Acting Sheriff is an unsold, half-hour television pilot sitcom created by Walt Disney Television for television network CBS that aired across the United States on Saturday, August 17, 1991. Identified as episode number 895 in Walt Disney Television season number 35, the 30-minute comedy drama featured Robert Goulet as B movie actor Brent McCord who is elected to the unlikely job of sheriff in a small Northern California town. Character Mike Swanson, a deputy who is loyal to McCord, captures the escaped prisoner and helps cover for McCord's mistake by informing news reporters that McCord made the capture.
In the August 21, 1991 primetime ratings for the week of August 12 to August 18, Acting Sheriff received a 4.6 share and was ranked as number 83 out of a total of 90 primetime television shows. CBS eventually filled the Saturday 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM primetime slot with 48 Hours, a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988.
Critics' reactions were mixed. The Florida daily newspaper St. Petersburg Times rated Acting Sheriff a "best bet." However, the weekly entertainment trade newspaper Variety found the Brent McCord character too cartoonish to support the show as a series.
Reaction to response
The August 17, 1991, airing of the show was its only broadcast. In a December 1991 effort to raise more than $200 million to finance Disney's network television business, Disney created Zero Coupon Based Rate Adjustment Securities ("ZEBRAS") as promissory notes to be used to obtain money from the investing public. Disney added Acting Sheriff and other television projects such as Lenny, The Fanelli Boys, Singer & Sons, and Stat to the ZEBRAS. The bonds were seen both as innovative and controversial by tying their investment return to the performance of Disney's television shows. As one of 40+ reviewed television pilots from a pool of thousands available pilots, clips of Acting Sheriff were used by The Best TV Shows That Never Were show to insinuate that it was one of the worst aired pilots.