George Foreman Went From Oldest Heavyweight Champ to Unlikely Sitcom Star
A funny thing happened to George Foreman after winning the heavyweight boxing title for a second time, setting a record as the world’s oldest heavyweight champ. The man famous for his brutal reputation in the ring became an unlikely comedy star.
Foreman, who passed away last week at the age of 76, was a regular guest on Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s, charming viewers with a perpetual smile that undercut the surly pugilist persona everyone knew from his bouts with Muhammad Ali and George Frazier.
In particular, Foreman had a humble sense of humor about his weight, which tended to balloon between bouts. “What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?” Letterman might ask.
Don't Miss
“Eat,” Foreman would respond with a grin. That reputation as a man who knew his way around the dinner table led to the George Foreman Grill, the device that sold a mind-boggling 100 million units around the world and hobbled Michael Scott on The Office.
@theoffice
How did any of this lead to Foreman landing his own sitcom? The “you had to be there” explanation is that the boxer won America’s heart when he defied the odds and recaptured the heavyweight belt at the age of 46. Based on that wave of nostalgic goodwill and affable late-night appearances, ABC handed him a TV comedy, George, in which he basically played himself — a retired boxer who worked with troubled kids. (Foreman was also an ordained Christian minister.)
@sogoodwenamedit
Unfortunately, George didn’t pack much of a punch. The network referees called a technical knockout after nine rounds, er, episodes, and George was pummeled by critics, earning a perfect zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Foreman lumbers through the show with a perpetual half grin no matter what the mood of the scene he’s in,” complained Entertainment Weekly.
“It’s a cloying and sugary-stale mess of familiar sitcom situations and fat jokes,” griped the Chicago Tribune.
The biggest problem, outside of the sitcom cliches and run-of-the-mill jokes? Foreman wasn’t an actor, as the Orlando Sentinel noted: “George is better at being himself than playing himself.”
But Foreman’s charisma shone through even while his sitcom sucked. “George Foreman has a winning, self-effacing and eminently cuddly TV persona, as seen in his appearances on talk shows and in commercials,” wrote Tom Shales in The Washington Post. “He stands tall, no doubt about it.”
But that wasn’t enough to win the comedy belt, Shales said. “Nearly everything else about George comes up short.”
