The Tragedy of FOX After Breakfast (ft. Tom Bergeron & Laurie Gelman)

In this video, we unpack the story of the Fox After Breakfast, the ill-fated network adaptation of a brilliant cable morning show called Breakfast Time. Co-hosts Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd provide their perspectives on what went wrong, in what is, to my knowledge, their first public reunion since the show's demise.

00:00 Intro
02:12 Background
04:21 Moving to FOX
08:56 The End of Breakfast Time
12:19 Concerning Signs
16:12 The Buildup
17:25 The Premiere
23:34 Something's Not Right...
26:10 Memories of Breakfast Time
30:16 "This Isn't The Same Show"
34:42 Laurie's Departure
37:50 After Laurie
40:06 More Departures
45:33 Running Out The Clock
47:43 Vicki Lawrence
50:00 Reflection
51:10 Epilogues
56:50 Conclusion

[TBergeron]

Another great job, Connor (even if Part Two wasn't as much fun as Part One 😉) Was thinking of contacting Kevin Feige for access to the Multiverse. I'm sure somewhere Breakfast Time is still going strong...🤔

[dhaang]

Breakfast Time changed my life. Really. I was a 15 year old kid in a tiny town, miserable and lost. The show was the opposite of my day-to-day - a cool, funky loft in a big city with lots of lively, clever, interesting people from all walks of life. It showed me that the whole world wasn't like the tiny sliver I was seeing. Tom, Laurie, Bob, Jim, Jillian, Spencer, Phil and Suzanne offered me a glimpse into a different kind of life - a hopeful vision of my future I desperately needed. And for that, I will always be grateful.

[Telehell]

I only have Two notes for this video...

1. Bravo, Connor, the World could use more Modern day TV historians
2. Anybody else Think that Tom and Laurie could do another show together in THIS day & age? The chemistry between the two Clearly remains palpable.

[cansprite]

Wow, Connor. Thanks for the love letter to our favorite work experience ever. Exhilarating/PAINFUL to watch! Also, can I just say it was the middle of the night in Turkey when we did that interview! xo

[averyeml]

Seriously CANNOT thank the algorithm enough for bringing me here. The fact that you got Tom and Laurie to get into an interview for this so quickly says a LOT about their love for the show; I doubt he’s hopping on any ol’ YouTube channel to be interviewed about Dancing With the Stars or whatever.

The number of views your channel has is criminal (it should be in the millions), I’m spreading the word as much as possible!

[teremele]

Hey Connor, great video, I was one of the floor directors from, the inception of the show. I saw myself 4-5 times in the background. This video brings up a lot of good memories. Thank you again!!

[Omega_X_Factor]

It boggles the mind. Fox had groundbreaking shows like Married with Children, The Simpsons, 90210, and Ally McBeal. When they got the NFL, their pre-game show was more entertaining than others. When it came time to send Breakfast Time to the big leagues, they killed it.

[bradleykemper]

Great job! I never got to watch Breakfast Time because our cable system didn't have FX until 2000. But I did watch Fox After Breakfast during the summer and when I was home from school. This show turned into a real-life version of what they satirized on Married With Children in season 6. In the Peg-less 2-part episode "Kelly Does Hollywood", Kelly and her friends start a popular cable-access show. A network picks it up, saying they love everything about it. They change everything that made it special and cancel the show.

[castlecircle]

You can feel Tom and Laurie's chemistry to this day.

[BarrCode]

The even sadder thing about all of this is: have you seen what morning/daytime network TV looks like now? There's just way too many news shows. Everyone's got the morning and the afternoon news. Hell, NBC has FOUR hours of Today!
I think now of all times do we need a new _Breakfast Time_ more than ever.

[jaxking]

It’s amazing you managed to get Tom Bergeron & Laurie Gelman to interview and I’m here for your future.

[favioferreira]

I don’t know why this was recommended to me or even why I clicked it but I’m glad I did. I’ve never heard of Breakfast Time before these videos, and thanks to you I can now feel a sense of loss for a show I never watched. Just watching some of those clips makes me wish I saw it in its heyday. Great job bringing light to a work that clearly needs more light shone on it.

[DelTashlin]

This popped into my recommendations and I had a *moment*. I am a GenXer, and my entire adult life I've asked all kinds of people from priests to gutter punks if they remembered a news show that had a puppet and Tom Bergeron. I honestly chalked my memories up to some sort of blended, maybe I watched a news show followed by Sesame Street, neurological malfunction.

Until now. I'm going to go watch part one now. Thanks for letting me reclaim a little bit of sanity.

[jonkasonic]

Hey ;) just watched this video and the last one and I really enjoyed them. I am in the UK and I just released a video about the big breakfast and came across your video in my suggested videos. The big breakfast was on Channel 4 which is one of the main channels here in the uk. I've trawled through all of it as much as I could and the shows spirits are such the same and some of the features were similar. We had the Friday song, which was a little like the hoedown from who's line. Ours lasted until 2002 but had a similar following - small but very loyal viewership. The clip you showed of big breakfast was from the first paring of Chris and Gaby. They would have issues keeping hold of hosts though but their successors Johnny and Denise or Johnny and Liza who were funny as heck if you ever watch any, I'd say watch them (around 1998 - 2001). It's a shame tv like this on both sides of the pond has gone. They replaces our show with a show that ended up trying to be big breakfast. Since axing the show the channel 4 has literally playing Frasier and everybody loves raymond on repeat for 20 years. Anyway thanks for this, enjoyed it very much :)

[broderickschwinghammer]

Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd just popped up, and I just screamed in my car, "Holy Shit!"

[goregrindisthebestgenre]

They did Laura so dirty. She shouldn’t have been let go to begin with but on top of that, she found out in such a shitty way.

[mrdrofficer]

Please don't stop making these. This was wonderful.

[jonathonalsop]

Wow. I'm here because I watched The Mom Show, and was doing a little YouTube search on Laurie. As a Canadian without cable/satellite growing up this was the first I'd ever heard of Breakfast Time. Nice job, you made me nostalgic for something I didn't know existed.

[troytakesphotos]

Watching Breakfast Time was not only cathartic as I was going through a really crappy teenage phase, but inspired me to work in morning television - to take chances - and do really fun things whenever I can. I remember watching FaB loyally then realizing... this show is not the same thing. Mad props to you and Tom and Laurie for reflecting on exactly why this disaster happened.

[Snowboi]

Wow, great video Connor, currently watching it right now but im surprised you are able to get public and famous figures to do interviews. First, the former Family Feud producer (forgot his name) and now you managed to get the hosts of a forgotten yet loveable show to get an interview! Whats next? Barack Obama to be on this channel?