Welcome to The Hot Hero Sandwich Project, the online home of a research project documenting the 1979-1980 Emmy Award-winning NBC Saturday morning children’s educational entertainment television series, Hot Hero Sandwich.
Use the tabs on the left to navigate this extensive archive of articles, interviews, and video, or jump right into some of our most popular posts on right. If you're new, start with the Introductionand learn about the series in A Second Serving! and the FAQ tabs on left. The latest updates are noted in the Updates tab on the left and the Project Posts list on the right.
35mm promotional slide for Hot Hero Sandwich
(author’s collection).
Relics from the
production of Hot Hero Sandwich are
rare. I missed the “Wild Night” Animation Cels Auction, but I fortunately managed to pick up this 35mm
promotional slide featuring the main cast. These slides would be distributed
with press releases to TV stations. In the era of back-projection systems to
display images alongside the news anchors, including a 35 mm slide increased
the chance of getting your story on air.
Interviews: Loretta Lynn, Leonard Nimoy, and Richard Pryor, in
conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
Musical Guest: Joe Jackson, Andy Breckman and The Hot Hero Band.
Themes: Dealing with failure, being punished, having the courage to
ask out your crush, watching parents argue, discovering your talents, and a
final good-bye to Hot Hero fans.
Note: The links below go to the corresponding video clips hosted on Hot Hero Sandwich Central!
11.1.Sketch: The Marijuana
Sketch. A young is stoned, but parents refuse to it and blame his siblings
instead. With L. Michael Craig, Denny Dillon, Matt McCoy and Andrew Duncan and
Claudia Sutherland as the parents.
11.2.Interview Segment: Loretta Lynn talks about her mother discovering her and her sister
smoking, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.3. Sketch. Kid on Trial! A scratch on the fender on his parent's car leads to a
trial and conviction. With L. Michael Craig, Andrew Duncan, Claudette
Sutherland, Frankie Faison, and Matt McCoy.
11.4.Interview Segment: Richard Pryor discusses how he hated being 13, not quite a child,
not quite an adult, and not being recognized as an individual, in conversation
with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.5. Sketch. Kid on Trial Verdict: L. Michael Craig’s character gets sentenced
for the scratch on his parent’s car.
11.6.Interview Segment: Leonard Nimoy talks about how he has forgotten about how parent’s
punished him for misbehaving now he is an adult, in conversation with Dr. Tom
Cottle.
11.6.Interview Segment: Richard Pryor discusses whether he played “make-believe” growing
up, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.7.Captain Hero Segment: The Case
of the Talking Toilet. A quick toilet trick by the Captain (Adam Ross) deters a
felonious plumber! Also with Claudette Sutherland and Saundra McClain.
11.8.Interview Segment: Leonard Nimoy talks about what interested him in acting as a child,
in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.9.Nightmare High Segment (Part 1 of
2): Grease parody. Grease (1978) was HUGE in 1979 and ripe for parody by the
kids at Nightmare High. With Vicky Dawson, Denny Dillon, L. Michael Craig, Matt
McCoy, Nan-Lynn Nelson, Paul O’Keefe,
Jarret Smithwrick, Saundra McClain and Claudette Sutherland.
11.10:Nightmare High Segment (Part 2 of
2): Grease parody. The play goes on, and this time with Stanley Dipstyck! With
Vicky Dawson, Denny Dillon, L. Michael Craig, Matt McCoy, Nan-Lynn Nelson, Paul
O’Keefe, Jarret Smithwrick.
11.11.Interview Segment: Richard Pryor and Loretta Lynn talk about what inspired them to go
into show business, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.12. Ted’s Café
Segment: The gang comforts Nan-Lynn Nelson's
character when she doesn't get the part she auditioned for. Also with Vicky
Dawson, Denny Dillion, L. Michael Craig, Matt McCoy, Paul O'Keefe, and Jarret
Smithwrick.
11.13.Interview Segment: Leonard Nimoy talks about when his parent’s underwhelming response
to seeing his first play, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.14.Interview Segment: Richard Pryor talks about his sexual drive as a teenager, Leonard
Nimoy discusses how growing up he felt he wasn’t developing as fast as other
boys, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.15.Sketch: Dating Nerves
(Part 1 of 3). Asking out your crush is never easy in high school. With L. Michael Craig, Matt McCoy, Vicky
Dawson, and Denny Dillon.
11.16.Music Performance: Joe Jackson
performs “Is She Really Going Out with Him?
11.17.Sketch: Dating Nerves
(Part 2 of 3). Matt McCoy's character, still smarting for not having the
courage to ask out the girl he has a crush on, gets teased by his friends to
encourage him — And yes, that is the Eagles "Heartache Tonight"
playing on the radio! Good choice for this scene. Also with L. Michael Craig,
Paul O'Keefe, and Jarett Smithwrick.
11.18.Interview Segment: Leonard Nimoy and Loretta Lynn discuss dating as a teenager, in conversation
with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.19. Sketch: Dating Nerves (Part 3 of 3). Matt McCoy's character finally gets up
the nerve to ask out his crush (Vicky Dawson), and it wasn't as bad as he
thought! Also with L. Michael Craig, Paul O'Keefe, Jarrett Smithwrick.
