Heil Honey I'm Home! (1990) User Reviews

Tries too hard

[Simon_J_Rodgers · 5/10 · 13 October 2018]

There is quite a lot to be said about this series and I'm gonig to try to be as fair as possible.

The main basis of this show is combining two different scenarios, one being Nazi Germany and an American sitcom. Both situations are very different and therefore trying to merge them did not work in my honest opinion. Sitcoms which make light of wartime situations are not uncommon. Examples include Allo Allo, Goodnight Sweetheart and Blackadder Goes Forth were successful despite using a theme which was quite sensitive.

Heil Honey I'm home, just does not appear to have the same sort of steam. Quite frankly Hitler became so Americanised that he was quite similar to Oliver Hardy.

I can't blame the people involved for trying to think of a different comical situation which has not been used before. Quite a few Jews were involved in the making of it, so I wouldn't have thought it would have been that bad based on this.

Another interesting fact is that it was shown on a satellite channel in the UK in a time when satellite TV was not very common, therefore how many people actually saw it? What would the general reaction be if it were to be shown today?

I've only seen the first episode and I remember it being quite tedious with very little comical bite. I can't help but wonder what the other episodes were like and seeing them may help form a better opinion on the series as a whole. Considering Hitler was supposed to be plotting to kill his Jewish neighbours though doesn't fill me with much confidence that it would be good to watch (by the way, I'm not Jewish).

I can't blame them for making this programme and I think it has served as a learning curve for programme production (worth watching once for this) but it is a shame that effort was clearly put in but the results were very disastrous.

I Don't Know What to Think of It

[slimer8489 · 5/10 · 6 August 2015]

OK, so I'm a curious person. I like digging into the rare and infamous stuff, stuff that sticks out, mainly with TV and movies. (For example, the biggest box office bomb, the biggest box office success, the worst TV show ever, yadda yadda yadda). And this show is right up my alley! A few days ago, I was on a Facebook page called "The Rise and Fall of Nickelodeon", which is dedicated to hating the aforementioned kids channel. One post was about Angelica and Susie's Preschool Daze, a Rugrats spin-off that didn't last very long, and focused on the two older kids, Angelica and Susie, in preschool. Now, in the comments section of this post, someone mentioned Australia's Funniest Home Videos. Being the curious person that I am, I looked it up, found out some things about it, and so forth. I also managed to see some suggested searches, one of them being "Heil Honey, I'm Home!". Seeing as how it had nothing to do with my search (or, at least I thought at the time), I decided to take a look. I found out that this show did the impossible, it took something like Hitler and the Third Reich, and turned it into a sitcom. I just had to see this, and I did.

Now, obviously, right from the start, this show is a straight-up parody. It's intention was to mock the old sitcoms of the '50s, '60s, and '70s, which had lots of stupid ideas, but lasted fairly anyway (hence the show's premise). So, I wouldn't be taking this show seriously. When I saw the one and only episode ever aired, I... didn't know what to think of it. I mean, it's kind of funny, but when you look at the historical side, it's just hard to look at. It's based off of an infamous person from history, but it's taken so lightly. I know, it's a parody. But when you base something off of something that actually happened, you just wonder where the history takes place.

I wasn't offended by this show, and I didn't want my time back after watching this show, I just felt pretty blank about it. It has some fairly decent comedy to it, but that's all I can say about it. It just left me with nothing. But it didn't leave the world with nothing. This is known as the most tasteless sitcom of all time. And I get where they're coming from with that. There were other episodes that were shot, but never aired (for obvious reasons.) So, that's Heil Honey, I'm Home! It's something that you truly have to see to believe.

That's Mein Furor!

[TheRowdyMan · 5/10 · 8 February 2008]

First broadcast on UK Satellite TV in 1990, 'Heil Honey…' is a parody of 1950's sitcoms similar to 'I Love Lucy'. Watching the pilot episode 18 years after it was pulled off television, it's hard not to draw comparisons to the 'adult-comedy' shows of recent times. Compared with the newer animated shows like 'Family Guy', 'South Park','Drawn Together' - even a sitcom making the most evil man of the 20th century look like Jackie Gleason, seems tame by today's standards. In fact, it could have easily passed as a quick 60 second cut-away on 'Family Guy'.

