Sherri Shepherd Reveals ‘This Is Us’ Star Milo Ventimiglia Was Fired From Her Forgotten ’90s Sitcom

Before Sherri Shepherd became a daytime TV talk show host, she was part of a sitcom pilot that most viewers never got to see. Shepherd recently shared a ’90s throwback on Instagram about Rewind, a Fox sitcom pilot that also starred Scott Baio and Mystro Clark. “Bet you didn’t know I was in a pilot called Rewind,” Shepherd said in the video. For many fans, the answer was probably no.

According to Shepherd, the show followed two elementary school friends who grew up and went into business together. “They had their own advertising business,” she said, explaining that whenever the characters were dealing with something as adults, the story would “rewind back” to their younger years.

Shepherd even shared part of the original promo-style description, saying, “For Scott Baio and Mystro Clark, it’s not forgotten as they relive the ’70s in Rewind.” Shepherd played Baio’s secretary on the show. She joked that the role fit a pattern she knew well at that point in her career. “The girl with the attitude, which was my whole career,” she said.

 

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The cast is what makes Rewind especially interesting now. Shepherd said the pilot also featured Christine Taylor, best known to many ’90s fans as Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie. Taylor later married Ben Stiller and appeared in films including Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Shepherd also revealed that Milo Ventimiglia was involved early on. Years before Gilmore Girls, Heroes, and This Is Us, Ventimiglia played the high school version of Baio’s character, according to Shepherd. Shepherd recalled that Ventimiglia was at the table read but was later let go. “I remember he was devastated,” she said. Shepherd told him at the time, “You are gonna be big.”

She was right, although even she admitted she did not know how right she would be. Ventimiglia went on to become one of TV’s most recognizable actors, especially after playing Jack Pearson on This Is Us. Shepherd used the story as a reminder that one early disappointment does not decide a career. “That just shows you,” she said, “you could be fired for something, but it’s not gonna stop what you got to do.”

Warner Bros. Television/Everett Collection

The funniest part of Shepherd’s Rewind story involved her father. She said he visited the set one day and immediately recognized Baio from Happy Days, where he played Chachi. Instead of quietly watching the rehearsal, Shepherd said her father began yelling at him from the audience. “Chachi! Chachi! When you gonna give my daughter some more lines?” Shepherd recalled him shouting. Shepherd said the moment was humiliating. She told her father he could not do that and just needed to sit and watch the rehearsal, but he had other ideas.

Deborah Feingold/Fox Broadcasting Company/Everett Collection

According to Shepherd, her father walked right up to Baio and introduced himself as “Sherri Shepherd’s daddy.” Then he told Baio that his daughter needed more lines. Shepherd said she “could have fallen through the floor.” Baio apparently took it well. Shepherd remembered him telling her that his own father did the exact same thing. In the end, Shepherd said she did get more lines. She thanked Baio in the caption of her Instagram post, writing, “Here’s a ’90s throwback for you! Thank you, Chachi, for helping a girl out.”

Rewind never became a hit sitcom. Shepherd said she thinks they filmed about six episodes, but it never continued. Today, it mostly exists as a piece of ’90s TV trivia.

Do you remember watching it at all or hearing about it?

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February 2021

1990s Rom-Coms

Pop some popcorn and cozy up to feel-good movies and TV shows from a generation ago.

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