Wenn man diesen Zeitungsbericht glauben darf, plante Disney offenbar eine Talk-Show mit Robert Urich als Gastgeber.

Den Bericht fand ich sehr spannend und Bob hatte im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Talk-Show-Hosts, ein Konzept das vielverprechend klang. Eine Sendung so nach dem Motto "Garrison Keiler-meets-Oprah" sollte es werden und im Herbst 1998 wollte man on air gehen, doch leider wurde ja nichts draus

If we are to believe this newspaper report, Disney planned obviously a talk show with Robert Urich as host.

The report was very exciting, and Bob had, unlike many other talk show hosts, a concept that vielverprechend sounded. Broadcast along the lines of "Garrison Keiler-meets-Oprah" it should be and in autumn 1998 we wanted to go on air, but unfortunately was nothing out of it

Ein Robert Urich-Fan namens Quanna hat damals die Test-Tapings von Bob's eigener Show (die ja leider nie gesendet wurde besucht).

Robert Urich persönlich hat die Berichte von Quanna damals auf seiner offiziellen Seite verlinkt:

A Robert Urich fan named Quanna then the test tapings of Bob's own show has (which was unfortunately never sent visits).

Robert Urich personally at that time linked the reports of Quanna on its official page:

Erstes Taping (First Taping) der Robert Urich Show (15.11.1997)
We arrived at the Hollywood Center Studios in Hollywood at 10am for the 1st taping. Bob's celebrity guest this show was Fran Drescher from the hit show "The Nanny". The show started with music and clips from Bob's various TV shows playing on nearby monitors. Bob's older brother Tom was the announcer, and looked pretty good himself decked out in gray slacks, a black long sleeve turtle neck and a gray sport jacket. Good looks run in the family. "And now, ladies & gentleman....ROBERT URICH....!!!" And out runs Bob with lots of energy, jumping up & down, to the sight & sound of the band playing and the audience clapping & cheering.  He then tells us of his haircut recently. At a Beverly Hills salon, (no names--"Jose Eybar"). It took several hours, they gave him Cappuccino & some shampoo and said, "That'll be $68 Mr. Urich", and Bob said, "Disney is paying for it", and they said "That's $68 for the Cappuccino & shampoo!!". Bob joked and said his haircut isn't his, it's copyrighted to the stylist!! He then went on to tell us of God's joke on him, that his hair is armpit hair. "Let's let Bob have his hair back, let's just take it from under his arms". He said instead of hairspray, he should use spray deodorant!!

Next they brought up two monitors, one on each side of Bob.  On one monitor, they showed him being beat up & fighting in Spenser for Hire. The next one showed him kissing, kissing & more kissing, his lady co-stars. Bob explained to us that he's getting tired of the fighting, and his wife is getting tired of the kissing! That drew lots of laughs from the large audience. Then he said he'd give talk shows a try,   because there's not much left that he hasn't done!! If this doesn't work, then its..."Well Bob, show the contestants what they've won!".

