Television programs produced by MTM Enterprises
SITCOMS
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Aired from 9/19/70 - 3/9/77 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Creators: James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Producers: James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Davis.
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards), Valerie Harper (Rhoda Morgenstern), Gavin MacLeod (Murray Slaughter), Edward Asner (Lou Grant), Ted Knight (Ted Baxter), Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens), Cloris Leachman (Phyllis Lindstrom), Lisa Gerritsen (Bess Lindstrom), Georgia Engel (Georgette Franklin), Nancy Walker (Ida Morgenstern), Harold Gould (Martin Morgenstern), John Amos (Gordy Howard), Priscilla Morrill (Edie McKenzie Grant-Gordon), Michael Tolan (Dan Whitfield), Sheree North (Charlene McGuire), John Gabriel (Andy Rivers), Robbie Rist (David Baxter), Eileen Heckart (Aunt Flo Meredith) J. Benjamin Chulay (Pete), Joyce Bulifant (Marie Slaughter), Nanette Fabray (Dottie Richards), Bill Quinn (Dr. Walter Richards).
Principal Writers: David Lloyd, Treva Silverman, Steve Pritzker, Martin Cohan, Bob Ellison, Susan Silver, Elias Davis and David Pollock, David Davis and Lorenzo Music, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Principal Directors: Jay Sandrich, Peter Baldwin.
The Series: Focuses on the private and professional life of Mary Richards, a single woman who lives in Minneapolis, in the form of a comedy. As the seasons went by, the focus was less on Mary's "struggle to make it on her own" and more on the relationships between Mary and her co-workers, also on the significant experiences of her co-workers. One of the most successful sitcoms of all time, with an ensemble cast that ranks with the very best teams of talent. Many of the funniest moments in television come from this show. Won a total of 27 Emmy awards, and set the standard as the most polished comedic TV series' of all time.
The Bob Newhart Show
Aired from 9/16/72 - 8/26/78 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Creators: David Davis and Lorenzo Music.
Executive Producers: David Davis and Lorenzo Music.
Producers: Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses.
Principal Cast: Bob Newhart (Dr. Bob Hartley), Suzanne Pleshette (Emily Hartley), Bill Daily (Howard Borden), Peter Bonerz (Dr. Jerry Robinson), Marcia Wallace (Carol Kester-Bondurant), Pat Finley (Ellen Hartley), Jack Riley (Elliot Carlin), John Fiedler (Mr. Emil Peterson), Florida Friebus (Mrs. Lillian Bakerman), Larry Gelman (Dr. Bernie Tupperman), Oliver Clark (Mr. Herd), Will MacKenzie (Larry Bondurant), Patricia Smith (Margaret Hoover), Renee Lippin (Michelle Nardo), Noam Pitlik (Mr. Gianelli), Howard Hesseman (Mr. Plager), Martha Scott (Mrs. Hartley), Barnard Hughes (Herb Hartley), Tom Poston ("The Peeper"), James Randolph (Junior Harrison), Moosie Dreier (Howie Borden), Lucien Scott (Mr. Vickers), Shirley O'Hara (Debbie Flett), Phillip R. Allen (Dr. Frank Walburn).
Principal Directors: Peter Bonerz, Peter Baldwin.
The Series: Focuses on the professional and personal life of Dr. Bob Hartley, a psychologist who lives and works in Chicago. In the late sixties, he married a scrumptious brunette, Emily Harrison (originally from Seattle). She's an elementary school teacher. Both are intelligent professionals and their intellects complement each other nicely (although it's humorously curious that the short, stammering Bob was able to nab the sensuous woman). They have a group of daffy, dysfunctional circle of friends and colleagues, including Bob's patients, who constantly invade their personal life in one way or another. The main source of insanity is Howard Borden, a next-door neighbor in their apartment building. Howard is a flight navigator who can barely navigate his way through his own existence, much less an airplane. Bob runs group and individual therapy sessions with numerous people, his longest-running patients being Mr. Carlin, Mr. Peterson, and Mrs. Bakerman, whom are seen throughout the entire series. Bob shares a floor of a professional building with Dr. Jerry Robinson, an orthodontist who was supposedly abandoned at birth and grew up in an orphanage. He likes to date beautiful women but somehow never gets any permanent relationship going. Carol Kester-Bondurant, a slender redhead with an infectious grin and heinous laugh, serves as secretary/receptionist to both doctors. Some of the best moments in the series are those where Bob's patients and friends show up at his doorstep at odd hours in need of advice.
