document_title: Assassin's Creed Unity

question_text: when does ac unity dead kings take place

text: Assassin's Creed Unity

text: Gameplay[edit]

text: Assassin's Creed Unity is an action-adventure stealth game set in an open world environment. The game was meant to be rebuilt, with fencing being used as an inspiration for the new system. In addition to returning weapons from previous games, Assassin's Creed Unity introduces the Phantom Blade. The Phantom Blade uses the mechanics of a crossbow to fire a silent projectile at a great distance, while still serving the same role as the Hidden Blade in previous Assassin's Creed games.[7] Navigation for the game was also overhauled: new "Free-run up" and "Free-run down" commands were added to make it easier for the player to scale buildings in either direction. Additionally, Arno learns new moves throughout the game, but the player can also purchase new skills as well.[8] With the updated, larger crowds, new interactions with them are also available. The crowd regularly presents many activities, appearing organically, that the player can then choose to engage in at their leisure. Examples include scaring a group of bullies by pulling out a weapon, "settling" a disagreement between two civilians by killing one of them, which is usually a Templar, or chasing down a thief who has just pick pocketed somebody.[9]

text: For the first time, the series allows players to customize the characters' abilities, adopting a skill tree that enables players to assign points earned through gameplay to improve their skills in stealth, melee, and ranged combat, and health.[10] Players are also able to customise their weapons, armour and equipment to further complement their individual style of play.[11] Players also have a wider selection of weapons available, including swords, axes, spears, rifles, pistols and throwable items, such as smoke bombs.[12] The expansion DLC, Assassin's Creed Dead Kings, adds the formidable guillotine gun.

text: Assassin's Creed Unity also introduces cooperative multiplayer to the series. Players can enter taverns, which act as social hubs in the game, where you can see if any friends are playing the game at the current time. If they are currently in a mission, they will appear as a "ghost" version of their player, allowing you to approach it to request to join their mission. If accepted, you are transitioned to their game and both of you reset to the most recent checkpoint, and continue on from there. Up to four players can join together in this fashion. The player will take on the role of Arno, customized within their own game, with other players appearing as their own customized version of Arno in their own sets of equipment, weapons, and armor. Many missions and activities will be available for cooperative play (which the player can also complete on their own), but there are some story missions that are single player only.[9]

text: There are significant tie-ins with the Assassins Creed Unity Companion App, a "freemium" click app with limited "direct ties to the overall story of Unity". There are a significant number of chests, assassination targets, and other collectibles that are visible to all players but only accessible to those who have completed certain goals within the app. Following an update in February 2015, this requirement is no longer necessary, meaning players who have downloaded the update, can now collect all the chests in the game without having to play the companion app.[13][14][15]

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Characters[edit]

text: The main character of the game is Arno Dorian (Dan Jeannotte),[16][17] a native Frenchman who was born in Versailles to an Assassin father. After his father is killed by Shay Patrick Cormac at the end of Assassin's Creed Rogue, Arno is adopted, unaware that his new family holds a senior position within the Templar Order, with his new father figure being the Templar Grandmaster.[9][18][19] Arno blames himself when his adoptive father is murdered, and so sets out on a quest of redemption that brings him into the Brotherhood of Assassins, where he slowly rises through the ranks, much like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze as seen in previous games.[9][19] Arno's love interest is a Templar named Elise De LaSerre (Catherine Bérubé),[20] the daughter of the Templar Grandmaster who adopted Arno, who also sets out to investigate more about her father's death and its role in a growing ideological change within the Templar Order that threatens its core values.[18][19][21] Additional characters include Marquis de Sade (Alex Ivanovici), Napoleon Bonaparte (Brent Skagford) and Maximilien de Robespierre (Bruce Dinsmore).[20]

text: Setting[edit]

text: Arno's story starts in Versailles as a child, but for most of the story he is in Paris. His adventure in Paris starts on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, and extends up to the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794.[16] The modern day setting focuses on the Assassins contacting the player and requesting their help to explore Arno in the past, as well as helping in the present.[22] Co-operative multiplayer missions follow the development of the Brotherhood of Assassins during the French Revolution.[18] In addition, "time anomalies" are introduced during the story. Accessing them takes Arno to various points of Parisian history, such as Paris' Belle Époque, or its occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.[23]

text: Plot[edit]

text: The "Initiate" is a player of Helix, a gaming device produced by Abstergo that allows access to many different genetic memories.

text: The story begins with the player playing through a memory of the sacking of the Paris Temple, and the capture of Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay, in 1307. During the sack, de Molay entrusts another Templar with a sword and a book, which the Templar hides within a French crypt shortly before being killed by an Assassin. The memory then fast forwards to de Molay's death at the stake, and his curse towards King Phillip IV and Pope Clement V.

text: At this point, Bishop from the Assassin Brotherhood hijacks the memory sequence and implores the player to join them as an initiate. Bishop provides an internal Abstergo video memo, in which Abstergo describes the capture of a Sage who contains precursor DNA (which is in a triple–rather than a double–helix). Abstergo goes into detail regarding the Phoenix Project, whereby Abstergo hopes to use the Sage to compile a whole precursor genome for unclear purposes. Bishop provides access to another memory segment and directs the new initiate to locate another Sage, whose corpse they hope to recover.

text: The memory then segues to Versailles in 1776, as Arno Dorian, a French nobleman's son, meets Elise De La Serre, daughter of the Templar Grand Master. After his father is murdered at the palace, the Grand Master De La Serre adopts Arno despite knowing his father was an Assassin; information to which Arno is oblivious. The story then skips forward 13 years, to Elise's initiation into the Templar order in 1789. Arno is given a message to deliver to Msr. De La Serre, but puts it in his office in order to sneak into the party to meet with Elise. After meeting her, Arno sneaks out, and finds Msr. De La Serre murdered in a courtyard. Arno, mistaken to be De La Serre's killer, is captured by the gendarmerie and imprisoned in the Bastille. There, he finds apocalyptic writings on the wall and impresses a fellow prisoner, the Assassin Pierre Bellec, with his fighting skills. Bellec invites Arno into the Brotherhood when they escape during the Storming of the Bastille.

text: Arno returns home first and is turned away by Elise, who reveals that the message Arno was supposed to deliver to her father was a warning of his impending murder, and reveals herself as a Templar. Arno joins the Brotherhood and begs for the opportunity to find and eliminate the other Templars involved in De La Serre's death, including Le Roi des Thunes ("The King of Beggars"). He is granted his request by Mirabeau, who was attempting to broker peace between the Orders with De La Serre. During the course of his investigation, Arno rescues François-Thomas Germain, a silversmith being held hostage by the Templar Grand Master Lafreniere. After killing Lafreniere, who was actually the one trying to warn De La Serre, Arno runs into Elise and realizes that Germain is the Sage, as well as the one who ordered De La Serre's murder. The Brotherhood Council begins to question Arno's loyalty as he acts rashly in his pursuit of De La Serre's killer.

text: Realizing that Germain's plot is intended to spark a mass revolt against the King of France, Arno assassinates two more central figures, an officer organizing a prisoner revolt (Captain Frederic Rouille) and another who was hoarding food (merchant Marie Levesque) to create the impression that the nobility was squandering resources as France starved. Arno also crosses paths with Napoleon Bonaparte, an artillery officer, while searching the Tuileries Palace for letters from the leader of the Assassins, Mirabeau, to King Louis, which the Templars could use as an excuse to purge the Assassins' agents across France. Bonaparte later helped him in taking down Captain Rouille, who served under his command during the September Massacres of September 1792. During this time, Arno saves Elise and convinces her to parley with the Brotherhood, as she confesses her own faction of the Templars are being killed by a schism led by the Sage. Mirabeau agrees, hoping to gain a massive favor from the potential future Grand Master of the Templars, and is murdered by Bellec, who intends to purge the Assassin leadership for beginning to agree with Templar beliefs. Refusing to join him, Arno kills Bellec, and escapes from the food riots and the assassination of Levesque shortly thereafter with Elise in a hot air balloon, after which Arno confesses to Elise that he still loves her.

text: With the Revolution in full swing, Arno tracks Germain to the execution of King Louis XVI, but chooses to stay and protect Elise rather than pursue him. Elise rejects him for the decision, and Arno is exiled from the Brotherhood for ignoring orders to pursue his personal vendetta, causing him to fall into a drunken depression. Arno languishes for several months before he is found in Versailles by Elise who convinces him to return as Paris is tearing itself apart during the Reign of Terror. Arno returns to Paris and, with Elise's help, discredits the reputation of Maximilien de Robespierre, whom Germain, now Grand Master of the Templars, had placed in charge of maintaining chaos during the Revolution. After Arno and Elise find Robespierre, who had locked himself in his office in an attempt to avoid arrest, Elise shoots Robespierre in the jaw and makes him write down the location of Germain.

text: Arno confronts Germain at the top of the Temple, only to find he now has the Sword of Eden. The fight eventually ends in the same Templar crypt in which the game began, where Arno strikes Germain only to have the Sword blow him backwards and trap him under rubble. Elise first attempts to help Arno out of the rubble then goes ahead to take on Germain by herself, but as Arno gets the rubble off of him and runs to protect Elise the Sword explodes, killing Elise and mortally wounding Germain. Arno then kills Germain, who in his memories confirms he is the Sage and that he wanted to purge the Templar Order of all who had forgotten the teachings of de Molay.

text: The game closes with Arno explaining how his understanding of the Creed has changed, and promising to watch over Paris and keep Elise's memory alive. Years later, Arno, having become a Master Assassin, recovers Germain's skeleton from the Temple and places it in the Catacombs of Paris, much to the relief of the Initiate's Assassin handler Bishop, who is now confident that Abstergo will not be able to find it.

