Lookwell
Lookwell
NR | 10 May 1991 (USA)
Lookwell Trailers

The former star of a cancelled cop TV show solves crimes. The pilot was broadcast on NBC in July 1991 but was not picked up as a series despite being a "personal favorite" of NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff.

Reviews
Matcollis

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

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Libramedi

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

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Hayleigh Joseph

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

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Billy Ollie

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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Fluke_Skywalker

Plot; The star of a long cancelled detective show uses his ceremonial deputy status to help the police solve crimes.With the passing of Adam West yesterday, I had planned to watch a two-parter of his classic Batman in tribute. But in reading about West I stumbled across an unsold pilot he starred in that was written and produced by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel. Over the years it's gained a cult status and is frequently mentioned as one of the best failed pilots of all-time. The pilot is called Lookwell, and if it's the glove, Adam West is the hand.In the last 24 hours, much has been said about how deft West's portrayal of the Caped Crusader was. With material that plays on several levels, he gives a virtuoso performance that we're only now really beginning to appreciate. That touch is on full display in this consistently amusing and intermittently clever pilot with a premise that seems tailor made for a man of West's talents. Playing the loveably oblivious Ty Lookwell, he gets to don a variety of getups and is clearly enjoying himself.This would've been a tough premise to keep up on a weekly basis, but we were sadly denied the opportunity to see Adam West display his unique talents in this equally unique show.

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allbell

I located and watched this show because I'm a fan of Adam West's Batman, Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel. Now that I've seen it, I can understand why people tend to either love it or hate it.The premise is great, Adam West is great, and the Lookwell character is hilariously annoying and genuinely noble at the same time.The clash between the luxury show business side of Los Angeles and the regular, scruffy side is great, too.The actors seem to be well cast, but one issue is that, in some cases, they do stage-y, sketch comedy style acting instead of regular TV show acting.I think a bigger problem is that the script isn't structured all that well. There are too many different characters who get about the same amount of screen time, and suspense doesn't build the way it should.It looks as if neither this show nor Andy Barker, PI has a story editor. It seems to me that a good, experienced story editor would have ideas for ways to make shows like these hold together better.

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pine508

I finally just saw Lookwell after years of hearing about how brilliant and funny it is.It's simply neither. It is mildly amusing, and because it is 22 minutes it is bearable, but that's it. I really don't understand what all the hype is about. Maybe because it is so obscure, people feel like they've stumbled onto a hidden gem? Because of Adam West? O'Brien and Smigel? It's just not very funny.That is all I had to say but not this web page is saying I do not meet the minimum number of lines of text. So I am writing this. I'd recommend you ignore this text. Why would a comment area want users to have a minimum number of lines of text?It's as idiotic as Lookwell.

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Scott_Mercer

A friend and former roommate and I just happened to be sitting around watching TV, not expecting anything special, when this came on. It was a pilot episode and NBC threw it on the air during the dead summer months. We were bowled over by the sense of humor, right in our ballpark. The stamp of O'Brien and Smigel, that we now are quite familiar with from over 10 years of watching them on Late Night, is all over this puppy. Adam West plays an actor who played a 1970's TV detective, who thinks he's a real detective. That's about all you need to know, but the writing and acting really sell the show. One of the funniest ideas ever. My friend and I still talk about it from time to time. (Okay, fine, we're losers who have nothing else to talk about.)It is one of the crimes of television history that NBC did not pick this up even for a 6 episode run. I've been thinking about trying to dig up a copy of this masterwork. When I try to describe it to people who haven't seen it, they just shrug and go "whatever," but I assure them that they are missing out on comedy gold. Okay, maybe I'm overhyping it, but it sure is one of my favorite undeservedly obscure TV nuggets of all time. I put it up there next to "Quark" with Richard Benjamin. At least that one had 6 episodes. Somebody dig this up and put it as a bonus on a DVD of Late Night or something, would ya?NOTE: As of late 2006, the show is readily available on several different internet video sites for viewing. Apparently the show made an appearance on the late lamented Trio cable network within the past 5 years, and some people recorded it. Catch it if you can.

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