“We weren’t … but that was the deal we made with the devil in order to get it on the air.” This would not be the end of disagreement between Yankovic and the network over what kind of show they wanted to create: a live-action sketch show, an animated series, a musical performance showcase? (It would be all three.) The Weird Al Show’s life was short, lasting just 13 episodes, but remained enough of a cult hit for a DVD release ten years later featuring an informative commentary track, in which Yankovic and his collaborators frankly discuss the sometimes difficult creation of the show.ĭespite the hurdles, Yankovic and his production team recruited an incredible roster of talent to bring the show to Saturday mornings. That’s really all we’re looking for right now.’ So I said, ‘We’re an educational show!’” Yankovic said in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone while recalling his pitch to CBS. “We were just about to get the thumbs-up in the meeting, and they had the caveat: ‘Oh, you know what? … We have to have a certain number of educational children’s shows.
The Children’s Television Act went into effect in 1997 and required all broadcast stations to program at least three hours a week of educational programming targeting kids age 16 and under. Yankovic butted heads with the network for years until he got an unlikely assist from Bill Clinton’s FCC. Yankovic and his manager, Jay Levy, pitched Weird Al’s journey into Saturday morning television as early as 1984, though The Weird Al Show wouldn’t air on CBS until 1997. He worked even harder to make his children’s show happen. 1 album and the first comedy album to top the charts since 1963. It took some work, but Mandatory Fun blew the doors off the industry, becoming Yankovic’s first No.
And when Sony refused to give him a budget for any music videos, Yankovic knocked on the doors of Yahoo, Nerdist, Funny or Die, and several other websites who once made original video content and got them to create videos with him. It took him 32 years to reach the end of the record contract he signed in 1982, but he saw it through with the release of his 14th album, 2014’s Mandatory Fun.
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