Watch: Adam Scott is back for a third Greatest Event in Television History
The hilarious, improbably long-running series offers a shot-for-shot recreation of the opening credits to the ABC sitcom Too Close For Comfort
The third entry in Adam Scott's Greatest Event in Television History series — which offers obsessively accurate recreations of the opening credits sequences from a variety of 80s TV shows — has finally arrived. And with two previous entries that failed to live up to the lofty title, host Jeff Probst is becoming skeptical about the project.
"Hey everybody, I'm Jeff Probst, and welcome back to this," says the host. "I don't know what to say. I'm starting to feel like a real butthole here. Why am I feeling like a butthole? Well, I've done a couple of these specials where we keep promising the Greatest Event in Television History, and we have yet to deliver on that promise."
Probst's solution? A last-minute title change to the considerably more modest An Event in Television History.
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The first two editions of The Greatest Event in Television History recreated the opening credits of Simon & Simon and Hart to Hart. The latest tackles Too Close For Comfort, which you probably don't remember was a sitcom that ran on ABC from 1980 to 1983.
Though previous entries in the Greatest Event in Television History series relied heavily on the interplay between Scott and co-stars Jon Hamm and Amy Poehler, the Too Close For Comfort remake features a full ensemble cast that includes Catherine O'Hara, Jon Glaser, Kathryn Hahn, and Chelsea Peretti. The League's Jason Mantzsoukas steps in as the video's psychotic director, and a surprise guest from a previous installment pops in for a special cameo appearance.
Inevitably, the production is beset by a wide range of problems. Adam Scott lacks the ability to sit. Jon Glazer refuses to shave his beard. Catherine O'Hara becomes convinced that Too Close For Comfort is just a code name for the new Star Wars movie. But with such a laudable and important goal ahead of them, the cast and crew manage to band together to pull off another Greatest Event in Television History.
With Too Close For Comfort in the can, there's no way there could be yet another Greatest Event in Television History, right? The video ends with the caption, "You can absolutely be sure there will never be another like it. Until midnight on January 23, 2014, when the next one airs." Until then, you'll have to make do with the previous entries:
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Simon & Simon:
Hart to Hart:
Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.
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