By and large, this was the 'second giant' of the MTM sitcoms, although during its original run it was largely overshadowed by "Mary Tyler Moore". The cast was a highly gifted ensemble and the writing and directing were splendid from start to finish. That no one associated with "The Bob Newhart Show" never won a single Emmy is unfathomable and to this day, the sad fact embarrassed Bob Newhart tremendously. There was more than a handful of diamond episodes easily on a par with any of the best of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and certainly better than nearly anything on television today. Henry Winkler, pre-"Happy Days", guested as Miles Lascoe, one of Bob's most dysfunctional patients. Teri Garr also popped in on one or two occasions. Thankfully, the show has not been forgotten and can be found on the Nick at Nite TV network in reruns.
Rhoda
Aired from 9/9/74- 12/9/78 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Creators: James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, developed by David Davis and Lorenzo Music.
Executive Producers: James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Producers: Lorenzo Music, David Davis, Charlotte Brown.
Principal Director: Tony Mordente.
Principal Cast: Valerie Harper (Rhoda Girard-Morgenstern), David Groh (Joe Girard), Julie Kavner (Brenda Morgenstern), Nancy Walker (Ida Morgenstern), Harold Gould (Martin Morgenstern), Ron Silver (Gary Levy), Ray Buktenica (Benny Goodwin), Scoey Mitchlll (Justin Culp), Michael Delano (Johnny Venture), Richard Masur (Nick Lobo), Barbara Sharma (Myrna Morgenstein), Anne Meara (Sally Gallagher), Lorenzo Music (Carlton the Doorman), Kenneth McMillan (Jack Doyle), Rafael Campos (Ramon Diaz), Nancy Lane (Tina Molinari), Wes Stern (Cousin Lenny Fiedler).
The Series: The decision to spin Valerie Harper off onto her own series was made nearly four years before the event actually took place. It was the idea of Fred Silverman, then president of CBS, who had watched Harper from the earliest moments of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". In 1973 the plans got underway, and by 1974, audiences knew and loved her well enough that a sitcom starring her would definitely be a winner.
Rhoda Morgenstern returns to New York and falls in love with Joe Girard, father of a young boy whom Brenda babysits. The Emmy-nominated 60 minute episode, "Rhoda's Wedding" (dovetailed by an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") aired October 28, 1974 and the ratings soared. The wedding of Rhoda and Joe was also the brainstorm of Silverman, who later admitted that it was the "dumbest thing I'd ever done in my years of programming for television". The once-single Rhoda lapsed all too easily into the marital framework and now was seen catering to Joe (at one point she says, "...you're looking at someone who's going to get an 'e' for effort in this marriage"...ugh!!!). The writers weren't able to capture humor in Rhoda and Joe's relationship. The producers struggled with the situation constantly, and the ratings plummeted. Fans got angry and sent in negative mail. It took two seasons to see the full effect of Rhoda's stagnation, but eventually the moment came: she and Joe separated. They tried marriage counseling, which surprisingly put the series back on an upswing. After Rhoda and Joe divorced, Rhoda made a relucant comeback to being the single woman she was in Minneapolis, and she found a slightly new career as a costume designer. The scripts also turned more to Brenda's life and relationship with a geeky guy named Benny Goodwin (well-played by Ray Buktenika). But these changes were for the better, and "Rhoda" managed to stay afloat until it was cancelled mid-season in December, 1978. Today, viewer opinions about the series as a whole are mixed, but by and large, "Rhoda" was good.
Phyllis
Aired from 9/8/75- 8/30/77 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Executive Producers: Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels
Producer: Michael Leeson
Creator: Ed. Weinberger, based on a character created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns
Principal Cast: Cloris Leachman (Phyllis Lindstrom), Lisa Gerritsen (Bess Lindstrom), Henry Jones (Johnathan Dexter), Jane Rose (Audrey Dexter), Judith Lowery (Mother Sally Dexter), Burt Mustin (Arthur Lanson), Liz Torres/Barbara Colby (Julie Erskine), Richard Schaal (Leo Heatherton), Garn Stephens (Harriet Hastings), Carmine Caridi (Supervisor Dan Valenti), John Lawlor (Supervisor Leonard Marsh), Craig Wasson (Mark Valenti), Jack Elam (wine-o).
The Series: After the early passing of Lars, Phyllis re-locates to San Francisco to live with Audrey and Johnathan Dexter, his mother and stepfather. Johnathan's elderly mother, Sally Dexter, also lives there for awhile before shacking up with a 92 year-old man named Arthur (side note: it was Mother Dexter who provided a great deal of the laughs in the show). Bess is now in college. Phyllis finds work in a photography studio, run by a woman named Julie Erskine who can hardly stand the sight of her. The next year, the photography studio closes, and she lands a job in the San Francisco City Supervisors' office as secretary to Dan Valenti. In the final episode, Bess announces that she's pregnant.
