American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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stark raving mad
Totally crazy, as in The constant uncertainty over his job is making him stark raving mad. This term, meaning "completely wildly insane," is used both hyperbolically and literally. Versions of this expression appear to have sprung from the minds of great literary figures.
Stark mad was first recorded by poet John Skelton in 1489;
stark raving was first recorded by playwright John Beaumont in 1648;
stark staring mad was first used by John Dryden in 1693. The current wording,
stark raving mad, first appeared in Henry Fielding's The Intriguing Chambermaid in 1734.
Stark Raving Mad
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Stark Raving Mad (TV series)
| Stark Raving Mad | |
|---|---|
 Stark Raving Mad titles |
|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Steven Levitan |
| Starring | Tony Shalhoub Neil Patrick Harris Eddie McClintock |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Steven Levitan |
| Camera setup | Multicamera |
| Running time | 23 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 23, 1999 – July 13, 2000 |
Stark Raving Mad is an American sitcom that aired from on NBC from 1999 to 2000. The series stars Tony Shalhoub and Neil Patrick Harris.
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Contents
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Synopsis
Shalhoub stars as eccentric horror novelist Ian Stark obsessed with practical jokes whose first book Below Ground was a best seller. Neil Patrick Harris is Stark's reluctant editor Henry McNeeley who has a variety of phobias and possibly obsessive-compulsive disorder. On January 10, 2000 the sitcom won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy Series. The sitcom premiered on September 23, 1999 and was officially cancelled by NBC on April 15, 2000.
Margaret 'Maddie' Keller was to be played by Jessica Cauffiel as she appears in several early cast photos.
Cast
Credited cast
- Tony Shalhoub as Ian Stark
- Neil Patrick Harris as Henry McNeeley
- Eddie McClintock as Jake Donovan
- Dorie Barton as Tess Farraday
- Heather Paige Kent as Margaret 'Maddie' Keller
Recurring cast
- Harriet Sansom Harris as Audrey
- Chris Sarandon as Cesar
- Dina Waters as Katherine 'Kit' Yates
Episode list
| # | Prod. code | Title | Airdate | Director | Writer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1ADM79 | Pilot | September 23, 1999 | James Burrows | Steven Levitan |
| Henry McNeely gets a promotion he doesn't want. He's now the editor for the eccentric horror novelist Ian Stark. Ian's practical jokes are done at the expense of Henry. | |||||
| 2 | 1ADM01 | The Man Who Knew Too Much | September 30, 1999 | Ted Wass | Alan Kirschenbaum |
| Trying to pull another joke on Henry Ian mistakes in recommending some other woman's wishes as those of Henry's girlfriend to Henry. Ian even takes Henry to a sex shop for kinky presents to "her girlfriend". | |||||
| 3 | 1ADM03 | Sometimes a Fritter Is Just a Fritter | October 7, 1999 | Ted Wass | David A. Goodman |
| Henry's misunderstanding of a change of a name of a character in Ian's manuscript ruins Ian's morning routine of fritters and long walks. | |||||
| 4 | 1ADM05 | Four Colds and a Funeral | October 14, 1999 | Gail Mancuso | Eric Zicklin |
| Henry accidentally kills a man named Professor Huggles (a character obviously inspired by Dr. Seuss) | |||||
| 5 | 1ADM06 | The Lyin' King | October 21, 1999 | Gail Mancuso | Brian Buckner, Sebastian Jones |
| During Halloween, Ian helps Henry to pay back his cousin Lori for an old prank she pulled on him, while Maddie's date may or may not be a humpback for real. | |||||
| 6 | 1ADM04 | Fish out of Water | November 4, 1999 | Ted Wass | Jeffrey Richman |
| Everyone is at Audrey's dinner party where a fish needs to be put back into the tank. | |||||
| 7 | 1ADM07 | Engaged to Be Engaged | November 11, 1999 | Gayle Abrams | |
| Henry tries to make a commitment to Tess. | |||||
| 8 | 1ADM09 | The Stalker | November 18, 1999 | Ken Levine | Steven Levitan |
| Ian's obsessed fan wants to take Henry's place. | |||||
| 9 | 1ADM08 | The Dance | December 2, 1999 | Gail Mancuso | Steven Levitan |
| Tess attempts to fix up Ian and Maddie. | |||||
| 10 | 1ADM02 | Coffin to Go | December 9, 1999 | Ted Wass | Lynnie Greene, Richard Levine |
| Ian discovers that the funeral place accidentally sold him a coffin with a corpse in it. | |||||
| 11 | 1ADM10 | Christmas Cheerleader | December 16, 1999 | Michael Lembeck | David A. Goodman |
| Tess tries to cheer up Christmas for a bunch of social outcasts. | |||||
| 12 | 1ADM11 | The Crush | January 6, 2000 | Michael Lembeck | Eric Zicklin |
| Ian has a crush on a woman, but Jake cannot be trusted with letters. | |||||
| 13 | 1ADM12 | My Bodyguard (a.k.a. Guarding Tess) | January 13, 2000 | Gayle Adams | Steven Levitan |
| Henry, Ian and Tess get mugged. Ian head-butts the mugger and saves the day. Henry soon feels sexually inadequate when he learns that Ian's heroics caused Tess to have an erotic dream about Ian. Ian sets up a similar incident, designed to make Henry look like a hero in Tess' eyes. | |||||
| 14 | 1ADM15 | The Hypnotist | February 3, 1999 | Michael Lembeck | Alan Kirschenbaum |
| Ian professes to be a hypnotic expert and the situation gets out of hand. | |||||
| 15 | 1ADM16 | Therapy | March 2, 2000 | Sheldon Epps | Eric Zicklin |
| 16 | 1ADM18 | Secrets and Lies | March 9, 2000 | David Lee | Jeffrey Richman |
| A Yale student turns up some shocking secrets about where Ian was nearly twenty years ago. | |||||
| 17 | 1ADM21 | The Grade | March 16, 2000 | Steven Levitan | Brian Buckner, Sebastian Jones |
| Ian helps Maddie by writing a book report for her, but then is furious when her professor only gives her a "B". | |||||
| 18 | 1ADM17 | The Pigeon | July 13, 2000 | Sheldon Epps | Joe Piscatella, Craig A. Williams |
| Ian accidentally knocks a pigeon's nest filled with eggs off his balcony's ledge. Later he becomes paranoid, thinking the mother pigeon is back with vengeance. | |||||
| 19 | 1ADM13 | He's Gotta Have It | July 20, 2000 | Joyce Gittlin | Lynnie Greene, Richard Levine |
| 20 | 1ADM14 | Dog Gone | July 27, 2000 | Gail Mancuso | Brian Buckner, Sebastian Jones |
| 21 | 1ADM19 | The Psychic | August 3, 2000 | Jeff Melman | Dana Gould |
| 22 | 1ADM20 | The Big Finish | August 10, 2000 | Robert Egan | Richard Levine, Lynnie Greene |
International airings
In some countries the series was renamed: Stark, loco de atar (Spain), Männer ohne Nerven (Germany), Splitter Pine Gal (Norway), Kreisi kynäniekka (Finland) and "En förläggares mardröm" (Sweden).
Sources
External links
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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