Shaping Up is a short-lived American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 created by writer-producers Sam Simon

Sam Simon

Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...

 and Ken Estin

Ken Estin

Ken Estin is an American Emmy Award-winning television producer and screenwriter. He has worked on Taxi and The Tracey Ullman Show, and Cheers.-External links:...

, which ran for five weeks on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

Synopsis

A spring replacement in 1984, Shaping Up, originally titled Welcome to the Club, was given the 9:00 Tuesday slot following Three's Company

Three's Company

Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

. Leslie Nielsen

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

 played Buddy Fox, curmudgeon owner of the Buddy Fox Health Club. Michael Fontaine played Ben, the club's manager who was like a son to Buddy and served as the show's voice of sanity. Other cast members included Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...

, Shawn Weatherly and Jake Steinfeld

Jake Steinfeld

Jake Steinfeld is an American actor and fitness personality. He has a line of fitness equipment called "Body by Jake" and also once hosted a Body by Jake TV show. He also starred on a sitcom on the Family Channel called Big Brother Jake. In 1985, he played a small role in the Jeff Goldblum comedy...

 of Body by Jake fame.

While only five episodes were aired, six were shot. The role of Ben was first played by Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins

Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...

, whom the network replaced with Fontaine.

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"Baby Be Mine"	March 20, 1984
1-2	"Ex Pede Hercuelum"	March 27, 1984
1-3	"Defusing the Muse"	April 3, 1984
1-4	"I Should Have Danced All Night"	April 10, 1984
1-5	"Mixed Nuts"	April 17, 1984