/collectibles show…sort of like “Antiques Roadshow,” but less pretentious) and “Backchat” with Jeff Probst. As you can see, quite a few well-known hosts today had their first gigs there as well.
All their original shows were broadcast live daily (yes, daily) from the “fX Apartment”…and even their old reruns (of the likes of “Batman,” “The Green Hornet,” and “The Fall Guy”) had live interstitials during the commercials where a network host would give interesting facts about that particular episode or do a comedy bit.
It was all very ambitious, perhaps too ambitious for its time…not to mention very expensive to produce new content every day…and FOX apparently agreed, as they slowly began pulling the plug on all the old shows…”Breakfast Time” moved to FOX proper and became more of a run-of-the-mill morning talk show, the apartment interstitials got cut…I remember “Personal fX” was one of the last shows to hang on, and it looked very out of place among the network’s “new direction.”
Back on topic, I do remember seeing the first few eps. of “No Relation” and not being terribly impressed...Mike doesn’t mention who the celebs actually were, but I remember the “biggest” names being Dennis “Mr. Belding” Haskins and Charles Robinson from "Night Court" (and, more recently at the time, "Home Improvement"). But I really enjoyed the self-effacing way Mike Rowe describes his experiences hosting the show, and of course pays his respects to Mr. Clark. A great read.