text: Dead Kings[edit]

text: The Dead Kings downloadable content picks up one week after Germain's death. Arno, still feeling devastated over Elise, finds refuge in Saint-Denis (at the time, known as Franciade). He is contacted by the Marquis de Sade at a tavern, who requests his help in finding the manuscript of Nicolas de Condorcet, hidden in the tomb of Louis IX beneath the city, in exchange for a ship that would take Arno to Egypt.

text: During his search, Arno encounters a group of tomb raiders, led by Captain Philippe Rose, a subordinate of Napoleon Bonaparte, who wishes to retrieve the artifact located within a Precursor temple, buried under the city's church. He also finds that the manuscript has been stolen by a child thief, Léon, who was captured by the raiders. Arno rescues Léon and retrieves the manuscript, but declines to help him stop the raiders. His resolve softens after an encounter with a vision of Elise, as well as hearing Léon's pleas.

text: After discovering the location of the temple, and retrieving the key from one of Napoleon's officers, Arno finally manages to open the door to the temple. He is then ambushed by Rose, who attempts to take the artifact for himself. Arno survives the ambush, and makes it to the artifact before Rose and his men. After killing Rose, Arno retrieves the artifact, a head-shaped lantern containing a spherical Piece of Eden, and uses it to repel the raiders and escape the temple. He later meets de Sade at the tavern and delivers the manuscript as promised. Finally, Arno decides to stay in France, and contacts the Brotherhood to deliver the Piece of Eden to Egypt, far away from the reach of Bonaparte, who is arrested for desertion and treason.

text: Development[edit]

text: Development for the game began shortly after the completion of 2010's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood,[9] with the core development team splitting off during the early stages of development on Assassin's Creed III.[24] On March 19, 2014, early screenshots of the game were leaked, as well as its title Unity. The leak revealed that Unity would feature a new location and time period, Paris during the French Revolution, a new assassin, and that it would be released in late 2014 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[25] On March 21, Ubisoft confirmed the game's existence, having been in development for more than three years, by releasing pre-alpha game footage. They also confirmed the game's release date of Q4 2014, and that it would also see a release on Windows.[26] Ubisoft writer Jeffrey Yohalem revealed that the French Revolution setting for the game was deliberately teased, along with Assassin's Creed III's American Revolution setting, in symbols seen at the end of Brotherhood.[27] Ubisoft Montreal is the lead developer for the project, with contributing work from the Ubisoft studios in Toronto, Kiev, Singapore, Shanghai, Annecy, Montpellier, Bucharest, Quebec, and Chengdu.[28]

text: At E3 2014, trailers were released for the game, demonstrating the game's cooperative multiplayer mode for up to four players, a first for the series.[29] The trailer featured Lorde's cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which was produced by Michael A. Levine and Lucas Cantor.[30] The development team was able to use the new power of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to improve the NPC crowds. Up to 1000 individual AI characters can appear in a crowd, each acting independently and reacting to each other as well as the player's actions.[9] The PC version of the game uses Nvidia's GameWorks technology such as TXAA anti-aliasing, advanced DX11 tessellation and Nvidia PhysX technology, due to a partnership between Ubisoft and Nvidia.[31][32]

text: Lead game designer Benjamin Plich has said this game will be more difficult than previous entries thanks to the removal of the counter button and more aggressive guards.[33] Plich also said that the game will feature synchronized Double Assassinations.[34]

text: In August 2014, Assassin's Creed Rogue was announced for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was revealed to have ties to the story in Unity.[18]

text: The game is written in a combination of C++ and C#, totaling an estimated 15.5 million lines of code of the former, and five million of the latter.[35]

text: Historical consulting[edit]

text: On October 6, 2014, Ubisoft announced that they had enlisted the help of academic historians such as Laurent Turcot, professor at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for daily life of 18th-century Paris and Jean Clement Martin professor at the Sorbonne, to revise the script.[36]

text: Like other games in the series, Unity features a large number of real world landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the Statue of Liberty.[37][38]

text: Release[edit]

text: The game was originally intended to be released worldwide on October 28, 2014.[39] However, on August 28, 2014, it was delayed until November 11, 2014 in North America and November 13, 2014 in PAL regions. On the delay, Vincent Pontbriand, senior producer at Ubisoft, said, "As we got close to the finish, we realized we were near the target but still needed a bit more time to hone some of the details to make sure Assassin’s Creed Unity is exceptional.” Additionally, the game received a day one patch with further updates to the game.[5]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Gender options in cooperative mode[edit]

text:
"We recognize the valid concern around diversity in video game narrative. Assassin's Creed is developed by a multicultural team of various faiths and beliefs and we hope this attention to diversity is reflected in the settings of our games and our characters. Assassin's Creed Unity is focused on the story of the lead character, Arno. Whether playing by yourself or with the co-op Shared Experiences, you the gamer will always be playing as Arno, complete with his broad range of gear and skill sets that will make you feel unique. With regard to diversity in our playable Assassins, we've featured Aveline, Connor, Adewale and Altaïr in Assassin's Creed games and we continue to look at showcasing diverse characters. We look forward to introducing you to some of the strong female characters in Assassin's Creed Unity."

—Ubisoft's response to the all-male character models for the cooperative mode.[40]

tag: div

text: After the cooperative multiplayer mode was revealed at E3 2014, additional information about the mode was revealed by creative director Alex Amancio and technical director James Therien. Amancio stated that the mode did not include the ability to play as a female avatar, due to "the reality of production". Amancio added by saying, "It's double the animations, it's double the voices, all that stuff and double the visual assets. Especially because we have customizable assassins. It was really a lot of extra production work," which was echoed by Therien. Level designer Bruno St-André expanded on this by stating that an estimated 8,000 additional animations would have had to be recreated for a female avatar.[41][42]

text: This caused dissatisfaction in some video game community outlets. Brenna Hillier of VG247 noted how there were nine development teams working on the game, and said "Ubisoft has here trotted out a tired, stupid, constantly refuted excuse for why it has perpetuated the cycle of sexism and under-representation in the games industry."[43] Tim Clark of PC Gamer made note "that previous Assassin's Creed games have had playable women as part of the multiplayer component, and that Brotherhood had you supported by on-call assassins, many of whom were female, so it’s hardly like it can’t be done." Clark also looked to the way Amancio and Therien answered the question and felt how they referenced "how much the team wanted to include playable female characters suggests... that this is probably a decision which hasn’t gone down well internally."[44] Former Assassin's Creed designer Jonathan Cooper responded by saying, "In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8,000 animations." He also revealed that Aveline de Grandpré, the female protagonist of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, "shares more of Connor Kenway's animations than Edward Kenway does."[45] Fans also created petitions urging Ubisoft to change their stance.[46] Additionally, former Assassin's Creed game designer Patrice Désilets commented that Amancio's reasoning was valid, but that Ubisoft should put in the effort to let players have gender options.[47]

text: Amancio attempted to clear up any confusion, by stating, "I understand the issue, I understand the cause, and it is a noble one, but I don't think it's relevant in the case of Unity. In Unity you play this character called Arno, and when you're playing co-op you're also playing Arno – everybody is. It's like Aiden Pearce in Watch Dogs... Arno has different skills - you select skill points in the game, there are gear elements that have an impact and all these weapons that make the character you make your own. But you're always playing Arno... The reason we're just changing the face and keeping the bodies is we want people to show off the gear that they pick up in the game through exploration. That's why we kept that."[46]

text: Platform parity[edit]

text: In October 2014, Ubisoft's senior producer Vincent Pontbriand made a statement that all console versions of the game would be locked at the same resolution of 900p. This was done "...to avoid all the debates and stuff."[48] Many readers took this in reference to how the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are constantly compared in the media for raw power, presuming that the PlayStation 4 version of the game's resolution was lowered to reach parity with the Xbox One's, but Ubisoft later denied that this was the reason.[49]

text: Instead, Pontbriand stated that the decision for parity came from the limitations of the consoles' CPUs. The number of NPCs and general amount of AI was paramount to keeping the game locked at 30 frames per second.[50]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text:
Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator
Score

Metacritic
(XONE) 72/100[51]
(PC) 70/100[52]
(PS4) 70/100[53]

Review scores

Publication
Score

Destructoid
7/10[54]

Eurogamer
7/10[55]

Game Informer
8/10[56]

GameSpot
7/10[57]

GamesRadar
[58]

GameTrailers
8/10[59]

Giant Bomb
[60]

IGN
7.8/10[61]

Joystiq
[62]

OXM (UK)
8/10[63]

PC Gamer (US)
65/100[64]

Polygon
6.5/10[65]

VideoGamer.com
8/10[66]

text: Assassin's Creed Unity received "mixed or average" reviews from critics upon release, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[52][51][53]

text: Matt Miller from Game Informer gave the game 8/10, praising the detailed environment and architecture, decent voice acting, strategy-required missions, challenging gameplay and well-paced story missions, but criticizing the controls and balance, as well as game-breaking technical issues. He also stated that both the navigation system and the combat system still needed to be improved.[56] Louise Blain from GamesRadar gave the game 4/5, praising the dense and atmospheric game world, character-focused mission design, overhauled free-running mechanics, in-depth character customization and satisfying combat. However, she criticized the game's framerate and poor enemy AI design.[58]

text: Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game 7/10, praising the new movement system, likable lead characters, iconic setting, smooth animation and improved draw distance. New additions such as character customization and huge crowds were also praised. However, he criticized the predictable story, technical issues, and the mission design of co-op multiplayer, as it is impossible to play some missions solo. He stated that "Unity feels like a step back. ... It lacks that grand sense of roaming the uncharted seas in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, or even the open-ended feel of the wilderness in Assassin's Creed III, but it's a journey worth taking if you're already into the series."[54] Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer gave the game 7/10, praised the setting, rich content, inspiring story and interesting side-missions. However, he criticized the over-familiar and unimaginative mission-design, overzealous auto-correct system in the free-running mechanics and the lack of weapon customization. He described the game as a "missed opportunity".[55]

