"They taste like Fresno!"
I was far too young to understand the subtle in-joke of those fateful words, but even then they stuck with me. The line, of course, is the last thing spoken before the opening credits rolled in the 1986 CBS mini-series Fresno. I feel like this is one of those things that got swept under the rug way back when, but maybe it has a fan or two that I'm not aware of.
The five episode series highlighted the conflict between two rival raisin families. Sounds silly, right? Well, that was the point. Fresno was a spoof of nighttime soap operas like Dallas or Dynasty (in fact, the intro bears strong resemblances to both). In fact, Fresno was ground-breaking in that it was the first comedy mini-series ever created.
Of course, one could argue that it was also the last comedy mini-series ever created. I can't recall of anything else in the genre appearing after Fresno premiered. Granted, this was back when everyone and their grandmother didn't go running to copy something as soon as it came out. But I can't help but think that, despite its cult status and fond place in my heart, the series was never overly popular or successful. Its few Emmy nominations were in completely technical categories, and the relative silence I've heard of it in the past few decades would seem to bear that out as well.Still, there is much to take from Fresno. It packed a cast that at the time would make the term "star-studded" seem like an understatement. With Carol Burnett and Dabney Coleman at the top of the bill, Charles Grodin and Teri Garr in supporting roles, and a ton of other then (and still) TV stars filling out the lineup, you'd be hard pressed to call it anything other than a strong ensemble.
But I think the main defining fault of Fresno was that it was ahead of its time. As groundbreaking a concept as a comedy mini-series was, I think the nuance was lost to the audience at the time. A laugh track was adding to later airings, no doubt a sign that some exec thought that people needed help figuring out that this was "ha-ha funny". But doing that arguably took away from the subtlety of the parody, and in my opinion dumbed down what was probably a series about a decade ahead of its time.
I seriously can't remember much of this series. An opening joke. A ridiculous court case. A much more ridiculous hoop dress worn by Carol Burnett with hilarious consequences. But the fact that I remember it at all means that it had an impact. And really, that's good enough for me.
