You probably know Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, the sandwich-loving, "How you doin'?"-spouting heartthrob of Friends. But before he was living in a purple apartment in Greenwich Village, he was a Chicago slum resident trying to con his way into high society.
Honestly, almost nobody remembers Top of the Heap.
It’s one of those weird footnotes in television history. It was a spin-off of the massive hit Married... with Children, and at the time, Fox really thought they had a goldmine. They were so sure that Vinnie Verducci—LeBlanc’s dim-witted but lovable character—was the "next big thing" that they gave him not one, but two chances at his own show.
The Verducci Master Plan
The premise was basically a darker, greasier version of The Beverly Hillbillies. Joseph Bologna played Charlie Verducci, an apartment building superintendent who lived in a run-down basement with his son, Vinnie. Charlie was the brains—if you can call them that—and Vinnie was the bait.
Charlie’s "Master Plan" was simple: use Vinnie’s good looks to marry him off to a rich woman so they could both retire on her family's dime.
It was cynical. It was tacky. It was exactly what you’d expect from the creators of the Bundy universe.
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The show officially kicked off with a "backdoor pilot" during Married... with Children Season 5, Episode 20. In that episode, titled "Top of the Heap," Al Bundy actually helps Charlie and Vinnie sneak into a high-society party. It was a weirdly meta moment where the established stars passed the torch to the newcomers.
Why it didn’t stick
So, why did it fail? It had the pedigree. It had the lead-in. It even had a young Joey Lauren Adams playing the seductive neighbor, Mona Mullins.
Critics at the time were... let's say, not kind. They called it "robotic" and the jokes "cringeworthy." While Married... with Children worked because Al Bundy was a relatable underdog we loved to pity, Charlie Verducci often felt a bit too mean-spirited, even for 1991 standards.
The show only lasted seven episodes.
Interestingly, one of those episodes, "Behind the Eight Ball," featured a guest appearance by Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy. Fox was clearly trying to keep the umbilical cord attached to the mother ship, but the audience just wasn't biting.
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The weird second life: Vinnie & Bobby
Here is the part that usually trips people up. Even after Top of the Heap was quietly ushered off the air in May 1991, Fox didn't give up on Matt LeBlanc. They actually retooled the whole thing a year later.
They ditched the father character entirely. They moved Vinnie into a new apartment with a dim-witted pal named Bobby (played by Robert Torti) and called the show Vinnie & Bobby.
Same character. Different dynamic. Same result.
That version also lasted exactly seven episodes before getting the axe. It’s sort of a miracle LeBlanc’s career survived two failed spin-offs in two years, but clearly, the industry saw something in him. When you look at Vinnie Verducci, you can see the DNA of Joey Tribbiani. The "charming dunce" archetype was already there; it just needed a better script and a fountain to dance in.
Little-known trivia from the set
- The Theme Song: The show used a cover of "Puttin' on the Ritz," which perfectly encapsulated the show’s theme of poor guys pretending to be posh.
- A Pre-Baywatch Star: A 24-year-old Pamela Anderson actually showed up in the episode "Behind the Eight Ball."
- The Cast: Rita Moreno—yes, the EGOT legend Rita Moreno—played Alixandra Stone, the country club manager. Seeing her in a gritty Fox sitcom is still one of the era's strangest casting choices.
How to watch it today
You won't find this on Netflix or Max. Because of music rights and the general lack of demand, Top of the Heap has never had a proper DVD or digital release.
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If you're dying to see Matt LeBlanc in his pre-fame glory, your best bet is scouring sites like the Internet Archive or YouTube, where fans have uploaded grainy VHS rips from the original broadcasts. It’s a time capsule of a specific era of TV when networks were desperate to replicate the "crude" success of the Bundys.
Practical Next Steps for Fans:
If you’re a completionist for 90s sitcoms or a die-hard Friends fan, tracking down the "Top of the Heap" episode within the Married... with Children collection (Season 5) is the easiest way to see where it all started. It serves as a perfect standalone "what if" in TV history.
For those looking for more of LeBlanc's early work, checking out the short-lived Vinnie & Bobby is the next logical step to see how the character evolved right before he landed the role of a lifetime.
The Verducci Master Plan might have failed on screen, but for Matt LeBlanc, being at the "top of the heap" was only a few years away.