text: Marty Silva from IGN gave the game 7.8/10, praising the recreation of Paris and ambitious ideas presented in the multiplayer, but criticizing the unrefined stealth, weak story and lack of a strong lead character. He stated that "the true new-gen Assassin's Creed game is a gorgeous, entertaining, and successful proof of concept for what lies ahead for the series, though it isn't what I'd call revolutionary."[61]

text: Tom Senior from PC Gamer gave the game 65/100, saying that "Unity could become a perfectly enjoyable part of the Assassin's Creed canon. It's a solid campaign elevated by quality assassination missions and an extraordinary setting that might just push the big number at the bottom of this review into the 80s, but with a big selling point out of operation, a raft of technical issues, performance problems, microtransactions and stilted combat and free-running systems, Unity—in its current state—can only be considered a failed revolution."[64] Sam Prell from Joystiq gave the game 2.5/5, saying that "It's hard not to appreciate everything that it [Unity] gets right, and you'll have a good time if you can wrangle some friends for co-op, but it's impossible to ignore where Unity falls tragically short."[62] PC World stated that the game "is a new low for the Assassin's Creed series."[67] The review also criticized Assassin's Creed Unity for its small scale, poor gameplay, and high minimum system requirements. Similarly, CNET stated that "[w]hile it will likely suffice for Assassin's Creed core fans, Unity stumbles throughout and never really finds its footing."[68]

text: In December 2015, Game Informer ranked the game as the eighth best game in the Assassin's Creed series to date.[69]

text: Ubisoft's responses[edit]

text: Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat apologized on behalf of the studio with regard to the poor launch of Unity, stating that the "overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues", and prevented users from "experiencing the game at its fullest potential". In response to the issues, Ubisoft announced that it would halt sales of the game's season pass and Gold Edition, and offer the game's first DLC campaign, Dead Kings, for free. As compensation, those who bought the season pass received a free digital download of one of six Ubisoft games (Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, The Crew, Far Cry 4, Just Dance 2015, Rayman Legends, or Watch Dogs), and would also "continue to have access to a variety of additional content [for Unity], including Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China".[70][71] To claim the game, however, users had to forfeit their right to sue Ubisoft with regard to the game and the devaluation of the season pass.[72]

text: In February 2016 Ubisoft announced that it would not be announcing any additional Assassin's Creed games for the rest of the year, citing the many issues of Unity and stating that, "we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback." In this statement, Ubisoft pledged its commitment to evolve the game's mechanics in order to create "more enjoyable games".[73] This news has possible connections to Ubisoft's third quarter financial report, which was released on the same day, and states that Assassin's Creed Syndicate had a "slower launch than expected."[74]

text: Criticism by French Left Party[edit]

text: The French Left Party and its frontman Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticized the historical interpretation the game was conveying about the French Revolution, depicting Robespierre as "a blood-thirsty monster" and Marie Antoinette as "a poor little girl".[75] He has described Ubisoft's version of the historical period as "propaganda" that builds upon the growing sense of self-hatred spreading throughout France. Mélenchon has expressed his criticisms in multiple media appearances, telling the New York Times that, “Smearing the great revolution is dirty work that aims to instill the French with even more self-loathing and talk of decline. If we continue like this, no common identity will remain possible for the French besides religion and skin color.” [76]

text: Alexis Corbière, national secretary of the Left Party, said that "the game was conveying all the counter-revolutionary clichés that have been forged for two centuries".[77] He added "To everyone who's gonna buy Assassin's Creed Unity, I wish you a nice time. But I also tell you that having fun doesn't prevent you from thinking. Just play it, but don't let yourself be manipulated by the propaganda".[78]

text: Without mentioning the criticism specifically, in an interview published on October 6, 2014 by Time, the game's creative director Alex Amancio said "What we actually try to do, and I think this is just a personal belief that we have, is to avoid reducing history... We try very hard to portray things as factually as possible."[79] Despite this, game producer Antoine Vimal du Monteil answered that, ultimately, "Assassin's Creed Unity is a mainstream video game, not a history lesson."[80]

text: Sales[edit]

text: As of December 31, 2014, Ubisoft has shipped a combined 10 million copies of Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Rogue.[81]

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ Additional work by Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft Montpellier, and Ubisoft Bucharest.


document_title: The Honeymooners

question_text: what was norton wife name on the honeymooners

question_tokens: what was norton wife name on the honeymooners

root

text: The Honeymooners

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: The majority of The Honeymooners episodes focused on its four principal characters, and generally used fixed sets within their Brooklyn apartment building. Although various secondary characters made multiple appearances and occasional exterior shots were incorporated during editing, virtually all action and dialogue was "on stage" inside the normal backdrop.

tag: p

text: Ralph Kramden[edit]

text: Played by Jackie Gleason—a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company based in New York City. He never is seen driving a bus (except in publicity photos), but sometimes is shown at the bus depot. Ralph is frustrated by his lack of success, and often develops get-rich-quick schemes. He is very short tempered, frequently resorting to bellowing, insults, and making hollow threats. Well hidden beneath the many layers of bluster, however, is a soft-hearted man who loves his wife and is devoted to his best pal, Ed Norton. Ralph enjoys -- and is proficient at -- bowling and playing pool, and is an enthusiastic member of the fictitious Loyal Order of Raccoons (although in several episodes a blackboard at the lodge lists his dues as being in arrears). The Ralph character was given honorary membership in the union for real New York City bus drivers (Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union) during the run of the show, and a Brooklyn bus depot was named in Gleason's honor after his death.[6][7] Ralph Kramden is the inspiration for the animated character Fred Flintstone.[8]

text: Alice Kramden [edit]

text: Alice (née Alice Gibson), played in the first nine skits, starting in 1951, and ending in January 1952[9] by Pert Kelton, and by Audrey Meadows for all remaining episodes, is Ralph's patient but sharp-tongued wife of roughly 12 years. She often finds herself bearing the brunt of Ralph's insults, which she returns with biting sarcasm. She is levelheaded, in contrast to Ralph's pattern of inventing various schemes to enhance his wealth or his pride. In each case, she sees the current one's un-workability, but he becomes angry and ignores her advice (and by the end of the episode, her misgivings almost always are proven to have been well-founded). She has grown accustomed to his empty threats -- such as "One of these days, POW!!! Right in the kisser!", "BANG, ZOOM!" or "You're going to the moon!" -- to which she usually replies, "Ahhh, shaddap!" Alice studied to be a secretary before her marriage and works briefly in that capacity when Ralph is laid off. Wilma Flintstone is based on Alice Kramden.[8]

text: Another foil for Ralph is Alice's mother, who is even sharper-tongued than her daughter. She despises Ralph as a bad provider. Alice's father is occasionally mentioned but never seen. Alice's sister, Agnes, appeared in one episode (Ralph jeopardizes his newlywed sister-in-law's marriage after giving some bad advice to the groom, but all works out in the end). Ralph and Alice lived with her mother for six years after getting married before they got their own apartment. Ralph's mother rarely is mentioned, although she does appear in one episode. Ralph's father is only mentioned in one episode ("Young Man with a Horn") as having given Ralph a cornet he learned to play as a boy, and insists on keeping when Alice suggests it be thrown away. In a 1967 revival, Ralph refers to Alice ( played by Sheila MacRae 1966–70 and once more in 1973) as being one of 12 children with her father never working.

text: The Honeymooners originally appeared as a sketch on the DuMont Network's Cavalcade of Stars, with the role of Alice played by Pert Kelton (1907-1968). When his contract with DuMont expired, Gleason moved to the CBS network where he had The Jackie Gleason Show, and the Alice role went to Audrey Meadows because Kelton had been blacklisted during the infamous McCarthy hearings investigating alleged Communist activities in the entertainment world.

text: Edward Lillywhite "Ed" Norton[edit]

text: Played by Art Carney; a New York City municipal sewer worker and Ralph's best friend (and upstairs neighbor). He is considerably more good-natured than Ralph, but nonetheless trades insults with him on a regular basis. Ed (typically called "Norton" by Ralph and sometimes by his own wife, Trixie) often gets mixed up in Ralph's schemes. His carefree and rather dimwitted nature usually results in raising Ralph's ire, while Ralph often showers him with verbal abuse and throws him out of the apartment when Ed irritates him. In most episodes, Ed is shown to be better-read, better-liked, more worldly and more even-tempered than Ralph, despite his unassuming manner and the fact that he usually lets Ralph take the lead in their escapades. Ed and Ralph both are members of the fictional Raccoon Lodge. ("An Emergency Meeting is an emergency meeting—never a poker game. An Executive Meeting, that's a poker game.") According to Entertainment Weekly, Norton is one of the "greatest sidekicks."[10] Ed worked for the New York City sewer department and described his job as a "Sub-supervisor in the sub-division of the department of subterranean sanitation, I just keep things moving along." He served in the U. S. Navy, and used his G.I. Bill money to pay for typing school, but felt he was unable to work in an office because he hated working in confined spaces. The relatively few scenes set in the Norton apartment showed it to have the same layout as the Kramdens' but is much more nicely furnished. Though Norton makes the same weekly $62 salary as Ralph (about $555 in 2016 dollars), their higher standard of living might be explained by Norton's freer use of credit; at one point he admits to having 19 charge accounts. Like Ralph, Ed enjoys and is good at bowling and playing pool. Ed is the inspiration for Barney Rubble in The Flintstones.[8] He's also the inspiration behind Yogi Bear (in terms of design, clothing, and mannerisms).

