RECENTLY ADDED: "fX: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?" PAGE

JUNE 1, 1994.... The world was introduced to something television viewers had not seen before and something they may never see again. A television cable channel with over 7 hours of daily LIVE programming surrounded by repeats of TV series that hadn't been seen in years. It all started with the morning show "Breakfast Time" and the night ended with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.

"BREAKFAST TIME" was a morning show based on a popular British morning show called "The Big Breakfast" (interestingly, "Big Breakfast" still exists overseas). It was an irreverent, somewhat different alternative to the boring talk shows such as Today or CBS This Boring -- err, Morning. The hosts, Tom (now seen daily on "Hollywood Squares") Bergeron and Laurie ("Mrs. Gelman") Hibberd, were a bit more fun than the others, but what made them even *better* (if that was even possible) was the addition of Al Rosenberg as Bob the Puppet, who we assume would be what a Muppet would look like after getting beaten up a few times. The other major addition came from Jim Kocot as "Jim the Announcer," the heard-but-never-seen, well, Announcer to the series, who made it tasteful to talk about the "spiky little balls" and the wars between Henri and Luigi.The show also had several "road warriors," roving reporters who went all across the country to different locations to find things that the viewers would find interesting. Road warriors included, but weren't limited to Gwen McGee, Phil Keoghan, Patricia Moreno, Jillian Hamilton, John Davis, Suzanne Whang, and the late Spencer Garbett. (Surely at least one has been forgotten, but hey it's been a few years). Throughout Breakfast Time's 20-month run there were some fun moments that hit the screen, from Phil Keoghan's accidental flashing of the screen ("Guess he's not Jewish!") to the ever-annoying Richard Simmons singing through one of Spencer's remotes. And leave it to Bob to remind us that two Whangs do not make a White.

Unfortunately the viewers and fans of "Breakfast Time" weren't the only ones to realize how cool this show was. The folks at Fox also noticed, and wanted the show for themselves for their morning lineup. In March 1996, the show ceased to exist at fX and that August, premiered on Fox as "Fox After Breakfast." Unfortunately a bit was lost in the translation.

The two hour length of "BT" was trimmed down to an hour. This meant no Henri and Luigi, no exercise with Patricia, and no horoscopes with Russell Grant (although Grant's segment was dropped several months before the end of "Breakfast Time.") Jim the Announcer was replaced by Nancy Giles, who was a fine announcer, but face it, replacing Jim the Announcer is like introducing those new Duke cousins Coy and Vance to the General Lee. It just shouldn't happen. The fun chyrons were replaced by more straightforward, boring ones and the opening credits/theme just became something surreal. "Fox After Breakfast" was only a pale imitation of that which was "Breakfast Time." The ratings showed this, and to prove that they actually are stupider than we thought, the powers that be at Fox started getting rid of people. First Laurie Hibberd disappeared, very soon after Bob the Puppet was gone. After a long run of guest co-hosts they settled on Vicki Lawrence, and faster than you could say "Handyman Joe" Tom was gone also. "Fox After Breakfast" begat the even shorter-lived "Vicki Lawrence Show."

A FEW HOURS after Breakfast Time, give or take a few Dynasty, Hart to Hart, Fantasy Island, or Trapper John repeats, was Personal fX: The Collectibles Show. fX's longest-running series (eventually reaching over 1000 episodes before it's final episode in 1998) featured Claire Carter in the apartment and some "BT" road warriors and/or co-host John Burke on the road, as people appraised their old stuff. Claire always tried too hard to be interesting, but it was a good thing to have at lunch time.

After Personal fX, Eight is Enough, and Family Affair, fX showed The Pet Department, a series devoted to the care of your pets, and "road testing" certain breeds of animals to prove if they too could be good pets or not. The series was hosted by Steve Walker and his pet dog Jack (who was the unofficial pet of the fX Squad), and co-hosted originally by Miss January 1987--err you didn't hear that, okay yeah you did, Luann Lee. After Luann disappeared (fX had a habit of letting people disappear without explanation -- people still ask where Peter Chaconas went, and no I do not know myself), Suzanne Whang took over as co-host.

