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Herman's Head ran from September 1991 June 1994 on FOX.
Herman Brooks ( William Ragsdale), was a wavy-haired young guy working as a fact checker in the research department of The Waterton Publishing Company in New York. To all outward appearances he seemed perfectly normal but, whenever he was faced with making a decision, viewers were shown the workings inside the room in his brain. It was their that the 4 conflicting aspects of his personality-compassion ( Angel played by Molly Hagen), Lust ( Animal played by Ken Hudson Campbell), anxiety ( Wimp played by Rick Lawless), and reason ( Genius played by Peter Mackenzie)-debated, argued and sometimes fought over what course of action Herman should take. Working with Herman were his boss Mr. Bracken ( Jason Bernard), a humorless man with encyclopediac knowledge and total commitment to accuracy; Louise ( Yeardley Smith), Bracken's sardonic secretary; and Heddy ( Jane Sibbett), an obnoxious, ambitious fellow researcher who took great pleasure in putting Herman down. Also working for the publisher was Herman's best friend Jay ( Hank Azaria), a womanizer whose dalliances somehow always seemed to get Herman into trouble.
Seen from time to time was Mr. Crawford ( Edward Winter), an inept executive at Waterton who, despite taking advantage of Herman, had a penchant for forgetting his first name. Over the years Herman had a number of romantic relationships, including a short-lived affair with Heddy, who ultimately rejected him because his finacial prospects weren't up to her standards. Even Jay, despite his attraction to flashy women, developed an on-again, off-again relationship with Louise.
A Review from The New York Times
A Head Full Of People
By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: October 10, 1991
In "Herman's Head," Herman Brooks, played appealingly by William Ragsdale, lives alone in a small Manhattan apartment and works, temporarily he hopes, in the small research department of a large magazine. At the office, run by the fierce Mr. Bracken (Jason Bernard), Herman absorbs arcane facts like, among others, the rectal temperature of a three-toed sloth. Outside work, he searches for meaningful relationships. All the while, he gets advice, usually conflicting, from the stereotypes inside his head: Animal, or lust (Ken Hudson Campbell), Angel, or sensitivity (Molly Hagan), Genius, or intellect (Peter MacKenzie), and Wimp, or anxiety (Rick Lawless).
The result is probably the clunkiest concept of the season, with the scene shifting from hapless Herman to the odd one-note characters frantically sending him signals that are generally ignored anyway. Herman and the little people just get in each other's way, and that's unfortunate because Herman on his own can whip up considerable charm, whether drinking too much and making a fool of himself at an office party for his boss, or being genuinely solicitous about Louise, the mousey office secretary, when her date fails to show. Louise, by the way, is giving Yeardley Smith a long-deserved chance to shine in a prominent role.
At its best, "Herman's Head" is now harmless fluff. Overhauling a concept that is pointless might help considerably.
An Article from USA TODAY
Published on November 18, 1993
A very Brady visitor on 'Herman's Head'
Like many boys in the '70s, William Ragsdale , 30 , was into " the Marcia thing"-that's Marcia as in The Brady Bunch.
" But if anyone would have told me 20 years ago I'd get the chance to kiss her I'd have believed it impossible," says the star of Herman's Head.
Tonight at 9:30, Ragsdale gets his chance when Maureen McCormick appears on the Fox sitcom as herself.
For Ragsdale, the kiss was " as close to a dream come true as it gets."
For his real-life girlfriend, actress Barbara Alyn Woods, it was a mini-nightmare.
" She went through that whole ' Jan' thing"( the middle Brady lass). " But once she met Maureen she was OK."
" I play myself but...they take a lot of liberties," says McCormick married for nine years to Michael Cummings, with a daughter, Natalie, 4 1/2.
" When we kissed, the audience went C-R-A-Z-Y," she says. " It was so cool."
Also " cool": A country Western album due next spring; a possible TV show; and a series of children's videos.
In her spare time, McCormick speaks out about birth control options, " a subject we'd never have discussed on The Brady Bunch."
Brady co-star Robert Reed died of AIDS-related illness in May 1992. " He was a beautiful man. I really miss him."
" Sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives were taboo topics then but they need to be discussed today.
" Hey, can you hold on a see?" ( She takes another call.) " Hi!" she squeals clicking back. " Call waiting is so cool!"
A little known fact about the former Brady beauty: McCormick provided the voice of Mattel's Chatty Cathy doll.
It's sometimes hard to tell where Marcia leaves off and Maureen begins. But she doesn't mind the Brady tie.
" You know ,it was a great family sitcom and there's not a lot of them on TV today."
Ragsdale says the which-came-first debate is moot.
" I don't know how much of Marcia is in Maureen or vice versa," he says. " But if Marcia turned out anything like Maureen she'd have nothing to complain about."
A Review from Variety
Published on December 15, 1993
Herman's Head a Decent Proposal
((Thurs. (16), 9:30-10 p.m., Fox))
By RICHARD S. GINELL
Filmed in Hollywood at Sunset Gower Studios by Witt/Thomas Prods. for Touchstone Pictures & Television. Executive producers, Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, David Babcock; producers, Adam Markowitz, Bill Freiberger; co-executive producers, Mark Ganzel, Nina Feinberg; supervising producer, Michael B. Kaplan; director, Greg Antonacci; writer, Ganzel; production designer, Edward Stephenson; sound, William Kennedy III.
Cast: William Ragsdale, Hank Azaria, Jane Sibbett, Yeardley Smith, Molly Hagan, Ken Hudson Campbell, Rick Lawless, Peter MacKenzie, Jason Bernard, Andrea Parker, Kirsten Holmquist.
Though it looked like a dopey idea in the beginning, "Herman's Head" has developed into a sharp, funny exploration of a universal condition -- what goes on in our minds. Besides the above-average writing, credit the chemistry of two separate casts that seem to get tighter with each season.
Herman (William Ragsdale), despite several near-promotions, remains an underpaid, single, twentysomething Manhattan researcher in a constant state of flux as one girl after another passes into, out of and back into his life.
He is surrounded at work by career-stalled cohorts -- his compulsively womanizing best friend, Jay (Hank Azaria); the demanding yet avuncular boss, Mr. Bracken (Jason Bernard); gold-digging Heddy (played with relish by Jane Sibbett); and Louise (Yeardley Smith), one of the looniest space cases on TV.
Yet the show really takes off whenever it enters Herman's brain, where his pompous Intellect (Peter MacKenzie), goody-goody Sensitivity (Molly Hagan), nerdish Anxiety (Rick Lawless) and Belushi-esque Lust (Ken Hudson Campbell) argue, scheme and shift alliances in a never-ending struggle for power.
But "A Decent Proposal" isn't one of the sharper episodes, as writer/co-executive producer Mark Ganzel and director Greg Antonacci dust off an old premise -- two people pretending they're married in order to impress someone.
Heddy ropes Herman into the act so that she can one-up an old high school rival (Andrea Parker), with a predictably chaotic effect upon Herman's social life. It's the same old posing and lying that not even Herman's inventive brain can enliven much.
What remains interesting is the simmering tension between Herman and Heddy.
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