11.20.Interview Segment: Richard Pryor talks about seeing his parents argue and fight, and
getting caught in the middle, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.21.Sketch: The Movie Date. Nan-Lyn
Nelson and Jarret Smithwrick's characters go out on a date and navigate the
turbulent territory of gender expectations in dating.
11.22.Interview Segment: Leonard Nimoy talks about the importance of being a decent person,
in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.23.Ym and Ur Segment: Going home. Ym
and Ur (Denny Dillon and Paul O’Keefe) share a clip from the favorite Earth TV
show, Ur’s father calls them home, (series producer Howard Malley). Plus the
Puberty Fairy (Andy Breckman) shows up!
11.24.Interview Segment: Loretta Lynn talks about how much little gestures from loved ones
mean, L, in conversation with Dr. Tom Cottle.
11.25.Music Performance: Andy Breckman and
the Hot Hero Band end the series with a rousing rendition of his song “Here We
Come, There We Go.”
“Here We Come and There They Go”
By Andy Breckman
Well, there’s a rumor going round
They say that when the sun goes down
And disappears
It never really goes away
They say that like a faithful friend
The sun is gonna rise again
They tell me that
tomorrow is another day
Here we come and there we go
Here we come and there we go
Here we come and there we go
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Hello, hello, hello, hello
I bought a boomerang today
I threw it and it went away
It just kept going so I figured
It was gone
Ten years later walking down
The street the other side of town
The thing came back and hit me SMACK! Right on the arm
The Hot Hero Sandwich
Project has been added as the official site for the TV series profile at the
Internet Movie Database! See listing at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364818/
and scroll down to “DETAILS” and “Official Site” and then click on “Online
archive of primary source documents and interviews, and rare video clips from
the series.”
Sooner or Later is Hot Hero Sandwich producers’ Bruce and Carole Hart’s 1979 NBC TV
movie starring rocker Rex Smith and Denise Miller. Smith, as hardcore Hot Hero fans know, performed two songs
in episode 10 backed up by the Hot Hero Band and Miller at the time had just
completed stints as a regular in the series Fish,
the Barney Miller spinoff on which she
also had several appearances as the same character, and later was a regular on Archie Bunker’s Place.
The film aired Sunday, March 25, 1979, at 8:00 PM. It is probably no coincidence that Hot Hero Sandwich was already in pre-production at the time. NBC must have sensed (probably via test screenings) it had a hit on its hands and the Harts could deliver a key demographic. This likely helped convinced NBC to give Hot Hero Sandwich a shot. The film was available on Hot Hero Sandwich Central, but the copyright holder removed it; however, in the short time it was up the movie quickly garnered thousands of hits and was the most-watched video on the channel — a testament to Rex Smith’s ongoing appeal.
Rex Smith sings “Sooner or Later” on episode 10
of Hot Hero Sandwich.
The film’s plot
regards a crush by a young girl (Miller) on her guitar teacher
(Smith) who let's him think she is older than she really is. The film established Smith
as a teen idol and kick-started his acting career. A song from the film, “You
Take My Breath Away,” hit the number 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Hot Hero Sandwich connections here are
plentiful. In addition to the film being produced by Hot Hero Sandwich's Bruce and Carole Hart the Hot Hero Band'sMark Cunningham plays guitar in Smith's
band in the movie, the music is by Hot
Hero Sandwich theme music composer Stephen Lawrence. The film also features the Hot
Hero Sandwich commercial break announcer Barbara Feldon (see Hot Hero Sandwich Clip Job! The Breaks with Barbara Feldon).
The film also
stars Morey Amsterdam, Judd Hirsch, and Lynn Redgrave.
In an interview
with the Hot Hero Sandwich Project, Hot Hero Sandwich — On the Flip Side with Drummer Mike Ratti, Part II, Mike Ratti
reveals that Bruce and Carole Hart saw Rex perform at Madison Square Garden on
Nov. 10, 1977 (Ratti and Cunningham were band members at the time). Rex was on
tour opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ted Nugent and the MSG concert came a month
after the plane crash that killed two members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and several
other passengers). The Harts were already working on Sooner or Later and decided that Rex would be perfect for the lead.
This lead to the break-up of the band, though Cunningham, Ratti, and this time
with Brissette (who also previously played with Smith), would join Smith for “Superhero”
in 1979 (see below) and then the three were joined by Richie Annunziato for Hot Hero Sandwich which debuted on,
coincidently, Nov. 10, 1979. There’s a lot more to the story, and Mike is a
great raconteur, so check his story at the above link, where one can also find
a clip of Rex’s performance Nov. 10, 1977.
Rex Smith, “Superhero” (1979), with the Hot Hero Band's Robert Brissette
(bass),
Mark Cunningham (guitar), and Mike Ratti (drums).
I admit, a story
about unrequited teenage love wasn’t exactly on my watch list in 1979, but the
film stuck a note with the target demographic, presumably teen girls. The
formula worked and the film and the title song were hits. Smith still retains a
large fan base and it is probably no surprise that the two highest ranking
clips on the Hot Hero Sandwich Central YouTube channel are Smith’s performances on the show.
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