After "The Pet Department," fX had "Triple A TV" -- three action series in a row. The shows involved in this block included at one time or another The Greatest American Hero, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Mission: Impossible.

Under Scrutiny with Jane Wallace was fX's news affairs show that aired every night at 7. "Jane" was also cancelled all of a sudden without warning -- right after getting a CableACE award. Go figure.

Where else but early fX could you get cheesy Australian soap operas? Did ANYONE like "Home and Away?" No, I didn't think so.

After Dynasty and 2 back-to-back episodes of In Living Color, there was the live music show Sound fX, hosted by Karyn Bryant, Matt Ostrum and Orlando Jones. After Orlando left the series Jeff Probst came aboard, and it too, disappeared. Sound fX featured music videos and viewers could call or write in and say if the videos or CD's were a smash or if they were trash.

Following Sound fX, fX showed another Batman and then the show that got me interested in watching fX.

If fX was a magazine, then "BackChat" was the letters page. Hosted every night by Jeff Probst (now famous for hosting "Survivor"), the show delved into the mailbag to see what the fans of the show were thinking.

I will never forget the first time I had a letter on "BackChat," the whole idea that something I had written was on TV just fascinated me. The September fX premiered was when I first got online, and I may have been one of the first fans to use the "BackChat@delphi.com" e-mail address to write in. I managed to eventually become a "BackChat regular," along the likes of "does he ever quit drawing" Vincent Boyd, Melissa Portell, Chad Kintz, and others. At one point Jeff Probst even commented that the show was becoming the "Craig and Melissa Show." (Of course, he also referred to me as "Craig 'I have no life so I write fX' Byrne." So I'm still bitter.)

I still remember what they'd say when the Letter of the Day was coming. "A little later we'll be announcing the BackChat Letter of the Day. The writer of that letter will receive this fX pencil. There are no rules for winning Letter of the Day, as the producers arbitrarily choose the ones they like the best."

Sprinkled throughout the day were the channel hosts. The channel hosts (as well as Vernon Shaw) would read the news at the top of every hour, and then pop in every half hour to tell you trivia about the episode you are watching. ("Do you notice that David looks like Luke Skywalker in this episode of Eight is Enough?") They'd occasionally get wacky (Peter Chaconas's bundt cake comes to mind) but they'd ALWAYS be fun, and it would give you a feeling that there is just always something happening that should cause you to keep it locked on fX.

I mentioned that I was one of the early fans online. Several months after I got online, I came into contact with other fans of the show and we organized several online "fX Chats." The chats were mentioned on the air and *everyone* seemed to come by at one time or another. Laurie Hibberd was there, with her classic Josie-like handle. Tom Bergeron, Al "Bob" Rosenberg, Jim Kocot, Spencer Garbett, noted producer Paul Shavelson, Steve SCHWARTZ!, "Rob Audio," and several others from the fX family also popped by. That was another thing that made fX so cool; here they were mentioning a chat on national TV for us! Alas, our biggest chat got about 45 people... it would be interesting to see how different things would be today. (Anyone up for it?)

I was able to visit the fX apartment for a day, and it is an experience I will never forget. I'll have to bug my friend Rick to send me my report from the studio (so send it, Rick!) Five years later, through my fX-perience, I still talk to people that I had known from that very early online foray. It's always fun to see fX people popping up elsewhere and remembering a happier time when the puppet was still slithering around, every day was a Josie day, and all that. The magic of the original fX will never return, and will most likely not be duplicated. (But, a note to FX--note the caps--executives in the year 2004: Get Tom, Laurie and crew back together for a 10th anniversary special!)

FX gave up on their live shows for the most part when "Breakfast Time" ended. Soon after the "channel hosting" was gone, and "Personal FX" was all that was left day to day. It's a completely different channel now, and it seems like all they show now are M*A*S*H marathons. Me, I haven't gotten fX since I moved in 1997. Go figure.

Download the Breakfast Time News Sting

Me outside of the fX apartment, January 1995. Yeah, I look like a dork, don't make too much fun of me.

Download AOL Instant Messenger