CATCHING MAGIC IN a bottle is difficult to do and must rely on luck far more than any skill or artistic talent. To repeat this process seems to be neigh well impossible; especially when any follow-up or sequel is transported to another medium.WHAT WORKED ON the big screen of the movie houses oft fizzles when it is adapted to the Televisin, especially if it is placed into the thirty minute constraint of episodic Sitcoms.AS A PRIME example of what we're driving at, we need not look very far back in time. With the success of MY BIG FAT Greek WEDDING() at the movie houses, CBS welcomed its video off spring, MY BIG FAT Greek LIFE. It featured many of the same cast members as did the theatrical feature film and was supposed to be the story of the newly wed couple's life after their wedding day.SO, WHAT HAPPENED may have been a big surprise to the "Bottom Lkiners" at the old network, but it lasted only a paltry 7 episodes.MUCH IN THE same manner, DELTA HOUSE had many of the same players from the feature, ANIMAL HOUSE (or more properly, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMSAL HOUSE), sans John Belushi as "BlutO". They had the same setting and tried to maintain a sort of continuity with the blockbuster film. They even introduced a younger brother character of the Belushi character as Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky. The fraternity's feud with Dean Wormer continued and everything should have been copasetic, right? SO, WHAT WE think worked against this DELTA HOUSE spin off was that no matter how they tried, it was not what the public had found to be so attractive to their tastes in the theatrical release. Being on network, broadcast television automatically precluded so many of the "adult" incidents, nudity and language that a movie could get away with.AND DON'T YOU forget, this was long before all of those daring cable productions that we have grown used to by now.

I have fond memories of this show and looked forward each week to another episode. True, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that this series was a watered down version of a wildly raunchy hit movie nor that TV standards for prime time were strict in 1979.But the same standards were even stricter in 1972 when Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart were working on a prime time TV series based on another wildly raunchy hit movie where comedy, immorality and bad taste intermingled with lots of blood and guts. The end result, was a TV series that was, in spite of the restrictions (or because of the restrictions) a huge hit that outlived itself and would've lasted a few more years had it not been for the decision to end it all with a big bang in February 1983. That series was MASH.If only DELTA HOUSE had been aired on CBS with Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart on the team, the series would've been a lot funnier (in spite of the restrictions) and a lot more successful.The first episode which introduced "Blotto", a seemingly hopelessly uncool loser until he chugged down a pitcher like it was nothing, was a gem! "I didn't know Bluto could write!" "I didn't know Bluto could read!" Another episode that stood out was the one where the Omegas built a fallout shelter and the Deltas managed to convince the Omegas that the "big one" had just been dropped.It would've been be nice if the series would come out on DVD.But according to the "Where are they now?" featurette of the ANIMAL HOUSE DVD, the events that followed ANIMAL HOUSE, leading to what would become DELTA HOUSE, never occurred. So we must accept the fact that DELTA HOUSE will probably never see the light of DVD reissuing.

Yes I Saw this one year before I'd seen the Movie "Animal House" on HBO & Yes I enjoyed this show very much from what I recall of it.The Ad of which asked "Every wonder whatever happened to those National Lampoon Animals?""They're here at Delta House."The episode in which Blotto Says"Let's give them World War III in action!"Then the soldiers were fooled by the scenery of which was only small toy scenery set ups burning that they saw through their periscopes (or whatever you may call these.)I also was impressed by the general idea of Blotto as a pig,even without having seen Bluto as such first.The Delta House Theme song to open the show was very catchy too.As was the song going to as well as coming back from the commercials "Delta House oh Delta House." while they showed the picture of Blotto & the guys.But my most favorite reminiscence is from my High School's Year Book of The Philomath '79 under To Eat With: it said right side by side John "Bluto" Belushi & Josh "Blotto" Mostel.Even the original cast members that reprise their roles well as Flounder,Otter,etc.did well as I got to see when I had seen them in "Animal House" itself a year later on HBO. Truthfully, Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a. "Ste" of Framingham,Ma.USA where I had attended Framingham South High and graduated in 1982.

I recently was watching the TV land cable network and saw a TV program featuring some familiar characters. I quickly contacted my boyfriend in the other room and he immediately recognized them as the characters from the classic film Animal House.The show was called Delta House, and while the Animal House movie was quite entertaining this very predictable and unfunny sitcom is not. The character played by John Belushi is not present and the characters in the show are all watered down compared to their original version. I'm actually befuddled considering I (nor anyone else I asked about it) had never heard of the show, which is quite unusual considering the popularity of the movie. After watching just two episodes it's very easy for me to see why this show only lasted one season. It's a terrible bastardization of a great film.