text: In 1999, TV Guide ranked him 20th on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time."[11]

text: Thelma "Trixie" Norton[edit]

text: Played most famously by Joyce Randolph; Ed's wife and Alice's best friend. She did not appear in every episode and had a less developed character, though she is shown to be somewhat bossy toward her husband. In one episode, she surprisingly is depicted as a pool hustler. On another episode, Ralph insults Trixie by making a reference to Minsky's (a famous New York City burlesque theater; the original Trixie character was an ex-burlesque dancer). There are a few references to Trixie's burlesque background in the lost episodes (e.g., Norton: "Every night I'd meet her backstage and hand her a rose ... . It was her costume!"). Randolph played Trixie as an ordinary, rather prudish, housewife, complaining to her husband on one occasion when a "fresh" young store clerk called her "sweetie pie." In a 1967 special, Trixie (played by Jane Kean from 1966–1970 and 1976–1978) resentfully denied Ralph's implications that she "worked in burlesque" to which he replied "If the shoe fits, take it off." Trixie is the inspiration for Betty Rubble in The Flintstones.

text: Elaine Stritch was the first and original Trixie Norton in a Honeymooners sketch with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Pert Kelton. The ex-dancer character was rewritten and recast after just one episode with the more wholesome looking Randolph playing the character as a housewife.[12]

text: Others[edit]

text: Some of the actors who appeared multiple times on the show include George O. Petrie and Frank Marth as various characters, Ethel Waite Owen as Alice's mother, Zamah Cunningham as apartment building neighbor Mrs. Manicotti, and Cliff Hall as the Raccoon Lodge president.

text: Ronnie Burns, son of George Burns and Gracie Allen, made a guest appearance as "Wallace" on one episode. On another episode, Ed Norton makes a reference to a co-worker "Nat Birnbaum" (as in "'nat," a three-letter word for bug," says crossword puzzle aficionado Norton). George Burns's real name was Nathan Birnbaum.

text: The apartment house[edit]

text: The Kramdens and Nortons lived in an apartment house at 328 Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, a nod to the fact that Jackie Gleason lived there after his family moved from his birthplace at 364 Chauncey Street.[13] In the 1955 episode "A Woman's Work is Never Done," the address is referred to as 728 Chauncey Street. The landlord of the apartment house is Mr. Johnson. In the Honeymooners episodes taped from 1967 to 1970, the address of the apartment house changed to 358 Chauncey Street, and the number of the Kramden apartment is 3B. The actual 328 Chauncey Street is located in the Bushwick section of the borough, approximately eight miles northeast of the show's fictional location.

text: Apartment residents[edit]

text:
Mr. and Mrs. Manicotti: An older couple of Italian descent.
Tommy Manicotti: He played stickball and contracted the measles. He also left his water pistol in the Kramdens' apartment.
McGarrity: A vocal upstairs neighbor with whom Ralph was frequently fueding. He fought with Ralph for disturbing the neighbors with practicing for The $99,000 Answer quiz show. But showing some humour in other episodes, he accused Ralph of renting the tuxedo for his sister-in-law's wedding from an undertaker, and loved Ralph's joke about "sending a knight out on a dog like this."
McGarrity Boy: He played stickball and contracted the measles.
Mrs. Bennett: Needed her radiator fixed when Ralph was the janitor.
Johnny Bennett: He played stickball, earned an apple for a home-run -- and contracted the measles like the other boys.
Mrs. Doyle: Mother of Tommy Doyle.
Tommy Doyle: He was arrested for spending a $100 counterfeit bill that Ralph gave him to take his suits to the cleaners.
Mrs. Stevens: She gave Alice a box for hairpins that was made of matchsticks for Christmas which was the same exact gift Ralph was about to give her but he vastly overpaid for it and thought he had a great gift rather than an insignificant trinket for Alice. Alice gave Mrs. Stevens a kitchen thermometer.
Mrs. Olsen: She said that Ralph broke her venetian blinds instead of repairing them when Ralph temporarily was the building janitor.
Mrs. Hannah: Needed her bathtub fixed when Ralph was the janitor.
Mrs. Fogerty: Accused Ralph of taking food out of her ice box when Ralph was the janitor.
Mrs. Schwartz: The apartment house blabbermouth who reported that the Kramdens had set the all-time lowest gas bill for the building. She also was curious to know if the house phone was able to connect to Jersey when Ralph was the janitor.
Mr. Riley: Had a full garbage can that needed to be emptied when Ralph was the janitor.
Judy Connors: A teenager who didn't want her father to meet a boy named Wallace, her date.
Tommy Mullins: A U.S. Navy service member who was home on leave for Christmas.
Carlos Sanchez: A mambo dancer who works at night.
Mr. and Mrs. August Gunther: Former residents of the building. August hit it big with his doughnut business.

tag: ul

text: History[edit]

text: Origins[edit]

text: In July 1950, Jackie Gleason took over as the host of Cavalcade of Stars, a variety show that aired on the struggling DuMont Television Network. After the first year, he and his writers Harry Crane and Joe Bigelow[14][15]developed a sketch that drew upon familiar domestic situations for its material. Based on the popular radio show The Bickersons, Gleason wanted a realistic portrayal of life for a poor husband and wife living in Brooklyn, his home borough. The couple would continually argue, but ultimately show their love for each other. After rejecting titles such as "The Beast," "The Lovers," and "The Couple Next Door," Gleason and his staff settled on "The Honeymooners." Gleason took the role of Ralph Kramden, a blustery bus driver, and he chose veteran comedy movie actress Pert Kelton for the role of Alice Kramden, Ralph's acerbic and long-suffering wife.[16]

text: "The Honeymooners" made its debut on October 5, 1951, as a six-minute sketch.[17] Ensemble cast member Art Carney made a brief appearance as a police officer who gets hit with flour Ralph had thrown out the window. The tone of these early sketches was much darker than the later series, with Ralph exhibiting extreme bitterness and frustration with his marriage to an equally bitter and argumentative middle-aged woman (Kelton was nine years older than Gleason). The Kramdens' financial struggles mirrored those of Gleason's early life in Brooklyn, and he took great pains to duplicate on set the interior of the apartment where he grew up (right down to his boyhood address of 328 Chauncey Street).[17] The Kramdens -- and later the Nortons when those characters are added -- are childless, an issue only occasionally explored, but a condition on which Gleason insisted. Ralph and Alice did legally adopt a baby girl whom they named Ralphina (because he actually wanted a baby boy he could name after himself but fell in love with the baby girl the agency had placed with them). However, the biological mother requested to have her baby returned, and the agency asked whether the Kramdens would be willing to do so even though they were the legal parents. Ralph agreed and stated that they would visit her and she would have a real-life Santa Claus every Christmas. A few later skits had ralph mistakenly believe for a while that Alice was pregnant.

text: Early cast additions in later sketches were upstairs neighbors Ed and Trixie Norton. Ed (Carney) was a sewer worker and Ralph's best friend, although his innocent and guileless nature was the source of many arguments between the two. Trixie (maiden name never mentioned), Ed's wife, originally portrayed by Elaine Stritch as a burlesque dancer but was replaced after just one appearance by the more wholesome looking Joyce Randolph. Trixie is a foil to Ed, just as Alice is for Ralph, but derivatively, and almost always off-screen.[17][18]

text: Due in part to the colorful array of characters Gleason invented (including the cast of The Honeymooners), Cavalcade of Stars became a huge success for DuMont. It increased its audience share from nine to 25 percent. Gleason's contract with DuMont expired in the summer of 1952, and the financially struggling network (which suffered through ten layoffs from July through October 1953) was unable to re-sign him so he moved on to CBS.

text: Move to CBS[edit]

text: CBS president William S. Paley in July 1952 made sure the cast of the former DuMont ensemble that was becoming The Jackie Gleason Show embarked on a highly successful five-week promotional tour across the United States, performing a variety of musical numbers and sketches (including the popular "Honeymooners"). However, actress Pert Kelton who played Alice Kramden and other roles, was blacklisted at the time and was replaced on the tour by Beulah actress Ginger Jones, who subsequently also was blacklisted (having earlier been named on the Red Channels blacklist) by CBS. All this political maneuvering meant yet another new Alice was needed.[18][19]

text: Jones's replacement was Audrey Meadows, known for her work in the 1951 Broadway musical Top Banana and on the Bob and Ray television show. However, before being cast for CBS, Meadows had to overcome Gleason's reservations about her being too attractive to make a credible Alice. To accomplish this, she hired a photographer to come to her apartment early in the morning and take pictures of her wearing no make-up, clad in a torn housecoat, and with her hair undone.[19][20] When the pictures were delivered to Gleason, he looked at them and said, "That's our Alice." When it was explained who it was, Gleason reportedly said, "Any dame who has a sense of humor like that deserves the job."[19] With the addition of Meadows the now-iconic "Honeymooners" lineup of Gleason, Carney, Meadows, and Randolph was in place.

text: The rising popularity of The Honeymooners was reflected in its increasing prominence of the sketches as part of The Jackie Gleason Show variety lineup. During the first season, it appeared on a regular basis (although not weekly) as a series of short sketches ranging in length from seven to thirteen minutes. For the 1953–54 season, the shorter sketches were outnumbered by ones that ran for a half-hour or longer. Playing off its growing popularity, during the 1954–55 season most episodes of The Jackie Gleason Show consisted entirely of The Honeymooners. Fan response became overwhelming. Meadows received hundreds of curtains and aprons in the mail from fans who wanted to help Alice lead a fancier life. By January 1955, The Jackie Gleason Show was competing with -- and sometimes beating -- I Love Lucy as the most-watched TV show in the United States. Audience members lined up around the block hours in advance to attend the show.[16]

text: The "Classic 39" episodes[edit]

text: The "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners are the ones that originally aired as a weekly half-hour sitcom on CBS from October 1955 to September 1956.