One show that springs to mind is the short-lived sitcom parody: "That's My Bush!" (2001). Both embrace the formulas of their target genres, while using the absurdity of having these historic figures as the protagonists in such a trivial medium.

It's hard to rate the series as only the pilot episode was broadcast (a copy, which was taped on a home viewers VCR, can be found on YouTube). So it's not fair to judge whether or not the one-note joke would have gotten old or if the show would have taken a different direction.

It's rumoured that eight episodes of the series were filmed. With the master tapes being wiped, after the flood of complaints from that initial screening (although there have been reports of the show screening outside the UK). If the master tapes are still out there in some warehouse, we may yet see a DVD release of this lost example of proto-South Park humour.

Wretched, unfunny

[funrocket · 1/10 · 19 January 2007]

This may be the worst show I've ever seen. Aside from the tastelessness of having a sitcom about Hitler, it just isn't funny or entertaining in any way. It is very similar to a 1950's sitcom in its cornball humor and contrived situations, but while it can be well done like in I Love Lucy, it's just not funny here. I think the show was based around the novelty "look, it's Hitler as a bumbling sitcom figure" but it just fell flat in every regard. The guy playing Hitler is so hammy that its hard to sit through that alone. I wonder what could have possibly made the network think this was a good idea to air. I thought America had some tasteless show, but the Brits had us beat this time. America would never air a sitcom about Hitler, although we did have that show about Lincoln's slave, The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Chances are you'll probably never see this show, since it only aired one episode and will probably never be released on DVD.

Seriously, what were they thinking?

[Java_Joe · 3/10 · 17 July 2019]

It's a spoof of 1950's sitcoms starring Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun and their wacky interactions with their Jewish neighbors. Yes, that's the plot. Are you laughing yet?

This was a show that was cancelled after just one showing. It was something that for the longest time existed only as legend and some thought it was never real but some wacky late night sketch show that people had mistaken for an actual sit com. But no, it was real and it was incredibly unfunny.

I'm not the type that says that there are certain subjects you can't make fun of but there is this thing called "tone" and how it's used. The tone for this show is all wrong. I get what it was they were going for. It's a spoof. They use all those tropes from the 1950's with catchphrases, wacky situations and colorful characters but it's just not done properly. This could have worked had they just added a little more subtlety.

But no, it was a failed experiment and it's remembered strictly for the fact it was cancelled after one episode. There are copies floating around out there if you care to see it out of curiosity but don't expect to laugh.

Only worth viewing as an oddity.

[jamesrupert2014 · 4/10 · 22 August 2023]

Living in a small Berlin apartment with a Jewish couple for neighbours, the Hitlers (Der Führer Adolf Hitler und Frau Eva Braun-Hitler) bicker and squabble in the years leading up WW2. The single broadcast episode (of 8 made) of the tactless Brit-com is remarkedly unfunny, considering that it is a parody of the easily parodied American sitcoms of the '50s and '60s (especially the shows with a 'gimmick': witches, genies, talking cars, etc.). 'Heil Honey' does a good job of replicating the look and sound of its targets (the predicable jokes, the intrusive laugh track, the canned applause when characters enter the scene, etc.) and with a bit more cleverness might have made for a memorable 15-minute skit on Monty Python or SNL, but as a 30 minute episode of a proposed TV series, it wore itself out by the end of the first act. Needless to say, the show was vilified for making light of Hitler, of antisemitism, and of the events leading up to the war, but, while it no doubt offended many people, 'Heil Honey, I'm Home' was clearly intended as an over-the-top parody not to be taken seriously whatsoever (in the same vein as 'Hogans Heroes', 'The Producers', or any of the multitude of satirical cartoons, songs, movies, etc that came out when the war was still being fought). The only parts I found amusing was the image (referred to but not shown) of Herr Joseph Goebbels at the Berlin airport holding up a cardboard sign reading "Neville Chamberlain" while awaiting the arrival of the British Prime Minister and the show's alternate 'animated opening'. Of interest only of you want to prove to yourself that the show actually existed or to see what 'all the fuss was about' (I first heard of it when surfing 'worst' lists).