They showed a segment of other celebrities and their reaction to Bob having his own show. They had Tim Allen, Rosie O'Donnell, Regis & Kathy Lee, Tom Snyder, William Shatner, and others. Bob was calling them (in the tape) and asking them to come on his show. Some said (jokingly--"Bob Who?"), and laughed, and they all said "No". It was cute, and funny how they put this all together. Then Bob introduced the star that DID say yes!  the set was a beautiful design. It was done in a 1930's old California, orange groves style. Three really huge paintings were positioned around the stage. Two in back of Bob & his guest seats, and one behind the band. They said "The Robert Urich Show" on them, and one said "Bob" with a guy on a horse, old western Hollywood style (like Hopalong Cassidy). The other two showed an orange w/orange groves in the background, like the old advertisements for oranges in the 30's. And windows in the back with orange trees you can see, and some trees on stage. The inside of the building around the stage was light yellow in color and the furniture was a light strawberry red color.  Then, in came Fran Drescher. She looked great. She was wearing a nice, colorful pants outfit. She had written a book recently, and they talked about it. She also has her own "croutons" business. Those nice, yummy crunchy bread-like things you put on salads. Her's are really tasty, with herbs & spices mixed in. The package was cute, and had a picture of her mom and grandmom on it. They are baked with 100% sourdough, and are called "Loaf & Kisses" gourmet croutons. They were throwing packages of her croutons to everyone in the audience (my dog Brandy likes her croutons, and so do I). At one point during the show, Bob and Fran sat on the steps of the stage, and Bob sang to her. It was cute, she was blushing.  Bob's next guest was a Italian Chef. They brought in a rolling kitchen, complete with stove and everything all set up. The chef showed us how to marinate chicken. Bob was helping along the way, getting his hands all into it. You take the whole chicken (Bob likes to tuck the legs in) and lift the skin up, and put the chopped green onions and mix under the skin. He says that's the best way to marinate. Bob did a cute thing with the two chickens (when animals attack) hee hee! He says he likes to go for the cheap jokes! :-) He's so funny. Then they moved to the pasta. They put some Vodka in the frying pan and held the pan up, at an angle until it catches fire. Then you put in the pasta, already mixed with the sauce, spices, etc and toss it (in the pan). Bob tried really hard not to toss it all over the floor! He got some on the floor, but not a whole lot. The chef said that the less you spill, the better the cook you are. And Bob pointed out to us (especially the young, single guys in the audience), that cooking a fine, gourmet dinner is a great way to impress a girl. I'm sure he ought to know! :-) When they were done tossing the pasta in the pan, flipping it around, they ate it! Bob was enjoying it, licking his fingers. He also showed the chef that he knows to turn the handle inward, not sticking out so you can bump into it and spill the whole pan on the floor. You can tell Bob's been in the kitchen quite a bit. :-)

During the breaks, in between the set-ups, Bob entertained us with his great singing. He sang a song I liked in particular (I have to get the name), it was about Fun. You gotta have fun. He's quite the singer and can carry any tune you give him. We joked that he can have his own record album/or CD! At one point, during the break, he sang a nice song to his wife, Heather. He had her in his arms, and sang "You are my shiny star", and she started to have tears in her eyes. He made her feel so good, and loved. Then that moved him to tears too. He wiped them as he headed backstage to set up for the next segment. We all ooooed and awwwwed at what we had just witnessed.

His next guest was Mel-E-Mel, a handsome and buff (heavy weight lifter, big arms!) rap star. They traded styles. Bob put on a hat-backwards and sunglasses, and sang a rap song. He looked pretty cool like that. In his black slacks, black long sleeve turtle neck, and gold sport jacket. And with the added hat & shades, Bob was stylin'. He did a pretty good job of rapping, for a white boy! Then, Mel put on a dinner type jacket and tie and tried really hard to sing a "white" song. He had the funniest look on his face! It was cute. All in good fun and acting. Mel was pretty cool, and nice. He's a good sport. The audience whooped and hollered and clapped at all the fun. There was a lot of audience participation. They really worked with us, on everything!

When it came time for another break, Bob's 18-yr old son, Ryan joined the band in playing drums. Bob had a full band this time, complete with sax, drums, piano, keyboard, flute, bass & guitar. Ryan jammed along with them pretty good. He's been playing drums for about 4 years and is a natural at it. Bob's 16-yr old daughter Emily sat next to her mom Heather and enjoyed the show. It seemed to me that Emily has taken up the surfer girl look & style, and looked pretty cool in her sweatshirt, necklace, and clothing style. A fashion conscious young lady.

His next guest was the most lucky-unlucky guy. His name was Kenny Wolland. He wrote a book about his various brushes with death. He's been through quite a lot, and was a former Navy pilot. His book looks really interesting & compelling. Some really unbelievable stuff.