text: Before Gleason's initial three-year contract with CBS expired, he was offered a much larger one by CBS and General Motors' Buick division (the carmaker having dropped their sponsorship of Milton Berle's Buick-Berle Show after two seasons on NBC). The three-year contract, reportedly valued at $11 million, was at the time one of the largest in show business history. It called for Gleason to produce 78 filmed episodes of The Honeymooners over two seasons, with an option for a third season of 39 more. He was scheduled to receive $65,000 for each episode ($70,000 per episode in the second season), but had to pay all production costs out of that amount. Art Carney received $3,500 per week, Audrey Meadows $2,000, and Joyce Randolph (who did not appear in every episode) $500 per week. Production for The Honeymooners was handled by Jackie Gleason Enterprises Inc., which also produced the show's lead-in, Stage Show, which starred The Dorsey Brothers.[16][17] Reportedly, only Audrey Meadows, who later became a banker, received residuals when the "Classic 39" episodes were rebroadcast in syndicated reruns. Her brother Edward, a lawyer, had inserted language to that effect into her contract.[21] However, Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton, did receive royalty payments when the "lost" Honeymooners episodes from the variety shows were released. [22]

text: The first episode of the new half-hour series aired on Saturday, October 1, 1955, at 8.30 pm Eastern Time (during prime time), opposite Ozark Jubilee on ABC and The Perry Como Show on NBC. Because it was sponsored by Buick, the opening credits originally ended with a sponsor identification by announcer Jack Lescoulie ("Brought to you by ... your Buick dealer. And, away we go!"), and the show concluded with a brief Gleason sales pitch for the company., all common practices at the time. However, all references to the carmaker were removed when the show entered syndication in 1957,[20] although "And, away we go!" was a phrase Gleason frequently used in various shows and is inscribed at his gravesite as his memorial catchphrase.

text: The initial critical reaction to the half-hour sitcom Honeymooners was mixed. The New York Times and Broadcasting & Telecasting Magazine wrote that it was "labored" and lacked the spontaneity of the live sketches. ButTV Guide praised it as "rollicking," "slapsticky" and "fast-paced."[16] In February 1956, the show was moved to the 8 p.m. (EST) timeslot, but already had begun losing viewers to the hugely popular Perry Como Show.[2][3] Gleason's writers also had begun to feel confined by the restrictive half-hour format -- in previous seasons, Honeymooners sketches typically ran 35 minutes or more -- and Gleason felt they were beginning to run out of original ideas. So, after just one season, Gleason and CBS agreed to cancel The Honeymooners, which aired its 39th and last original episode on September 22, 1956. In explaining his decision to end the show with $7 million remaining on his contract Gleason said, "The excellence of the material could not be maintained, and I had too much fondness for the show to cheapen it..[16] Gleason subsequently sold the films of the "Classic 39" episodes of the show to CBS for $1.5 million.[17]

text: Revivals[edit]

text: On September 29, 1956, one week after The Honeymooners ended, The Jackie Gleason Show returned. The "Honeymooners" sketches soon were brought back as part of the revived variety show. In 1959, TV Guide magazine mentioned Gleason's interest in producing new Honeymooners shows. This did not happen for several years but he did team up with Art Carney to revive an old Honeymooners scene for an October, 1960 CBS TV Special called "The Big Sell", poking fun at America's sales people .

text: After the spectacular failure of Gleason's 1961 game show You're in the Picture, and the relative success of the eight-episode talk show that Gleason used to fill its time slot, Gleason's variety show returned in 1962 under the title Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine. The "Honeymooners" sketches returned as part of that show whenever Carney was available. However, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph were replaced as Alice and Trixie by Sue Ane Langdon and Patricia Wilson, respectively, for two sketches.[17][18]

text: In January 1966, Meadows again returned as Alice for a musical special, The Honeymooners: The Adoption, a re-enactment of a 1955 sketch of the same name. When The Jackie Gleason Show (by then based in Miami Beach, FL, where Gleason lived) returned in 1966, the "Honeymooners" sketches, in color for the first time, incredibly returned as a series of elaborate musicals that, in effect, were the equivalent of a new Broadway musical each time. The sketches, which covered 10 of the first season's thirty-two shows, followed a story arc that had the Kramdens and Nortons traveling across Europe after Ralph won a contest (an updated version of a 1957 story arc, with musical numbers added). "The Color Honeymooners," as it has since become known, featured Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean in, respectively, the roles of Alice and Trixie, because Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph declined to relocate to Miami. Gleason raised no objections to that recasting, but was adamant that the Ed Norton role never be played by anyone other than Art Carney. One notable 1967 segment featured the return of Pert Kelton (in one of her last performances before her death in 1968 of heart disease at the age of 61), but this time she played Alice's mother, Mrs. Gibson.[17][18]

text: The Honeymooners ended again when The Jackie Gleason Show was canceled in 1970, the result of a disagreement in direction between Gleason and the network. Gleason wanted to continue interspersing "The Honeymooners" within the confines of his regular variety show, while CBS wanted a full-hour "Honeymooners" every week. (CBS's ongoing effort to move its product toward younger audiences and away from established variety show stars was another potential factor in the show's demise.) On October 11, 1973, Gleason, Carney, MacRae and Kean reunited for a "Honeymooners" skit called "Women's Lib" as part of a Gleason special on CBS. In a major move as far as affiliations go, the Kramdens and Nortons were brought back for four final one-hour specials on ABC, which aired from 1976–1978. Alongside Gleason and Carney, Audrey Meadows returned as Alice. Meanwhile Jane Kean continued to play Trixie. (Joyce Randolph, the actress most identified as Trixie, never played the part after the 1950s.) These four specials came at a time when Gleason and Carney each achieved new-found expanded fame, with Gleason's prominent role in the box office smash Smokey and the Bandit and Carney winning an Academy Award for his leading role in Harry and Tonto, which actually brought some more attention to these series of specials. These were the final original "Honeymooners" productions.[18]

text: Production[edit]

text: In 1955, many television shows (including The Jackie Gleason Show) were performed live and recorded using kinescope technology, though sitcoms already largely were recorded done on film, e.g., The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, My Little Margie, and I Married Joan. I Love Lucy, which was recorded directly onto 35mm film, had influenced television production companies to produce directly on film. For The Honeymooners, Gleason utilized the Electronicam TV-film system, developed by DuMont in the early 1950s, which allowed for a live performance to be directly captured on film. As a result of the superior picture and sound quality afforded by the system called Electronicam, episodes of The Honeymooners were much more suitable for rebroadcast than were most other "live" shows of the era.[17][18]

text: All 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed at the DuMont Television Network's Adelphi Theatre at 152 West 54th Street in Manhattan, in front of an audience of 1,000. Episodes never were fully rehearsed because Gleason felt rehearsals would rob the show of its spontaneity. A result was that, while the cast was able to bring a fresh approach to the material, mistakes often were made. Lines either were recited incorrectly or altogether forgotten, and actors did not always follow the scripted action directions. To compensate, the cast developed visual cues for each other. For example, Gleason patted his stomach when he forgot a line, while Meadows would glance at the icebox when someone else was supposed to retrieve something from it.[20][23]

text: In contrast to other popular comedies of the era (such as Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), which depicted their characters in comfortable, middle class suburban environments, the set design for The Honeymooners reflected the blue collar existence of its characters. The Kramdens lived in a small, painfully sparsely furnished two-room apartment (the main set) in a tenement building at least four stories high (the Kramdens were on the third floor and the Nortons' were one floor above them), badly aired and with insufficient lighting. They used the single main room as the kitchen, dining and living room. It consisted of a functional table and chairs, a plain chest of drawers, a curtainless window with a view of a fire escape, a noisy sink, and an outdated icebox. The Kramdens' bedroom never was seen, although in the episode about Ed Norton's sleepwalking the Nortons' bedroom is.[17][18][19] One of the few other sitcoms about a blue collar family was The Life of Riley, whose first season (1949–50) had featured Jackie Gleason in the lead role, although veteran movie actor William Bendix, who had originated the role of Chester A. Riley on the radio show, thereafter took over the role on television.

text: The instrumental theme song for The Honeymooners, called "You're My Greatest Love," was composed by Gleason and performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch -- who previously had been the orchestra leader on Gleason's variety show, as well as The Ed Sullivan Show. Although lyrics were composed, they never were sung. Sammy Spear, who later became Gleason's musical director, provided the arrangement.[24] The music heard in the episodes was not performed during the show, so to enhance the feeling of a live performance for the studio audience an orchestra performed before filming and during breaks.[16] The show's original announcer was Jack Lescoulie, who also was a spokesman for the sponsor, Buick. For the non-sponsored syndicated version, the introduction was voiced by CBS staff announcer Gaylord Avery.

text: Awards[edit]

text: Art Carney won five Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Ed Norton — two for the original Jackie Gleason Show, one for The Honeymooners, and two for the final version of The Jackie Gleason Show. He was nominated for another two (in 1957 and 1966) but lost. Gleason and Meadows both were nominated in 1956 for their work on The Honeymooners. Gleason was nominated for Best Actor–Continuing Performance, but lost to Phil Silvers, while Meadows was nominated for Best Actress-Supporting Role but lost to Nanette Fabray. Meadows also was nominated for Emmys for her portrayal of Alice Kramden in 1954 and 1957.[25][26]

text: The following table summarizes award wins by cast members, both for The Honeymooners and The Jackie Gleason Show.

text:
Actor
Awards won
Show

Art Carney
Emmy, Best Series Supporting Actor (1954)
The Jackie Gleason Show

Emmy, Best Supporting Actor in a Regular Series (1955)
The Jackie Gleason Show

Emmy, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (1956)
The Honeymooners

Emmy, Special Classifications of Individual Achievement (1967)
The Jackie Gleason Show

Emmy, Special Classification of Individual Achievements (1968)
The Jackie Gleason Show

Audrey Meadows
Emmy, Best Supporting Actress in a Regular Series (1955)
The Jackie Gleason Show

tag: table

text: Plot[edit]

text: Most of The Honeymooners took place in Ralph and Alice Kramden's small sparsely furnished two-room apartment. Other settings used in the show included the Gotham Bus Company depot, the Raccoon Lodge, a neighborhood pool parlor, a park bench where Ralph and Ed occasionally meet for lunch,and on occasion the Nortons' apartment (always noticeably better-furnished than the Kramdens'). Many episodes began with a shot of Alice in the apartment awaiting Ralph's arrival from work. Most episodes focused on Ralph' and Ed's characters, although Alice played a substantial role. Ed's wife, Trixie, played a smaller role in the series, and did not appear in every episode as did the other three. Each episode presented a self-contained story, which rarely carried over into a subsequent one. The show employed a number of standard sitcom clichés and plots, particularly those of jealousy, get-rich-quick schemes, and comic misunderstanding.

