Hot Hero Sandwich Archives: Newhouse News Service, Fall 1979

by G. Jack Urso

Article about Hot Hero Sandwich by Jerry Krupnick, Newhouse News Service, Fall 1979

This article by Jerry Krupnick, long-time television reporter and critic for the Star-Ledger (New Jersey), previewing the Hot Hero Sandwich is notable for providing an extended interview with series’ creators and producer Bruce and Carole Hart. It’s unclear whether this was a “live” interview or whether the Q & A was pulled from pre-packaged PR materials, but I’ve not come across similar responses in other news articles, so it may be an original interview between Krupnick and the Harts.

The date of the article is unknown, but since it is referencing the original Oct. 20, 1979, start date for the show, I’m guessing this article was published in late August or September, before the start date for Hot Hero Sandwich was moved up to Nov. 10, 1979. As noted in the article, the show was aimed for “preteens,” but as the series evolved, the music acts and innovative animation drew teens. This dichotomy led to some uneven continuity in the early episodes with skits designed for preteens and tweens, but also with content appreciated by older teens.

The full text of the article is provided below.  

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“HOT HERO SANDWICH” For Kids With ‘Growing Pains’

BY JERRY KRUPNICK Newhouse News Service

NEW YORK-Bruce and Carole Hart seem to have a special wire into the minds and mores of today’s youngsters. They have based their considerable careers on interpreting these thoughts in music and comedy, on giving the kids some knowledge, some hope and some advice without catering or condescension.

The Harts began in television as the original staff writers for “Sesame Street.” They joined Marlo Thomas on her Emmy-winning special “Free to Be You and Me.” They wrote, produced and directed an outstanding drama of young love called “Sooner or Later,” which was one of NBC’s highlights last season.

Now, starting in October, Bruce and Carole are putting together a unique hour-long series aimed at the unique mix of audience that watches television at noon on Saturdays.

“Hot Hero Sandwich,” which NBC will air starting Oct. 20, is primarily intended for the preteens who are “going through all kinds of changes-physical and mental-who are discovering sex and independence and are undergoing what we used to call ‘growing pains,’” Carole said.

Interviews with ‘Heroes’

Yet the Harts believe their series will also appeal to youngsters from the age of 6 on up, “who have been watching the set all morning anyhow, who may not under-stand everything that’s happening but will be entertained by the music and the fun and the animation and may come away with more than we thought possible,” she said.

At the same time, the “Hot Hero Sandwich” creators are hopeful that adults also will find their show, perhaps watch it with their kids and get a new perspective on how their youngsters feel, what they react to, what bugs them, what turns them on.

The gimmick, if we can call it that, to the series is the use of interviews with “heroes,” celebrities from all walks of life who have special appeal to the adolescents.

So far, 30 of these interviews have been taped, ranging from Olivia Newton-John to Kurt Vonnegut, from Erik Estrada to Bruce Jenner, from Donna Pescow to Leonard Nimoy.

“The people we’ve talked to are those whom youngsters most admire. But we’ve not talked to them about their latest movie, latest book, latest scientific breakthrough,” Carole said. “Instead, our conversations have been exclusively limited to their own teen-age years, the problems they faced in school, at home, with their peers.

“We were told at the start that these were busy people and we would be fortunate to get 20 minutes each from them. Some of our conversations, however, ran up to two or three hours. It was amazing how these celebrities got into their past, into their hangups, into their shyness, into their first encounters with the opposite sex,” she said.

Terrified of Girls

Her husband continued, “Bruce Jenner, for instance, was terrified of girls when he was a teen-ager. Finally he began going with one young lady, but never could get up his nerve for that first kiss.

“At last, on one date, Bruce braced himself, closed his eyes and gave the girl a fleeting goodnight peck on the cheek. “Then,” he told us, ‘I opened the car door and I took off as fast as I could. That was the beginning of my track career.

Four of the interview segments will be used on each hour of “Hot Hero Sandwich,” interspersed with comedy skits by a resident company of youngsters and musical numbers by guest bands and singers.

Change will be the key word for the weekly themes. “Suddenly,” Carole said, “the opposite sex has a new meaning and appearance in a youngster’s life, which he or she must figure out how to relate to. That’s always anxiety making.

“Also, adolescents find they will have to renegotiate contracts with the adults in their life,” she said. “They suddenly come to a time when they want to be independent, they want to be strong, they want to be on their own. But, at the same time, they still need adult support and it’s just not so cool to admit it, it brings about conflict, insecurity, rebellion.”

‘Quietly Going Crazy’

To which Bruce added, “Primarily, young people reach the stage where they feel like they’re going crazy, very quietly and in an isolated way, and no one can seem to reassure them that’s not the case.

“We’ve set out to design a show, an entertainment, which would attract these young people and which would assure them that the insanity they think they’re feeling is not craziness. It is normal. This is just the way things are. And, just as important, we want to show them they are not alone in their feelings, that their peers and their parents before them and their own future youngsters all go through these changes.”

That’s a lot to chew on. It’s a large order for television and requires a special expertise, a special touch. Given the track record of Bruce and Carole Hart, it would seem that they are capable of pulling it off. We’ll have to wait until October to find out.

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