"Phyllis" did very well in the ratings during its first season and Cloris Leachman won an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe Award for her work. It was in the second season that the numbers fell and the show was cancelled abruptly. Many say have remarked that the series failed because the San Francisco Phyllis was drastically rewritten from the Phyllis we knew on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". In Minneapolis, she was a narcissistic busybody who was seen only on occasion, meddling in others' affairs, giving her opinions when they weren't wanted, or making grandiose soliloquies about her own uninteresting life experiences. On "Phyllis", she was more or less a 'nice woman' who was faced, for the first time, with making it on her own, just as Mary had struggled to do years earlier, only Phyllis was forty-five, not thirty. Audiences were not interested in this. And it goes without saying that the untimely death of Barbara Colby was a large determinant in the decline of the show.
The Betty White Show
Aired from 9/12/75- 1/9/78 on CBS. Videotape, 30 minutes.
Executive Producer: Bob Ellison
Co-Producers: Dale McRaven, Charles Raymond
Concept developed by David Lloyd.
Principal Cast: Betty White (Joyce Whitman), Georgia Engel (Mitzi Maloney), John Hillerman (John Elliott), Alex Henteloff (Doug Porterfield), Charles Cyphers (Hugo Muncey), Caren Kaye (Tracy Garrett), Barney Phillips (Fletcher Huff), Elizabeth Kerr (Mrs. Elliott), Florence Halop (Marian Huff).
The Series: Movie/TV star Joyce Whitman is the star of a cop show called "Undercover Woman", which her ex-husband, John Elliott, directs. Joyce is now single, and lives with bachelorette Mitzi Maloney in a modest ranch house in San Francisco. The stories are mainly centered around Joyce and John's love-hate relationship, and their struggles to keep "Undercover Woman" from being cancelled. "The Betty White Show" certainly had fine leads in White, Hillerman, and Engel, and at the time of its mid-season cancellation, the ratings had improved. But the decision to use videotape and a number of incredibly limp storylines and wacky supporting characters was enough to kill the sitcom. The concept, developed by David Lloyd, was a viable one; if nothing else, at least he put the "smiling cobra" of Sue Ann Nivens into permanent limbo and gave Betty White a far more palpable character to play. She and Hillerman played well opposite each other, and had CBS given the show another half season, it certainly would have gotten off the ground.
The White Shadow
Aired on CBS from 9/78 - 3/81. Film, 60 minutes
Executive Producer: Bruce Paltrow
Creator: Bruce Paltrow
Cast: Ken Howard (Ken Reeves), Jason Bernard (Jim Willis), Joan Pringle (Sybil Buchanan), Kevin Hooks (Morris Thorpe), Eric Kilpatrick (Curtis Jackson), Nathan Cook (Milton Reese), Timothy Van Patten (Mario Salami), Ken Michelman (Abner Goldstein), Ira Angustain (Ricky Gomez), Robin Rose (Katie Donahue), Jerry Fogel (Bill Donahue), Byron Stewart (Coolidge), Larry Flash Jenkins (Stone), John Mengatti (Vitaglia), Wolfe Perry (Rutherford), Stoney Jackson (Mitchell), John Laughlin (Falahey), Art Holliday (Franklin).
The Series: Ken Reeves, professional basketball player retired after a knee injury, finds a new job coaching inner city high school boys' basketball at Carver High School in Los Angeles. The school has a racially mixed group of students; the basketball team consists of underprivileged ghetto-based hoodlums. They reject Reeves at first, but he is determined to support them and turn their lives around. He's the father that most of them never had, yet he never crosses the boundary of student-teacher.
Most of the stories are centered on the problems the adolescents face (pregnant girlfriends, being wanted by gang members, theft, drug dealing), while their responsibility as team players keeps them afloat. Like "Hill Street Blues" that followed it, "The White Shadow" had its share of violence. In the lead, Ken Howard is exceptional, well-supported by a group of young actors who capture the diabolical situations very well. "Shadow" aired on CBS for three seasons, which in retrospect was probably an appropriate length of time.
Mark Tinker (eldest son of Grant Tinker) was the show's producer. The younger Tinker admits that the show was far more than a little rough, and CBS asked them to tone it down many times. They saw the basketball team as a bunch of "downers", which in fact, they were. By the final year, the show just got to be too soft and had lost its dramatic punch. However, this did not keep it from status as one of MTM's strongest products.