text: As to the occasional plot continuations, there were two such sequences -- one concerning Ralph being sent to a psychiatrist because of "impatient" behavior during work that resulted in several passengers lodging complaints about his professional demeanor, and one that continued for two sequential shows in which Aunt Ethel visited and Ralph hatched a scheme to marry her off to the neighborhood butcher.

text: The series presented Ralph as an everyman and an underdog who struggled to make a better life for he and his wife, but who ultimately failed due to his own shortcomings. He, often along with Ed, devised a number of get-rich-quick schemes, none of which succeeded. Ralph would be quick to blame others for his misfortune until it was pointed out to him where he had fallen short. Ralph's anger then would be replaced by short-lived remorse, and he would apologize for his actions. Many of these apologies to Alice ended with Ralph saying in a heartfelt manner, "Baby, you're the greatest," followed by a hug and kiss.[16][18][19]

text: In most episodes, Ralph's short temper got the best of him, leading him to yell at others and to threaten comical physical violence, usually against Alice. Ralph's favorite threats to her were "One of these days ... One of these days ... Pow! right in the kisser!" or to knock her "to the Moon, Alice!" (Sometimes this last threat was simply abbreviated: as "Bang, zoom!") On other occasions, Ralph simply told Alice, "Oh, are you gonna get yours." All of this led to criticism, more than 40 years later, that the show displayed an acceptance of domestic violence.[27][28] But, Ralph never carried out his threats, and others have pointed out that Alice knew he never would because of their deep love for each other[18][19] In retaliation, the targets of Ralph's verbal abuse often responded by simply joking about his weight, a common theme throughout the series.[18][19] Incidentally, Alice never was seen to back down during any of Ralph's tirades.

text: For the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners, there was no continuing story arc. Each episode is self-contained. For example, in the series premiere episode "TV Or Not TV," Ralph and Norton buy a television set with the intent to share it. By the next week's show, the set is gone although in later episodes a set is shown in the Nortons' apartment. In the installment "The Baby Sitter," the Kramdens get a telephone, but in the next episode it is gone. And, in the episode, "A Dog's Life," Alice gets a dog from the pound which Ralph tries to return. But, in the end, Ralph finds himself growing to love the dog and decides to keep it along with a few other dogs. However, in the next episode, the dogs are nowhere to be seen and never are referred to again.

text: Occasionally, references to earlier episodes were made, including to Ralph's various "crazy harebrained schemes" from the lost episodes. Norton's sleepwalking in "The Sleepwalker" was referenced in "Oh My Aching Back." But, it was not until the 1967 "Trip To Europe" shows that a Honeymooners story arc finally is used.

text: Broadcast history[edit]

text:
Day & Time
Preceded by

Saturdays at 8:30 pm (October 1, 1955 – February 18, 1956)
Saturdays at 8:00 pm (February 25 – September 22, 1956)
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show at 8:00 pm (January 7 – February 18, 1956)
Stage Show at 8:30 pm (April 14 – June 2, 1956/September 22, 1956)
Two for the Money at 8:30 pm (September 8–15, 1956)

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.
Title
Written by
Original air date

1
"TV or Not TV"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
October 1, 1955 (1955-10-01)

Too cheap to pay the full price, Ralph cons Norton into paying for half a TV Set; Ralph fights with Norton over a TV that they share but is in Ralph's apartment. This episode has Ralph doing a double take when Norton watches Captain Video and His Video Rangers!
In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #26 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[29]

2
"Funny Money"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
October 8, 1955 (1955-10-08)

Ralph finds a suitcase full of money and goes on a spending spree. However, it is revealed that the money is phony, and Ralph is forced to fear for his life, and also having to return everything he got with said money.

3
"The Golfer"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
October 15, 1955 (1955-10-15)

Ralph needs to bone up on becoming a good golfer to impress his boss. This episode is punctuated by a hilarious impromptu golfing lesson in the Kramden apartment, including the classic moment when Norton "addresses the ball."
NOTE: "Addressing the ball" is the term used for placing the club behind the ball in preparation for striking it, in particular with the ball on a tee prior to the first stroke of any hole.
In 1996, TV Guide included this episode as part of its '100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History', ranking it #56.

4
"A Woman's Work Is Never Done"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
October 22, 1955 (1955-10-22)

Ralph and Alice hire a maid to ease Alice's burden of housework. As Alice sternly tells Ralph, "Man works from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done!"

5
"A Matter of Life and Death"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
October 29, 1955 (1955-10-29)

When he sees the vet's report on his mother-in-law's sick dog, Ralph mistakenly concludes that he has only six months to live.

6
"The Sleepwalker"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
November 5, 1955 (1955-11-05)

Ralph is forced to deal with a sleepwalking Norton.

7
"Better Living Through TV"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
November 12, 1955 (1955-11-12)

Ralph devises a get-rich-quick scheme – selling Handy Housewife Helpers on TV. Features a rare gone-wrong moment when one of the gadgets flies off the handle, forcing Gleason to retrieve it and then ad-lib his way back into the scene.It classically devolves into another one of Ralph's schemes failing royally.
In 2009, TV Guide ranked this episode #7 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[30]

8
"Pal o' Mine"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
November 19, 1955 (1955-11-19)

Ralph finds a gift from Norton that he thinks is for him, but when he discovers otherwise, his friendship with Norton is jeopardized. This changes when he finds out Norton was injured in an explosion in the sewer.

9
"Brother Ralph"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
November 26, 1955 (1955-11-26)

Alice is forced to find a job after Ralph is temporarily laid off due to too many buses on Madison Avenue, his route. But to get the job, Alice has to claim that Ralph is her brother, because a lot of employers don't like to hire married women because of their commitments to home and family. Ralph gets jealous when he realizes that Alice's boss is interested in her.

10
"Hello, Mom"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
December 3, 1955 (1955-12-03)

Ralph's foul mood is worsened when he finds out that Alice's mother is coming for a visit. The last time she stayed according to him "was Christmas and New Years', except she came New Years' and stayed 'til Christmas." Later it's revealed in the end that it's his mother coming for a visit.

11
"The Deciding Vote"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
December 10, 1955 (1955-12-10)

Ralph blames Norton when he loses an election for Raccoon Lodge convention manager by one vote, only to find out Norton did vote for him and it was another member who changed his vote because of a defective appliance Ralph convinced him to buy. This episode includes a conspicuous flub in that the lodge member who Ralph told about his vacuum cleaner was introduced to Alice as Joe Muncey, but later spoken of as Joe Rumsey.

12
"Something Fishy"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
December 17, 1955 (1955-12-17)

Ralph and Norton want to go fishing with their fellow lodge members, but without their wives, who, meanwhile, won't stand for such treatment.

13
"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
December 24, 1955 (1955-12-24)

Ralph sells his bowling ball to get Alice a last minute Christmas gift. After the end of this show, Jackie Gleason and the cast wish the audience a Merry Christmas. It is the only time in the series the fourth wall is broken.

14
"The Man from Space"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
December 31, 1955 (1955-12-31)

Ralph wants to attend a costume party as Henry VIII, but is forced to improvise when he can't get the money to rent the costume. Norton wins the contest when he arrives at the party last minute from work in his work gear.
Several scenes from this episode are prominently shown in the movie Back to the Future. There is an anachronism, as this episode originally aired on December 31, 1955 and the time frame it was shown in Back to the Future was November 5, 1955. Episode #6 The Sleepwalker should've been on television while the Baines family was eating supper.

15
"A Matter of Record"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
January 7, 1956 (1956-01-07)

The classic "blabbermouth" episode in which Ralph throws out his mother-in-law after she gives away the ending of a new murder mystery show Ralph was about to see. Alice soon follows, leaving Ralph alone. In a last-ditch effort to win Alice back, Ralph records a message on record to apologize to her and her mother.
It is revealed the Alice's mother even referred to his weight at their wedding. She said: "I'm not losing a daughter, I'm gaining a ton.

16
"Oh, My Aching Back"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
January 14, 1956 (1956-01-14)

Ralph feigns illness to avoid visiting his mother-in-law. Then the pain gets real: he injures his back bowling.

17
"The Baby Sitter"
"Bensonhurst 0-7741"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
January 21, 1956 (1956-01-21)

Ralph is furious when Alice has had a telephone installed. Confusion ensues when she secretly starts babysitting to pay for it. In the end, everything gets sorted out - but the telephone doesn't exist in any of the following episodes.

18
"The $99,000 Answer"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
January 28, 1956 (1956-01-28)

Ralph is a contestant on The $99,000 Answer (a spoof of The $64,000 Question) and is determined to go all the way in spite of Alice's concerns. This episode features a running gag of Norton's when he practices the opening bars to Swannee River to warm up. Unfortunately, Ralph messes up on the first question which asks for the composer of that song.
In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #6 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[31]

19
"Ralph Kramden, Inc."
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
February 4, 1956 (1956-02-04)

When Ralph is $20.00 short on his day's receipts on the bus, he convinces Norton to give him that amount by saying that it's an investment in the imaginary Kramden Corporation. When they learn that Ralph is menitoned in the will of a long time passenger, they go the will reading expecting to share in her fortune.

20
"Young at Heart"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
February 11, 1956 (1956-02-11)

Ralph tries to prove to Alice that he can still do all the things he used to do when they were younger.
The song that Ralph learns to dance is The Hucklebuck which was written by Roy Albert and Andy Gibson and sung by Connie Francis.
Ronnie Burns makes an appearance in this episode as Wallace.

