About Maniac Mansion
- Joe Flaherty, as Dr. Fred Edison
- Deborah Theaker, as Casey Edison
- Kathleen Robertson, as Tina Edison
- Avi Phillips, as Ike Edison
- George Buza, as Turner Edison
- Mary Charlotte Wilcox, as Idella Muckle Orca
- John Hemphill, as Harry the Fly
The plot is very loosely based on the LucasArts computer game of the same name. Fred is a scientist who lives in a mansion which he inherited from his father in the fictional city of Cedar Springs. Unfortunately, there is an active meteor in the basement which transformed his four-year-old son Turner into a hulking six-footer and his brother-in-law Harry into a fly with a human head. Fred has been trying for years to return Turner and Harry to normal size, without much success. The rest of the family consists of Fred's wife Casey, their other children Tina and Ike, and Harry's wife Idella. Other recurring characters include Harry's Canadian twin brother Lenny Orca (who is not a fly), and the yuppie next-door neighbours Richard, Allasyn, and Keifer Pratt.
Maniac Mansion has many similarities with SCTV, as the two shows shared much of the same cast and crew. For instance, Maniac Mansion creator Eugene Levy and writer/producers Michael Short, David Flaherty, and John Hemphill were all SCTV veterans. Three of the seven Maniac Mansion stars (Joe Flaherty, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, and John Hemphill) were also SCTV alumni, and Deborah Theaker had been a member of the Second City stage show. Maniac Mansion also had frequent guest appearances by SCTV and Second City personalities such as Dave Thomas, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Tony Rosato, and Robin Duke.
Maniac Mansion is a unique blend of the zaniness of a sci-fi computer game, the droll and referential humour of SCTV and the Second City, and the warmth of a traditional sitcom about a loving extended family. It is perhaps best summed up in "Luck Be a Lady This Season" (2-1) (written by David Flaherty, John Hemphill, Michael Short). When Ike and Turner bring Fred a copy of a Maniac Mansion script that they wrote, he says:
See? This is exactly what I was talking about. Everybody thinks they know what the show's about, but they don't! I mean, this isn't your typical sitcom where you take and insect and turn him into a star. No, boys, Maniac Mansion is something special. Now the script, it has to have different levels, it's gotta have an edge. You know, it's gotta break new ground, transcend the norm...
Of course, they then told him that they only wanted him to check it for spelling!
The critical response to Maniac Mansion was for the most part very positive. Time Magazine named it one of the ten best shows of 1990, and called it "the looniest, sweetest family comedy of the year." It has also been described as everything from "the '90s equivalent of the Addams Family" (New York Post) to "David Lynch on helium" (Daniel Cerone, Los Angeles Times).
Maniac Mansion has always enjoyed a devoted cult following among its fans, but the ratings in North America were never extremely high. It has become very popular in some overseas countries, notably in Russia where it aired in the late nineties. While there has never been an organized Maniac Mansion fan club in North America, the Russian Maniac Mansion fan club boasted over 3,000 members in 1998.
Maniac Mansion was last shown on the Family Channel on Sep. 4, 1994; on YTV in 1997; and on Showcase in 2002. Unfortunately it is not currently being aired anywhere, and has not been released on DVD. A VHS compilation entitled "Maniac Mansion: The Love Collection," which includes "Flystruck" (1-2) and "Fred's A-Courtin'" (1-5), was released by Family Channel Video. It is out of print but is often available from amazon.com third-party sellers.