Shaky Ground

{{short description|Television series}} {{for|the Temptations song|Shakey Ground}} {{no footnotes|date=December 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = Sitcom | creator = Bob Keyes Chip Keyes Doug Keyes | director = Max Tash Art Wolff Scott Baio Shelley Jensen | starring = Matt Frewer Robin Riker Jennifer Love Hewitt Matthew Brooks Bradley Pierce Harold Sylvester | theme_music_composer = | opentheme = "Shakey Ground" performed by Phoebe Snow | composer = Bruce Miller | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 17 | executive_producer = Bob Keyes Chip Keyes Doug Keyes | producer = | runtime = 30 minutes | channel = Fox | company = Keyes Brothers Productions Lorimar Television | first_aired = {{Start date|1992|12|27}} | last_aired = {{End date|1993|5|23}} }}

'''Shaky Ground''' is an American sitcom, created by Bob Keyes, Chip Keyes, and Doug Keyes, which starred Matt Frewer as Bob Moody, a hapless but supportive and caring father. Robin Riker played his wife and Matthew Brooks, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Bradley Pierce played their children. The show aired on Fox from December 27, 1992 to May 23, 1993.

==Theme== Bob Moody was mid-life, mid-career, middle-management and middle-class. He worked as a quality-control inspector for United General Technologies. He loved his family and worked hard to support them, but in ways was struggling with adulthood as well. Episodes often focused on Bob's thwarted ambitions at work, or the fact that he was not a traditional husband and father at home. Bob managed to get by as a result of finding the confidence to accept himself. Some episodes were surrealistic in nature, such as Bob trying an experimental hair-restoration product that slowly turned him into a werewolf. In another episode he takes up "Dance Fu", a combination of the martial arts and jazz dancing, to protect his family's right to go to a restaurant after a bully from work threatens him. Other episodes were more down to earth. In one Bob stages a sit-in in his younger son's treehouse in order to protest oppressive zoning laws which demand the treehouse be demolished. In another episode his daughter asks him to stay in the kitchen and not embarrass her at her first party, but when it flops, he livens it up with disco music and a game of Twister to everyone's delight and helps his daughter approach a boy she likes. However outlandish the situations became, the series was always grounded in family life.

The series finale had Bob circulating a petition to save the local school music program, ultimately Bob is tackled by Secret Service agents when he tries to get newly-elected President Bill Clinton to sign the petition - in a men's room.

Scheduled alongside primetime broadcasts of ''Batman: The Animated Series'', against powerhouse ''60 Minutes'', ''Shaky Ground'' struggled in its time slot, while retaining a small but devoted cult following. Howard Rosenberg of the ''Los Angeles Times'' described the show as "sneaky-funny" in his 1992 review.

==Cast== *Matt Frewer as Bob Moody *Robin Riker as Helen Moody *Matthew Brooks as Carter Moody *Jennifer Love Hewitt as Bernadette Moody *Harold Sylvester as Russell *Bradley Pierce as Dylan Moody

==Episodes== {{Episode table |background=#000050 |total_width= |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |prodcode= |episodes= {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=1 | Title=Honey, I Shrunk the Paycheck | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Bob Keyes & Chip Keyes & Doug Keyes | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1992|12|13}} | ProdCode = 455101 | ShortSummary=Bob loses a promotion to a much-younger manager and quits his job, then must break the news to his wife. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=2 | Title=Fight Night | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Bob Keyes & Chip Keyes & Doug Keyes | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1992|12|20}} | ProdCode = 455106 | ShortSummary=Bob has Carter play sick so he can stay home to "nurse" him, but actually he wants to watch the hottest fight of the year and avoid having to attend ''The Nutcracker'' with Helen and the in-laws. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=3 | Title=The Amazing Chimney Boy | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Kevin Kelton | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1992|12|27}} | ProdCode = 455105 | ShortSummary=Bob tries to clean the chimney, but when Dylan gets stuck inside, Bob's marriage may go up in smoke. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=4 | Title=House Party, Too | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Eric Brand & Robert Kurtz | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|1|3}} | ProdCode = 455102 | ShortSummary=Bob moves his poker game to his house so he can chaperone Bernadette's party, a move sure to embarrass her. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=5 | Title=Pet Sematary | DirectedBy=Scott Baio | WrittenBy=Shari Hearn | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|1|10}} | ProdCode = 455107 | ShortSummary=Bob's in-laws leave their dog behind when they vacation in Hawaii and when it suddenly dies, Bob could find himself in the doghouse. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=6 | Title=The Scarlet Letter | DirectedBy=Scott Baio | WrittenBy=Virginia K. Hegge & Christopher Vane | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|1|17}} | ProdCode = 455103 | ShortSummary=Bob and Helen's fifteenth anniversary is clouded when Bernadette finds a love poem from one of Helen's old flames. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=7 | Title=Of Human Bonding | DirectedBy=Steve Zuckerman | WrittenBy=Tom Devanney | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|1|24}} | ProdCode = 455104 | ShortSummary=After spending long hours at work away from the family, Bob tries to bond with youngest child Dylan. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=8 | Title=Asbestos and Costello | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Virginia K. Hegge & Christopher Vane | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|2|7}} | ProdCode = 455108 | ShortSummary=Before their broken furnace can be replaced, the Moodys must contend with the cold reality of costly asbestos removal — and living in a small trailer in their back yard. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=9 | Title=Sudden Impact | DirectedBy=Scott Baio | WrittenBy=Bob Keyes, Chip Keyes & Doug Keyes | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|2|14}} | ProdCode = 455111 | ShortSummary=After Bob restores a sports car with Russell and Carter's help, Carter takes it out for an unauthorized spin and wrecks it. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=10 | Title=Mr. President | DirectedBy=Max Tash | WrittenBy=Eric Brand & Robert Kurtz | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|2|28}} | ProdCode = 455112 | ShortSummary=When the school board considers axing Dylan's music classes, Bob takes a stand against budget cuts and starts a petition drive — without much success. When President Clinton visits a local mall, Bob decides his could be the signature that turns his cause around. | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=11 | Title=The Tree House | DirectedBy=Richard Correll | WrittenBy=Stuart Silverman | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|3|7}} | ProdCode = 455113 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=12 | Title=Misery | DirectedBy=Jeff Melman | WrittenBy=Kevin Kelton | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|3|21}} | ProdCode = 455110 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=13 | Title=School Daze | DirectedBy=David Trainer | WrittenBy=Kevin Kelton | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|3|28}} | ProdCode = 455114 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=14 | Title=Love Thy Neighbor | DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen | WrittenBy=Bob Keyes & Tom Devanney | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|4|18}} | ProdCode = 455109 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=15 | Title=Faulty Attraction | DirectedBy=David Trainer | WrittenBy=Tom Devanney | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|5|2}} | ProdCode = 455115 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=16 | Title=Toupee or Not Toupee | DirectedBy=Robert Berlinger | WrittenBy=Shari Hearn | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|5|9}} | ProdCode = 455116 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber=17 | Title=Stayin' Alive | DirectedBy=Robert Berlinger | WrittenBy=Eric Cohen | OriginalAirDate={{start date|1993|5|23}} | ProdCode = 455117 | ShortSummary= | LineColor=000050 }} }}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0103541}}

Category:1990s American sitcoms Category:1992 American television series debuts Category:1993 American television series endings Category:Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Category:English-language American television shows Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles Category:Fox Broadcasting Company sitcoms