21
"A Dog's Life"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
February 18, 1956 (1956-02-18)

Ralph thinks he's found a great idea for a new food product, not realizing it's actually dog food for the puppy Alice bought behind his back.

22
"Here Comes the Bride"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
February 25, 1956 (1956-02-25)

Ralph nearly ruins the imminent marriage between a fellow Raccoon Lodge member and Alice's sister, Agnes, after he provides some advice to the groom. This episode contains a veiled reference to Willie Mays, who was, by then reaching the peak of his baseball career. Ralph says that, out of habit, Alice's sister caught the bouquet herself. Alice says it was because her foot slipped to which Ralph responds, "I wish my foot could slip like that, I'd be playing center field for the New York Giants."

23
"Mama Loves to Mambo"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
March 3, 1956 (1956-03-03)

Ralph and Norton are annoyed with a new neighbor, a mambo dance instructor, (Charles Korvin), who is unwittingly winning their wives' hearts – and their cooking time.

24
"Please Leave the Premises"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
March 10, 1956 (1956-03-10)

The Kramdens and the Nortons are at war with the landlord over a rent increase of $5 per month, though the only one who really wants to fight is Ralph.

25
"Pardon My Glove"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
March 17, 1956 (1956-03-17)

Alice tries to surprise Ralph for his birthday, but her plans are ruined because of his jealousy.

26
"Young Man with a Horn"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
March 24, 1956 (1956-03-24)

Ralph tries to improve himself in the hopes of securing a civil service job.
The song that Ralph tries to hit the high note on is the Carnival of Venice.

27
"Head of the House"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
March 31, 1956 (1956-03-31)

After boasting that he is the boss of his household, Ralph accepts a bet that he can command Alice to cook a special dinner.

28
"The Worry Wart"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
April 7, 1956 (1956-04-07)

Ralph frets after being summoned to his local IRS office, to clear up a mysterious tax problem.

29
"Trapped"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
April 14, 1956 (1956-04-14)

Ralph witnesses an armed robbery and murder. He arrives home a nervous wreck. And for good reason: the killers are after him.

30
"The Loudspeaker"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
April 21, 1956 (1956-04-21)

Thinking he is about to be named Raccoon of the Year, Ralph prepares an acceptance speech. In the end, Alice finds out from the Grand High Exalted Mister Grueller that the honor is going to Norton.

31
"On Stage"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
April 28, 1956 (1956-04-28)

When Ralph is asked to take the lead in a play, he lets it go to his head.

32
"Opportunity Knocks But"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
May 5, 1956 (1956-05-05)

Ralph gets a chance to impress his boss and earn a promotion, but Norton gets the job instead.

33
"Unconventional Behavior"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
May 12, 1956 (1956-05-12)

Ralph and Norton are sure to be a riot at the annual Raccoon convention... if they ever manage to get out of Norton's "trick" handcuffs.
In the meantime Norton saves up spending money ($50 in 1955 = $400 in 2017) for the trip, unlike Ralph. So Ralph, in order to get spending money for the trip from Alice, decides to take her along to Norton's chagrin -- since it means Trixie will force him take her along as well. He finds out too late that Alice had decided to give the money anyway. When Norton asks him how he gets them into these fixes, Ralph replies he has a "BIG MOUTH!"

34
"The Safety Award"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
May 19, 1956 (1956-05-19)

Ralph wins an award as the safest bus driver in the city, but a series of mishaps, disagreements, and even an accident on the way to the award ceremony haunt his every step.

35
"Mind Your Own Business"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
May 26, 1956 (1956-05-26)

Norton loses his job in the sewer after listening to advice from Ralph on how to gain a promotion. He starts selling steam irons door-to-door. Ralph, convinced of Norton's success, wants to do the same.

36
"Alice and the Blonde"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
June 2, 1956 (1956-06-02)

Alice and Trixie feel unappreciated after being ignored by Ralph and Ed.

37
"The Bensonhurst Bomber"
Marvin Marx and Walter Stone
September 8, 1956 (1956-09-08)

Ralph (with Norton's help) inadvertently challenges a tough guy to a boxing match. After scheming with Norton to make the tough guy think that Ralph really can clobber him, a classic trick ending ensues.

38
"Dial J for Janitor"
A.J. Russell and Herbert Finn
September 15, 1956 (1956-09-15)

Ralph decides to save some money and avoid a fued with the landlord by becoming the new building janitor, but quickly finds out there's more to the job than he thought.

39
"A Man's Pride"
Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka
September 22, 1956 (1956-09-22)

When Ralph runs into one of Alice's old boyfriends, he pretends to run the Gotham Bus Company to impress him. Another scheme collapses when the Kramdens and the Davises go to dinner in a fancy restaurant.

text: Syndication and home video/DVD/Blu-ray Disc[edit]

text: The Honeymooners gained its greatest fame in syndication, where it has aired continually since its original cancellation. WPIX in New York City has aired the series for more than five decades (after initially running in 1957–1958 on WRCA-TV, which now is WNBC),[32] with occasional brief breaks. It regularly airs on WPIX with a marathon that begins on the final hour of New Year's Eve and runs well into New Year's Day.[17] In the United Kingdom it originally aired on ITV between 1958-1963. BBC Two aired 38 of the original 39 episodes beginning in 1989 and ending in 1991.[18] The show also has aired in Australia, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabi, Ireland, and Suriname.[16] It previously was seen on WGN America from June 2008 to September 2009 and on Me-TV from December 2010 to September 2011. In April 2012, the show returned to Me-TV. The show currently airs on the network on Sunday nights.[33]

text: In 1984, the Museum of Television and Radio announced the "discovery" of four original Honeymooners sketches from the original series The Jackie Gleason Show. Later, when they held a public viewing for three of them the response was overwhelmingly positive. In January 1985, Gleason announced the release of an additional group of "lost" episodes from his private vault. As with the previously released sketches, these "lost episodes" actually were kinescopes of sketches from the 1952–55, 1956–57 run of The Jackie Gleason Show.[1] (Kinescopes were recordings of TV programs on motion picture film, shot directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor.) Because the prints had not been stored under ideal conditions, parts of the soundtracks of three episodes were unusable, and the voices had to be redubbed. Gleason personally approved the soundalike actors, with noted voice actor Joe Alaskey -- Joseph Francis Alaskey III (1952-2016), a native of Troy, NY -- providing Kramden's lines.

text: Gleason sold the broadcast rights to the so-called "lost" episodes to Viacom, and they first were aired from 1985–1986 as a series of sixty-eight 22-minute episodes on the Showtime cable network. They since have joined the original 39 episodes in syndication, and also have been released on VHS and DVD.[1] In September 2004, another "lost" episode reportedly was discovered at the Peabody Award archives in Georgia. This episode, titled "Love Letter," originally aired on The Jackie Gleason Show on October 16, 1954.[34] It aired for the first time since then on October 16, 2004, its 50th anniversary, on TVLand. CBS Television Distribution (the modern-day successor to Viacom), via CBS Broadcasting, owns the "Classic 39" series outright, while the Gleason estate owns the "lost episodes" (although CTD does distribute them).

text: Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD released the six-disc DVD box set The Honeymooners "Classic 39" Episodes in November 2003 (only available in Region 1). The set contains all 39 episodes from the series' original 1955–56 broadcast run. Also included in the set is an edited version of a 1990 anniversary special hosted by Audrey Meadows, as well as original show openings and closings sponsored by Buick that were removed when the show went into syndication.

text: MPI Home Video released 80 of the "lost episodes" in Region 1 DVD format during 2001–02, spread out on 24 single-disc volumes. MPI subsequently re-packaged the 24 volumes into six 4-disc box sets. Both the 24 individual volumes and the six 4-disc box sets went out of print during the course of 2008. However, MPI has since renewed its deal with Jackie Gleason Enterprises LLC and has continued to release new editions of the "lost episodes" and other Honeymooners material not currently owned by CBS. On July 28, 2011, MPI Home Video announced the release of a complete restored set of all existing Honeymooners Lost Episodes from 1951 to 1957. The 50-hour, 15 DVD set would contain 107 Honeymooners sketches, included the home video debut of the nine existing original DuMont Network sketches, six other sketches never before released on home video and the eight musical Honeymooners episodes from 1957, which are collectively known as the "Trip To Europe" shows that have been long sought after by Honeymooners fans. The new restored set of Lost Episodes was released on Oct. 4, 2011, sixty years after the first Honeymooners sketch aired.

text:
DVD Name
Ep #
Release Date

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 1
13
October 30, 2001

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 2
13
October 30, 2001

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 3
15
January 29, 2002

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 4
15
March 26, 2002

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 5
12
June 25, 2002

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 6
12
August 27, 2002

The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes: The Complete Restored Series
107
October 4, 2011

text: In June 2006, MPI Home Video released The Color Honeymooners – Collection 1 (NTSC and PAL), which collects the "Trip to Europe" story arc presented on The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966. It has since released an additional three volumes featuring additional episodes from this story arc. AmericanLife TV Network has also aired The Color Honeymooners shows under license from Gleason Enterprises and Paul Brownstein Television.

