Shark Bytes

Owing to the short run, I don't think this will ever be released in any format. Additionally, this was probably too early even for the earliest home-Beta-Max owners to have captured it. I remember it with a smile & a wink. It might also be considered anti - PC these days, for, although this was the 1st starring Oriental lead part, & the 1st Oriental - family - show, network - executives might be reluctant to release something of this nature which has appeared on quite a few world's worst - ever telly ( TV ) shows. If, though, something like 'Pink Lady & Jeff' can be released in box - sets, then you can't know 4 sure. On the whole, though, it's probably too obscure & too old to be sent to the manufactures.

It was so bad that it was endearing. Has this ever been released in either VHS or DVD? Susan Blanchard was one sexy fox & that made it worth watching. (She went on to do No Nonsense pantyhose commercials in the late 1970s & early 1980s. She was also in New Maverick((movie)) & Young Maverick ((TV show)). The last thing I see her credited with at IMDB is Adventures In Babysitting((TV show)) ca 1989. I always liked her.)

This show never "jumped the shark" for it was intolerably stupid from the first minute. The thing which burned itself into my memory, apart from the faux-"eastern" rendition of Chicago in the theme song, was the moment on the first episode where one of the teenaged Japanese girls used the then-trendy phrase "it's the pits." The laugh track roared, and one had the uncomfortable feeling that the writers and producers thought that there was something inherently hilarious about a "foreigner" using an "Americanism" thickly accented- a genre of humor which had peaked in the 1940s and had been ebbing ever since.

Mr. T. and Tina was the best sitcom in the history of american television. I don't understand why so many people knock it. This show was absolutely the best. It was cancelled after just five episodes because ABC was under pressure from asian americans who complained they didn't like the way the show depicted their race. To this very day, in protest I have not watched a single second of ABC programming ever since the insane cancellation of Mr. T. and Tina. The show really kicked ass, it was awesome. The comic genius of Pat Morita and Susan Blanchard put Lucy and Desi to shame. Susan Blanchard rocks. She's a fox!

I'm glad I'm not crazy, this show did exist! Nobody I talk to remembers this train wreck of a sitcom, but I remember it as being the worst piece of crap I have ever seen! And to think Pat Morita left Happy Days, HAPPY DAYS!!!! for this, OMG!!! What was he thinking?? The episode where he invented the anti-gravity belt sticks out in my mind as one of the most embarrassing, painful moments in television history. Thank God he redeemed himself in the Karate Kid films.

This show jumped when the toilet got plugged. An aged Chinese guy came out and informed Mr. T, "The whirlpool of life no longer flows!" God, I shudder whenever I remember that line! This show should have been flushed down that toilet from the start!

Everyone who already commented on it is WAAAAYY too kind. This show has held my award for "Worst Show Ever Seen" since 76. (please note that most of the previous writers recall Pat Morita, but who WAS that chick???...) Maybe there were subliminal messages in it, or something. It had no other redeeming qualities.

Out of some 137-odd ABC network shows that the poor excuse for an affiliate I was stuck with at the time decided to pass on for some local/syndie crap, Mr. T. & Tina was the ONLY one I could forgive them for pre-empting regularly...but ONLY because out cable service had just begun a practice of beaming in pre-empted network offerings whenever possible, from a distant market or two, thereby allowing me to see for myself what an intelligence-insulting, colossal time-waster this was! What a throwback to the ancient days of formula sitcoms: the female lead is a ditz but the man in her life is no prize either. Dumb inventions with dumb names, slapstick galore, scheduled for Saturday nights on ABC in Fall 1976...as if anyone was going to switch from CBS to see it past the first week. What the hell was James Komack smoking when he came up with *this* one?

Oh my God! I was only 10 when this came out, but I still remember watching it for some reason.... The theme song was a take-off of an old standard on Chicago (since that's where the show took place), but it was played with a Japanese stringed instrument. Susan Blanchard??the woman who played "Tina"?? played "Mary" on the soap "All My Children". I think her character had been killed off of AMC at about that time. I think I remembered seeing her on some car commercials after that. I can't remember much else about the show. I thought it was okay, but then again, I was only 10, so what did I know!

Jumped day one, minute one. The theme song was some Hollywood songwriter's idea of eastern music (representing Mr. T) followed immediately and in jarring fashion by some boppy theme for Tina. It was downhill after that. One of the worst sitcoms ever made. Pat Morita was OK, but the scripts were way too bad for him to rescue them. Tina (played by, I think, Susan Blanchard) was really bad. You could tell she was an actress reciting her lines. Ted Lange had a supporting part. He can claim that he later went to a much better role in a much better series -- a statement that can't often made about the Love Boat. (In case anyone's wondering, the real Mr. T, of the A Team, wasn't in this show. He was still unknown).

For a while I thought I was the only person who ever saw this show! I remember Mr. T (Pat Morita) inventing an antigravity belt, which I think was actually left over from a Bionic Woman episode. The show was so poorly done, the wires were visible when the person was wearing the belt and "flying!" They couldn't adjust the lighting to camouflage the wires and retake the shot? I never watched it again. I'd be amazed if anyone else did.