This is what happens when you let hamsters do the network programming

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 17 October 2011]

Who in the world thought THIS would be a good idea for a comedy?! After all, the idea of a sitcom involving Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun living in an apartment building is not only bizarre but in pretty bad taste. Apparently, the British public was not amused and only the premier episode was aired--but apparently they shelved seven more. Apart from the Holocaust, repeated bombings of Britain and millions dead, I can't see why the Brits were not thrilled to see such a show!!! I only today found out about this notorious show when I saw an article on a website for Popmatters--where they listed it as the #1 biggest screw-ups in TV history. And, they included a link so I could watch the show. Now the show was not 100% horrible--the actors tried hard. But the writing was so broad and the subject matter so distasteful that I could see why it never aired beyond one episode. Imagine--the Hitlers living next door to the Goldsteins--and their relationship is a bit like an angrier version of the Mertz's and Ricardos. And, while it's disgusting to contemplate, it seems as if the writer was trying to show how the annoying Goldsteins perhaps led Hitler to develop his 'final solution'. Sick...but also worth seeing just once so you can see just how bad TV can be. Now if only I could find a copy of movie "The Day the Clown Cried"--as it is in similarly bad taste.

By the way, the worst part about the show was the omnipresent and VERY loud laughtrack. Hearing the supposed audience guffawing at these sick lines of dialog is so surreal and twisted. Hitler....with a laughtrack!

Heil comedy genius

[Dark_linkoc · 10/10 · 11 May 2006]

Yes, sure "Heil honey I'm home" might sound like a bad idea, what with placing Hitler in the middle of a comedy sitcom but the show delivers. It's just seems so novelty and retro, what with the laughter track and clap track, "Heil honey I'm home" set's the standards for all Hit-com's (Hitler Comedys).

Whilst some may be offended by the crude jokes it is important to remember many of the first generation veterans are..well..dead, so deal with it and laugh it up because "Heil honey I'm home" just doesn't stop with the laughs...

So to "Heil honey I'm home" i say, whens the next episode due?

''I love you Berlin, you knuckleheads!''

[Rabical-91 · 6/10 · 23 June 2017]

Best known now for the controversy it stirred up, 'Heil Honey I'm Home' was a sitcom pilot written by Geoff Atkinson. It concerned Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun living next door to a Jewish couple, Rosa and Arnie Goldenstein. It was not poking fun at Hitler's maltreatment of Jews as some may have thought it would, if that had been the idea, it would never have gone beyond the commission stage. 'Heil Honey I'm Home' was in fact a spoof of American sitcoms from the '60's such as 'I Love Lucy' and 'I Dream Of Jeannie' as was evident by the spoofing of all the clichés that dogged American sitcoms of that era - the corny jokes, canned laughter ( every time a character appeared on set they would be met with uproarious applause ), cheesy theme music and cheesy title. A pre-opening credits caption labelled the show as a lost sitcom pilot from the '60's which has recently been rediscovered. However, unsurprisingly, the point was missed entirely with viewers and it ( pardon the pun ) bombed immediately.

Neil McCaul donned the square moustache to play the infamous dictator while sexy Danica Fairman was given the role of Eva Braun. Playing their neighbours Arnie and Rosa were Gareth Marks and lovely Caroline Gruber ( who both appeared together in the hilarious 'Bottom' episode 'Finger' ). The theme tune was written and composed by its writer, Atkinson and the underrated Kate Robbins ( who also wrote the theme tune for Cilla Black's 'Surprise Surprise' ).

The plot follows the attempts of Hitler hoping to impress Neville Chamberlain ( Patrick Cargill ), who is paying a visit to the Hitler household. However, things predictably go wrong when the Goldenstein's turn up the their home with their plain niece Ruth ( Laura Brattan ) and humiliate Adolf in front of Mr. Chamberlain.

It was not particularly bad but all in all it wasn't particularly good either. There were too few funny gags and the canned laughter annoyed from the start ( and yes, I know, before you say anything, that the canned laughter was intentional but it still bugged the hell out of me ). McCaul certainly made the best of the role as did Denica Fairman and Gareth Marks and Caroline Gruber fared well enough as the Goldenstein's but all in all it was more miss than hit.