text:
DVD Name
Ep #
Release Date

The Color Honeymooners- Collection 1
9
June 27, 2006

The Color Honeymooners- Collection 2
8
February 26, 2008

The Color Honeymooners- Collection 3
12
May 27, 2008

The Color Honeymooners- Collection 4
12
August 26, 2008

text: On July 22, 2013 Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment announced that all 39 episodes would be released on Blu-ray Disc on October 15, 2013.[35] The release was remastered and in high definition. On September 30, it was announced that the box set had been pushed back and was released on March 18, 2014.[36]

text: Impact[edit]

text: Steven Sheehan explains the popularity of The Honeymooners as the embodiment of working-class masculinity in the character of Ralph Kramden, and postwar ideals in American society regarding work, housing, consumerism, and consumer satisfaction. The series visually demonstrated the burdens of material obligations and participation in consumer culture, as well as the common use of threats -- even though The Honeymooners never showed or even hinted at actual violence -- of domestic violence in working class households.[37]

text:
In 1997, the episodes "The $99,000 Answer" and "TV or Not TV" were respectively ranked #6 and #26 on "TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".[38] [29]
In 1999, TV Guide published a list titled "TV's 100 Greatest Characters Ever!" Ed Norton was #20, and Ralph Kramden was #2.[19]
In 2002, The Honeymooners was listed at #3 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
On June 1, 2007, FOX aired a TV's Funniest Moments special, in which a clip from the episode "The $99,000 Answer" was on the list. In the clip, Ralph lamely identifies the composer of "Swanee River" as being "Ed Norton".
In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Honeymooners #13 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time.[39]
The instrument used for Visible/Infrared Imaging by NASA on the New Horizons space probe was named after Ralph Kramden, in parallel to the Alice instrument (naming not related to the TV show) that was used on the Rosetta Mission [40]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Due to its enduring popularity, The Honeymooners has been referenced numerous times in American pop culture, and has served as the inspiration for other television shows, notably The Flintstones. The show also introduced memorable catchphrases into American culture, such as "Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!", "One of these days ... one of these days ...," "Homina, homina, homina," and "Baby, you're the greatest".

text: The Flintstones[edit]

text: In 1960, the Hanna-Barbera-produced animated sitcom The Flintstones debuted on ABC. Many critics and viewers noted the close resemblance of that show's premise and characters to that of The Honeymooners.[41] In various interviews over the years, co-creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera each stated that The Honeymooners was used as a basis for the concept of The Flintstones. Mel Blanc, the voice of Barney Rubble, was asked to model Barney's voice after Ed Norton, but reportedly refused. Gleason later said that he considered suing, but decided that becoming known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air" wasn't worth the negative publicity.[42]

text: Spoofs, parodies and importation[edit]

text:
In the Futurama episode "The Series Has Landed", Fry witnesses the future's interpretation of The Honeymooners.

In the episode "Spanish Fry" of the same show, Lrrr says, "One of these days, Ndnd, bang! zoom! straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8!!"

The sitcom The King of Queens was inspired partly by The Honeymooners.[43]
The show was parodied in a series of animated Looney Tunes shorts, in which the principal characters, Ralph and Alice Cramden and Ed and Trixie Morton, are depicted as mice and Ralph's "big dream" is like to get enough cheese to impress Alice. These cartoons are The Honey-Mousers (1956), Cheese It, the Cat! (1957), and Mice Follies (1960). Human caricatures of Ralph and Ed are pitted against Bugs Bunny in the 1956 Warner cartoon Half-Fare Hare. And in another cartoon, A Bird in a Bonnet (1958), when Sylvester falls into an open manhole, inside a voice like Ed Norton's says, "Whoo-hoo-hoo! Hey, look at this, Ralph, a pussycat." To which Sylvester simply peers out of the sewer to the audience.
The writer/comic Louis C.K. stated in an interview that he based the layout of Louie's apartment in the HBO show Lucky Louie on the Kramdens' apartment, in contrast to other shows such as The King of Queens that have very nicely decorated apartments despite the characters' professed low incomes.[44]
Stan Freberg created a brief audio skit entitled "The Honeyearthers," in which Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie are aliens living on the moon. In keeping with 1950s ideas of what aliens would look like, they have three feet, one eye, and antennae. Ralph drives a rocket ship and Norton works in a "green cheese mine." At the end of the skit, Ralph offers to take Alice on a "honeyearth" to renew their marriage.
In Back to the Future (1985) Lorraine's (Lea Thompson) father (George DiCenzo) wheels their newly acquired television set in front of the family table, saying giddily: "Let's eat, while we watch Jackie Gleason!"—a reference to the TV series.
In the 21 Jump Street season 3 episode "High High" (where the Jump Street team is assigned to go undercover at a performing arts school), Doug Penhall cites The Honeymooners as one of his favorite shows growing up. Towards the end, he reenacts a scene from the episode "Young Man with a Horn" for acting class.
The Honeymooners was spoofed in an episode of Perfect Strangers as a result of the character Balki Bartoukomos (Bronson Pinchot)'s spinning an extended metaphor about the characters' existential situation to an episode of The Honeymooners he had once seen; Balki's description of the episode is shown in a black-and-white flashback.
As Ralph Kramden was a New York City bus driver, one of the service depots in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot in 1988. All buses that originate from the bus depot bear a sticker on the front that has a logo derived from the 'face on the Moon' opening credits of The Honeymooners. The MTA also took 1948 GM-TDH5101 bus number 4789, renumbered it to 2969 and made it the 'official Jackie Gleason bus'.
A statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden stands at the Eighth Avenue entrance to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. The plaque on the base of the statue reads, "Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden — Bus Driver — Raccoon Lodge Treasurer — Dreamer — Presented by the People of TV Land"[45]
The Toronto Coach Terminal included a restaurant and bar named Kramden's Kafe from 1984 until 2013.
An episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", includes a fictional rip-off of The Honeymooners called The Adventures of Fatso Flannigan.
In 2011, an adult parody entitled The Honeymoaners was released by DreamZone Entertainment, with Peter O'Tole as Ralph and Anthony Rosano as Ed. Ironically, both actors also played Fred and Barney in The Flintstones - A XXX Parody, an adult parody of the Flintstones, which have resemblance to the show (as mentioned above). The plot of the parody is similar to the episode "The $99,000 Answer", only here the show is called "The $69,000 Answer" and Ralph is answering questions about sex.
The Honeymooners was spoofed in episode 22 of the first season of Saturday Night Live (then known as NBC's Saturday Night) in a sketch featuring The Killer Bees (referenced as 'The Bees' in this particular episode). John Belushi took the role of Ralph, with Gilda Radner as Alice, Dan Aykroyd as Norton, and Jane Curtin as Trixie.
In 1988 Ron Jeremy led a cast of adult performers in the critically panned "The Horneymooners".
The first adult film parody of the show, "Honeymooners" premiered in 1976 and starred adult film legend John Leslie as the Ralph Kramden character.

text: Adaptations and remakes[edit]

text: The success of The Honeymooners in countries outside the United States has led to the production of new shows based entirely on it.

text: International remakes[edit]

text: Indonesia[edit]

text: Two series, 26 episodes in all were made for R.C.T.I. in 1996. It was the first sitcom of that style ever attempted in Indonesia. It was entitled Detak Detik and starred Mat Sola as the Jackie Gleason character. Art Carney rang the cast prior to production to give them his best wishes. It was decided to make Mat Sola a Silver Bird taxi driver as they had a bit more prestige in Indonesia. They left Nurbuat who mirrored Ed Norton as a sewerage worker. The chemistry worked well. They had to remove any references to alcohol as Indonesia is a country with a majority of Muslim population.

text: Canada[edit]

text: French Canada was entertained for years in the 1960s and '70s by a sitcom titled Cré Basile, with Olivier Guimond, Béatrice Picard, Denis Drouin and Amulette Garneau, which was an uncredited Quebecois version of The Honeymooners. It could, by contemporary standards, qualify as plagiarism[citation needed].

text: Netherlands[edit]

text: In 1994, the Dutch broadcasting network KRO produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon ([Back] then happiness was very normal), using translated scripts of the original series but changing its setting to 1950s Rotterdam. After the original 39 scripts were exhausted, the series' lead actors, Gerard Cox and Sjoerd Pleijsier, took over writing, adding many new characters and references to Dutch history and popular culture. The series was a hit in the Netherlands and it finished its run after 16 years and 229 episodes in June 2009.[46]

text: Sweden[edit]

text: In 1994, the Swedish network TV4 produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Rena Rama Rolf, but changing its setting to modern-day Gothenburg, where Rolf (Ralph) is working as a streetcar driver. The show ran until 1998.[citation needed]

text: Poland[edit]

text: In 1998, the Polish network Polsat produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Miodowe lata which translates to "Honeymoon years", using both translated scripts of the original series and new ones, but changing its setting to modern-day Warsaw. The original series ran until 2003 and was continued in 2004 as Całkiem nowe lata miodowe.[47]

text: Film[edit]

text: On June 10, 2005, a feature film remake of The Honeymooners was released, featuring a predominantly African American cast. The roles of Ralph, Alice, Ed, and Trixie were played by Cedric the Entertainer, Gabrielle Union, Mike Epps, and Regina Hall, respectively. The movie was a critical and commercial failure, earning slightly more than US$13 million worldwide.[48] The film was released by Paramount Pictures.

text: Video Game[edit]

text: In 1988, First Row Software released a Honeymooners computer game for the Commodore 64 and DOS systems. The game involves the Kramdens and Nortons trying to earn $223 for train fare to Miami Beach, where Ralph wants to host the annual Raccoon Lodge convention, by playing a variety of mini-games related to the series. Additionally, players have the option of trying to double their money after each round by answering a Honeymooners-related question in a bonus round based on "The $99,000 Answer" episode.

text: Reboot[edit]

text: It was announced in December 2016 that CBS will develop a reboot of The Honeymooners with Bob Kushell writing and executive producing the series along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Eric & Kim Tannenbaum, and Jeff Greenstein.[49]

text: Further reading[edit]

text:
Crescenti, Peter; Bob Columbe (1990). The Official Honeymooners Treasury: To the Moon and Back with Ralph, Norton, Alice, and Trixie. Perigee Books. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
Katsigeorgis, John (2002). To the Moon: The Honeymooners Book of Trivia – Official Authorized Edition. Metrobooks. ISBN 1-58663-694-4.
McCrohan, Donna and Peter Crescenti (1986). The Honeymooners Lost Episodes. Workman Publishing. ISBN 0-89480-157-0.
McCrohan, Donna (1978). The Honeymooners' Companion: the Kramdens and the Nortons Revisited. Workman. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
Meadows, Audrey (1994). Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-59881-7.