WKRP in Cincinnati
Aired from 9/18/78-9/20/82 on CBS. Videotape, 30 min.
Creator and Producer: Hugh Wilson
Cast: Gary Sandy (Andy Travis), Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever), Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe), Richard Sanders (Les Nessman), Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap), Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek), Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters), Carol Bruce (Lillian Carlson).
"WKRP in Cincinnati" was an ensemble comedy about a struggling radio station. Struggling is too kind a word - they were a last-place oldies station whose main advertisers were mortuary homes and toupee manufacturers. Things started to change when Andy Travis was hired as program director. Travis was hired by Lillian "Mama" Carlson, the owner of the radio station, obstinately to improve the ratings, yet it was revealed in the final episode that she preferred for WKRP to lose money as a tax write off. She believed that it would be impossible for WKRP to turn any kind of profit because of the staff that worked there, and at first glance it would be hard to argue with her. The station manager was Arthur Carlson, Lillian's son, who was affectionately referred to as the "Big Guy" despite the fact that he made no decisions and never had the nerve to stand up to "Mama." Jennifer Marlowe was the station's secretary and the highest-paid member of the staff. She seemed to be the most aware station employee despite the fact that she never did usual secretary duties such as getting coffee or taking dictation. The station's news manager was Les Nessman, an odd-looking man who always had a band-aid stuck on a different part of his body. Les's choices in news reporting was also odd, as he placed a greater priority on his hog reports than actual news items. It was this dedication to hogs that earned him three Buckeye News Hawk awards, a distinction he wouldn't let anybody forget. Herb Tarlek was the station's advertising salesman, a caricature of the sleazy salesman who would do anything for a buck. Herb's wardrobe reflected his tastes, as his suits were always garish and painful to observe. Bailey Quarters was a young intern who was intelligent yet so bashful that she was never able to express any of her ideas. John "Dr. Fever" Caravella was the station's morning DJ. To say that Johnny was burned-out would be an understatement as he needed a coffee cop to remember his on-air nickname. Johnny was a hot-shot DJ in Los Angeles who made the fatal mistake of saying the word "booger" on the air. From there it was a fast slide down the totem pole to WKRP. Rounding out the staff was Venus Flytrap, a hip black jockey from New Orleans brought in by Andy to because the overnight DJ. Mama later discovered that Flytrap was an ex-teacher who had virtually no experience before starting at WKRP.
Andy Travis had his work cut out for him, but he started by immediately changing the format to top 40 rock & roll. Things were tough at the beginning as former advertisers dropped by the wayside, fans of the old format picketed in the lobby and demanded an on-air apology to Lawrence Welk, a live remote show is taken hostage by an out-of-work DJ, and Herb got arrested for fighting with the mascot for rival station WPIG. However, the ratings improved slowly but surely, and at the end of one year as a rock & roll station WKRP has moved from 16th to 14th place. Everybody was ecstatic except for Andy, who believed the format change alone would have gotten them those two places. He wanted to fire some of the staff but was talked out of it by Venus, who pointed out that WKRP is more than just a business, it's a family. Andy decided to stay the course and the ratings continued to improve, albeit with some help. WKRP was targeted by a religious group because of the nature of the lyrics to some of the songs they played, but Carlson refused to back down. Because of the advertiser boycott that followed, WKRP was forced to play less commercials which ultimately resulted in the station shooting up to tenth place in the ratings. In the final episode, WKRP rose to sixth place. The elation was short-lived as Mama announced that she planned to change the station to an all-news format. Confronted by Johnny Fever, Mama admitted that she wants WKRP to lose money as a tax write off. However, she was unable to tell Arthur the truth so she instead canceled the format change and vowed to keep WKRP the way it is.