BSB was discontinued in 1990 after being swallowed up by Sky Television, which meant 'Heil Honey I'm Home' was dropped straight after the screening of the pilot. No other channel would touch it with a barge role and to this day, a further eight episodes ( which had Maria Friedman replacing Danica Fairman in the role of Eva Braun ) have yet to ever be screened or released on DVD. If it should by chance surface, though I doubt it will, it will be safe to assume that it will not be recognised as an undiscovered classic.

Funniest bit - The Goldenstein's niece Ruth meeting Neville Chamberlain and immediately becoming smitten by him, much to his fear. ''Do you want a lock of my hair for your wallet?'' she asks, meaning of course for him to keep in his wallet. Terrifed, Chamberlain responds: ''Sounds like a fair exchange!''. And, trust me, that really is the best joke in the whole show.

Who thought this was a good idea??

[altair42002 · 1/10 · 15 February 2010]

I wonder who was responsible for this mess. The jokes wouldn't have worked for gilligan's island. If this had gone to series, would there have been jokes about Auschwitz, or would Eva have to replace her oven, only to have Adolf suggest the kind that seats 50?? Another post compared this show to I love Lucy. The problem with this is that Lucille Ball was a genius at physical comedy and bizarre situations, and this mess was just plain badly done and an insult to my intelligence.

After the damage the Nazi's did to England and the number of people they killed, I would think the very concept of a comedy about Hitler would seem repugnant and most normal people would have killed this concept before any episodes were produced.

Can't believe it was axed

[zacjackson-58918 · 10/10 · 1 July 2019]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Heil Honey I'm Home. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of WW2 history most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Hitler's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Heil honey I'm home truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Hitler's existential catchphrase "NEIN!!!," which itself is a cryptic reference to Brüno Graz's portrail of the fuhrer in the film "Down fall". I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Geoff Atkinsongenius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

And yes, by the way, i DO have a HHIM tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎

Strange but a pretty good premise and slightly funny

[theralb · 6/10 · 16 May 2022]

As a Jewish person of course I find anything related to the nazi's and late 1930's - 1945 events very insulting. But somehow this was pretty funny . Not that much and there where a few part that where unfunny or corny but I thought it was a okay premise.

terrible

[limpfan106 · 1/10 · 22 December 2021]

Even if you ignore the extremely offensive nature of it, it's still incredibly stupid. No idea what they thought they were going to accomplish with this show.

Simply has no laughs, bite, wit or point – "poor taste" is neither here nor there without these factors to justify it

[bob the moo · 20 July 2014]

Presented as a lost American sitcom that was never heard from again until lost tapes were found and shown again, this sitcom is an "I Love Lucy" style sitcom which features Hitler and Eva Braun living in an apartment block and dealing with all the comic confusions and communication breakdowns that all sitcom couples seem to have. Of course the irony of the fictional "rediscovered" framing of the show is that the actual show itself was binned after one episode and never seen again apart from some bad copies floating around on the internet.

The reason for this was supposedly on the grounds of bad taste to have a show featuring Hitler as a comedy figure – thus making light of history. Of course this is a fair accusation to level at the show, but also not a totally straight one since other shows such as Allo, Allo, films such as The Producers and others have used WWII and the Nazis as comedy figures and have been successful. No, while the accusations of poor taste may have come, I'd guess what sank the show was that frankly the first episode is not at all funny. Instead of spoofing Hitler it appears to be more about aping the conventions of the American sitcom while using these characters. I was surprised to see Geoff Atkinson as one of the writers – I know him from very sharp work with Bremner, Bird & Fortune, so it was disappointing to see nothing really clever or challenging about the content beyond the shock value of the characters.

The performances are pitched well to play into the sitcom style but the material they have is weak and soon I got tired of their big delivery and the laugh track doing all the work. Pop-culture History will recall that this was the show that got removed for being in bad taste, however the evidence we are left with that, while some in the papers may have kicked up the usual hand-wringing as they do with many shows, what probably saw this show pulled was that nobody had any interesting in fighting for a show that didn't appear to be any good.

Heil Honey I'm tawdry!