Bob closed (both shows) with a cute & very funny song, that had us all rolling with laughter. About his re-runs, and shows, his talk show, etc. Wait until you hear it, it's great! Very 'original!' :-) He had us all waving our hands like wheat in a wheat field on a windy day. It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again, & again! On a regular basis. Quite the energetic, adrenaline rush!

Zweites Taping (Second Taping) (auch 15.11.1997)
After our hour lunch break, we headed in to once again take our seats. Round 2 of "The Robert Urich Show". It was really fun to be 'behind the scenes' to see how they tape these shows. Especially twice in one day. First-class Hollywood at it's best. The director, producer, and assistants were great! They treated us like VIP's. They were very courteous and nice to us. Very professional. It was nice to see Bob at work. You can see why he's a master of his craft.

This show was much like the other shows, with the exception of the different guests. Bob's guest this show was an actress by the name of Jane Seymour from the hit show "Dr.Quinn-Medicine Woman". She looked very nice and has a great smile. They talked about her show and other things in her life, her children, marriage, work, etc.. And she interacted with another guest, behavior therapist Cynthia Richards, about success & failure. Turning failure into success.

Bob's next guest was a cute little 6-yr old boy from Louisiana named Hunter Hayes, and he sang Cajun music and played the accordion. His accordion was specially made for him. He sang in French but didn't understand French! He just sings the songs and is very enthusiastic about it. He sat on the chair next to Bob and answered some of Bob's questions. When he was done, he played his accordion some more.

The following guest was Dr.Osborn, the Vet doctor. She brought in some really cute and interesting animals. Once again she had those cute green frogs that just love to mess on Bob. And Bob just loves those little green (bud commercial rejects) frogs! Ha :-) She then brought out a nice, big and frisky mountain lion. He just wanted to play. Then they brought out this big, black animal called a "bindamin" ? They put this furry, mongoose family, guy on Bob's shoulders and fed him bananas. They had Bob put some unpeeled bananas in his pocket to feed to the animal. It was getting pretty heavy (and messy) on Bob's shoulders, so they took him down after a long while. Bob really gets into his work! (hee hee). Next, they brought out this adorable little monkey. He was jumping all over the place. He's a small monkey from Indonesia. He proceeded to help himself to Bob's water from his cup! We all laughed at that. Bob didn't mind. He thought it was funny, and said to the monkey "Here, help yourself!"

The next break came and Bob was talking about people he has worked with over the years. He did a special introduction of his older brother Tom. They paired up together and sang a duet. They sounded and looked great together. Then they brought in a monitor and showed clips from the shows Tom has been in, of Robert's, like Vegas, Spenser & Lazarus Man. Then Tom showed (on the monitor) a picture of Robert & Tom together as babies. They were so cute. Looking at Robert when he was about 1, you can see the very dark hair and distinctive dark eyebrows. That "Urich" look. He was a very cute baby, as I expected. Everyone in the audience said "Awwwhhh" in unison!

The show closed in the same manner as the first. I have heard that on the Friday show (Nov 14, 1997), they had Billy Crystal and a funny sex therapist (Suzi Landolphi). I heard it was hilarious. I can see that, especially when you mix the likes of Billy C with a sex therapist, your going to get an explosion of sorts! Really funny. All in all, it was a great time to be had by all. Even the security guy, Jim, was really nice and fun to talk to. He told us of his police adventures, and his side job of sports memorabilia. The weather was nice outside, not too bad. Sunny and warm Friday, and just a little light rain Saturday. Not too bad. It cooled things off a bit. Our group had really good seats, on the 1st show we sat in the second row-middle. On the 2nd show, Sandi & I got to sit in the front row-right (facing stage), and Cheryl, Linda F & Cathy sat in the second row. It was a nice time to spend all day with Bob, his family, the production people, our internet friends, etc. A day we will remember forever. Bob gave us the notion that his show might hopefully be on as soon as January. I can hardly wait to see it on air. There's always more to look forward to with Bob. :-) Stay tuned.