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Published: Aug 7, 2016
Uploaded: September, 2023
A couple of months ago, I've been looking through a collection of VHS tapes in my basement and I came across a tape that had the text on it saying, Please Read Instructions Before Watching. SPECIAL TAPE DO NOT REWIND GH0420020 Tape#2011.
Many months ago, my dad told me that back in 1994, he participated in a survey about a television pilot that was on the VHS tape. He said there was a magnet inside the tape that after one watching the magnet erases whatever was on the tape. My dad removed the magnet and it's just like a regular VHS tape. The TV show was called, The Ties That Bind. It stars Ralph Macchio, famous from The Outsiders (1983) and The Karate Kid (1984). Also starring, Anita Barone. Apparently there was only six episodes ever created. This is an section of an article from avclub.com interview with Ralph Macchio.
The Ties That Bind (1994)—“Michael”
AVC: It’s so obscure, it isn’t even listed on IMDb, so I can’t confirm the character’s name, but—
RM: Wow. Yeah, that’s obscure, all right. It was a half-hour comedy—the first time I ever did a multi-camera show—that I did for Warner Bros. that never got on the air, even though we shot six episodes. I played… geez, I don’t remember the guy’s name, either! I want to say it was Michael. But it was one of those half-hours that didn’t work for a bunch of reasons. It was developed for me, but… I don’t know, I always wanted the show to be, like, Roseanne About You, because at that time I wanted it to have the edge of Roseanne, but also be like Mad About You. But it turned more toward a softer, not-as-good version of Full House, without any edge whatsoever. I’m not exactly sure what happened. But they did bring in Andrew “The Non-Dice” Clay to play my cousin, I think it was. He came in on the second episode, and they were trying to infuse a little bit of ballsy comedy. And he got another show out of it, and I went off the air. So that was a little bit of a dip in my career at that point. [Laughs.] But now it’s bouncing back, so it’s all good. It's been over 21 years since the pilot was made and as of right now, the only person to have a surviving copy of the pilot episode. If I do get the chance, I might contact Ralph Macchio and tell him about it.
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