[The-Last-Prydonian · 2/10 · 3 February 2023]

One of those did this show really exist obscurities? Heil Honey I'm Home ended up receiving a heavy backlash against it when it aired back in 1990 on the British satellite television network, Galaxy. The basic premise is a pastiche of classic American sitcoms like The Honeymooners with Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun played as generic American stereotypes, living next door to a middle-aged Jewish couple. The concept had lofty ambitions, and this might have worked perhaps as a five-minute sketch with tighter writing, but the problem with Heil Honey I'm Home, where there may have been the potential for some great, sharp comedy Atkinson, who admittedly I'm not all that familiar with as a comedy writer, his ambition far outweighs the sustainability for the show to have lasted long, crumbling under the weight of it.

Parodying classic U. S. sitcom and their tropess is all very well and good, but in the context of satire, it just feels shallow and tawdry. My objection to it was not as a matter of being offensive but trying to be gratuitously edgy for the sake of edginess. I will grant it that I did laugh briefly once at one line when Neil McCaul as the titular pseudo-Hitler caricature in attempting to compose himself needs to think nice thoughts, and then goes all gooey-eyed as he proceeds to think about Poland. Beyond that, and to be fair admittedly decent performances from its cast there's very little else good to say about it, other than its an obscure oddity, and worth seeing for just being a bizarre curiosity, but hardly a surprise it was canceled after just one episode when eight had been filmed.

not that horrible and that's coming from a technically jaw

[imdbmoviereviews · 5/10 · 18 July 2019]

Not thatfunny but who knows it was canceled after 1 episode..... and while hitler was a horrible idiotic human being.... it believe it's very good we can make fun of him and represent him as even somewhat rational.... it's important to remember and it's horrible to see a while not perfect/... series getting cancelled after only 1 episode.....

should u watch it?... sure it's not amazingly funny/... but why not sped half a hour of your time laughing at hitler... and remembering his horrors instad of getting depressed/.....

Heil Honey I'm Home!

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 20 May 2023]

Sometime in the mid 1980s. A Channel 4 sketch comedy show mocked the BBC sitcom Allo Allo. They had a similar premise set in modern day Belfast.

Heil Honey I'm Home! Had a same type notion but it was set in the late 1930s. Only one episode was broadcast, then again British Satellite Broadcasting was short-lived. Running out of cash it merged with Sky television by the end of 1990.

It is set like the typical 1950s/60s US sitcoms. The only difference is, Adolf Hitler is the fuhrer, living with Eva Braun in the next door apartment to the Goldsteins.

In the first episode, Hitler is going to have a visit from the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He does not want the Goldsteins to know about it as they seem to find out everything. Little knowing that Eva spills the beans.

Neville wants Hitler to sign an important document called Peace In out Time. Something Hitler is reluctant to do.

Somewhat ahead of its time. The Marvel show Wandavision parodied US sitcoms. Mainstream news channels in 2023 both in America and Europe parrot and promote fascistic talking points. The enemy are liberals and Antifa (short for anti-fascists.)

So in that context if you approach the show with an open mind. It is very well made for 1990 but not that funny. It works better as a spoof of old US sitcoms but has less satirical bite when it comes to Hitler and what the Nazis stood for. Although here Neville embarrasses Hitler to sign the document as a signal that he really is a nice guy.

If it was made a few years ago, it would have been a perfect fit for the Murdoch owned Fox network and they would have been sympathetic to the Nazis.

Terrible, Absolutely Terrible

[Mackem Bob · 1 January 2001]

Well, what can be said about "Heil, Honey I'm Home"? Basically, any sitcom about Adolf Hitler living next door to a Jewish couple is destined for disaster from day one. The fact that there were only eight episodes filmed but only one was ever shown says it all. This was made by the old BSB satellite company back in the days when satellite TV was something of a joke in the UK. Looking back at this programme makes it easy to understand why this was the common presumption.

The content of the programme was shocking, especially when it is from the so-called "more understanding" 90's rather than the politically-incorrect 70's. An example of the crass, offensive content is a scene in which Adolf is almost suffering a nervous breakdown. His wife Eva tells him to "think happy thoughts". "Poland!" shouts Hitler, with a devilish grin. And this is funny?!