Gung Ho is an American sitcom based on the 1986 film of the same name. The series aired for one season on ABC from December 5, 1986, to February 9, 1987.[1]
| Gung Ho | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Developed by | Edwin Blum |
| Starring | Gedde Watanabe Scott Bakula Patti Yasutake Stephen Lee Clint Howard Rodney Kageyama Scott Atari Heidi Banks Sab Shimono |
| Composer | David Michael Frank |
| Country of origin | United states |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | John Rappaport |
| Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) |
| Production companies | Imagine Television Four Way Productions Paramount Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | December 5, 1986 – February 9, 1987 |
| Related | |
| Gung Ho (film) | |
Synopsis
editJust like in the movie, the TV series follows the exploits of Hunt Stevenson (here, played by Scott Bakula as opposed to Michael Keaton in the movie), a laid-back American employee liaison of a Japanese car company (Assan Motors) in the fictional city of Hadleyville, Pennsylvania. Much of the humor arises from the abounding clashes between Hunt and the new Japanese plant manager, Kaz Kazuhiro (Gedde Watanabe, reprising his role from the movie) while looking for ways to bridge the culture gap between one another.
Cast
editBesides Watanabe, many of the other Japanese actors from the movie also reprised their roles for the series. Clint Howard (brother of Gung Ho movie director Ron Howard) was the only Caucasian actor from the film to also appear in the TV series.
- Scott Atari as Kenji
- Scott Bakula as Hunt Stevenson
- Heidi Banks as Randi
- Clint Howard as Googie
- Rodney Kageyama as Ito
- Stephen Lee as Buster
- Gedde Watanabe as Kaz Kazuhiro
- Patti Yasutake as Umeki Kazuhiro
- Sab Shimono as Saito
- Mary-Margaret Humes as Melissa
- Wendy Schaal As Kelly
- Kenneth Kimmins as Wacky Wally
- Emily Kuroda as Yukiko
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | Jeff Chambers | Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel | December 5, 1986 | |
|
Hunt, acting as labor's liaison to management, tries to restore the job of a fellow worker who brashly expressed his opinion of a new employee rule book.[2] | |||||
| 2 | "Line of Credit" | John Bowab | Bruce Ferber & David Lerner | December 12, 1986 | |
|
Hunt uses a new company credit card to entertain a date (Mary-Margaret Humes), an action that lands him back on the assembly line. The factory floor workers find themselves taken for a ride when they sneak spare parts out to help a supposedly struggling mobile snack vendor with engine trouble. | |||||
| 3 | "Talk of the Town" | Dick Martin | Unknown | December 26, 1986 | |
|
Hunt invites Kaz to a civic meeting, where Kaz's straight talk is a hit with the crowd after Hunt's ramblings strike out.[3] When his wife's car keeps breaking down, Kaz becomes convinced she's having an affair with the tow-truck mechanic who comes to her aid each time. | |||||
| 4 | "Sick and Tired" | Dick Martin | Unknown | January 2, 1987 | |
|
The flu puts Kaz in bed, leaving Saito in charge, just as a reporter (Earl Boen) arrives to do a story on cooperation between the Americans and the Japanese. On the factory floor, the guys enter Randi, who lacks confidence in her looks, into a beauty contest without her knowledge. | |||||
| 5 | "Love Me Tender" | Art Dielhenn | Unknown | January 9, 1987 | |
|
Hunt proclaims himself a one-woman man, but Kaz and Umeki have evidence that his girl friend isn't similarly inclined. Meanwhile, a friendly bet leads to Googie running a book on the factory floor - which soon gets out of hand, and attracts unwanted attentions. | |||||
| 6 | "Help Wanted" | John Bowab | James Berg & Stan Zimmerman | January 16, 1987 | |
|
Hunt encourages Umeki to get a job selling TVs and stereos, but Kaz is outraged by the idea of his wife working. After boasting about the company's high-tech new computerized system, an embarrassed Kaz secretly starts taking computer night-courses when he struggles to use it himself - and is discovered by Yukiko, who is moonlighting as a cleaner at the college. | |||||
| 7 | "Kaz Over Easy (a.k.a. All Work And No Play...)" | Dick Martin | Bruce Ferber | January 23, 1987 | |
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When Kaz's workaholic friend from Japan dies of a heart attack, Kaz drastically alters his own work habits. Buster calls in a favour to get a down-on-his-luck friend a job on the factory floor... but his friend repeatedly shows him up with poor conduct. | |||||
| 8 | "Where the Boys Are" | Dick Martin & George Sunga | James Berg & Stan Zimmerman | January 30, 1987 | |
|
Umeki can't contact Kaz to tell him that the prototype he plans to introduce at the auto show was totaled in transit. Ito and Googie organize a social evening to try and bond the guys on the factor floor - and end up regretting it, when by chance Kenji and some senior executives visit the same bar amid tense business deal talks. | |||||
| 9 | "Brother, Can You Spare a Dollar?" | Thomas Lofaro | Unknown | February 6, 1987 | |
|
A visit from Hunt's brother Eddie (Marc Poppel), a Chicago commodities broker, sparks sibling rivalry; while Googie is too embarrassed to admit he's locked himself out of his car, and comes up with increasingly far-fetched cover stories to get his co-workers to help him. | |||||