Sadly, WKRP was cancelled after only four years on the air. CBS, naturally, claimed that it was because of diminishing ratings. What they failed to add was that WKRP occupied a staggering twelve time slots during those four years. Sometimes the cast members themselves were unaware as to what time the show was airing! Sadly, the show was still on an upswing of quality at the time of the cancellation. Unlike most comedies that begin with full-drawn characters that are gradually reduced to caricatures of themselves, WKRP started out with bizarre oddballs who were developed over the course of four years into full three-dimensional characters. Quality writing was the key as there were very few bombs to speak of during their run. Some of the classic episodes include: "Hoodlum Rock," which was a parody of punk featuring the "hoodlum" band Scum of the Earth; "The Contest Nobody Could Win," featuring an insane radio contest that backfired; "Who is Gordon Sims?," the first look into the past of Venus Flytrap, who turns out to be Gordon Sims, a Vietnam deserter; "Put Up or Shut Up," where Jennifer finally deals with Herb and puts him in his place; "Sparky," featuring a hilarious guest appearance by former Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson; "Herb's Dad," where Herb's dad, played to perfection by Bert Parks, arrives at the station and helps demonstrate just how Herb ended up the way he is; "In Concert," a serious episode that reflects on the 1979 Who concert tragedy in Cincinnati with dignity; "Real Families," a parody of reality programming that aims to show just how f****d-up Herb's family is; "Bah, Humbug," a Christmas Carol parody that shows the Big Guy why he should give out Christmas bonuses; "Dr. Fever and Mr. Tide," where Johnny Fever develops a second personality called Rip Tide to host a disco show produced by Avis Dropkin, who is played by the late Mary Frann; "Clean Up Radio Everywhere," an interesting look into radio censorship; "The Union," where Andy strikes a deal with Mama to keep the union out of WKRP; "Circumstantial Evidence," a trial drama featuring Tim Reid's soon-to-be wife, Daphne Maxwell; "The Impossible Dream," where Les wants to go to New York to audition for the CBS Evenings News; and "Up and Down the Dial," the final episode.
However, no talk of WKRP is complete without discussing the 1978 Thanksgiving episode, "Turkey's Away." It is far and away WKRP's most popular episode and widely considered to be one of the greatest comedy episodes of all time. The Big Guy is feeling useless at the station because Andy makes all the decisions, Jennifer shields him from all phone calls, and Johnny won't even field his musical requests. To that end, he decides to start taking charge, starting with the annual Thanksgiving promotion. He creates an idea that he claims will make radio history yet he only tells Les and Herb, whom he refers to as "the suits." Andy, Johnny, Venus and Bailey are left in the dark, derisively referred to as "the dungarees." All they know is that Carlson's plan requires a helicopter and twenty live turkeys. When Thanksgiving Day arrives, Les conducts a remote broadcast from the shopping mall where the promotion is going to take place. The helicopter buzzes its way to the mall and Les sees something dropping from the sky. Unfortunately that something turns out to be live turkeys, and they start hitting the ground like "sacks of wet cement." The promotion is a disaster to say the least, and Carlson and Herb return to the station looking extremely dishevelled. They quickly retire to Carlson's office, but Les returns a few moments later looking just as bad. He explains that Carlson and Herb landed their helicopter in an attempt to save the day, but the turkeys launched a counter-attack. It's at this moment that Carlson emerges from his office to explain the failure and deliver one of the all-time classic punch lines. "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." --Matthew Cregg
Newhart
Aired on CBS from 11/82 - 3/90. Videotape (1982-83); Film (1983-90).
Executive Producer: Barry Kemp.
Producer: Sheldon Bull.
Executive Story Consultant: Emily Marshall.
Principal Director: Dick Martin.
Cast: Bob Newhart (Dick Loudon), Mary Frann (Joanna Loudon), Steven Kampmann (Kirk Devane), Tom Poston (George Utley), Jennifer Holmes (Leslie Vanderkellen, 1982-3), Julia Duffy (Stephanie Vanderkellen-Harris), Peter Scolari (Michael Harris), Ralph Manza (Bud), William Lanteau (Bill), William Sanderson (Larry), Tony Papenfuss (Darryl #1), John Voldstad (Darryl #2), Todd Sussman (Officer Shiflet)
The Series: Comedy about Dick and Joanna Loudon, owners of the Stratford Inn in Vermont, and their batty circle of friends and employees. Dick Loudon, like Bob Hartley, serves as a guidance counselor to all the daft, dimwitted people (save for his gorgeous wife) who surround him. On the side, he writes "How To..." books and hosts a talk show called "Vermont Today".
Around 1981 when "Newhart" was being developed, Bob voiced the idea of picking up the old show again, with the same characters, and said he thought it would be just as good. But this was not to be, and the new series caught on very quickly. Some wondered if it would develop into an American version of "Fawlty Towers". But Dick and Joanna have hardly any interaction at all with the guests, unlike Basil and Sybil Fawlty. The move from videotape in the first season to film for the remainder was a wise choice that kept "Newhart" from looking like a cam-corded skit.
The supporting cast couldn't have been much better. Steven Kampmann played Kirk Devane, owner of the Minuteman Cafe (located next door to the Inn) for the first four seasons; his character was replaced by Peter Scolari as geeky Michael Harris, who managed the local TV station. The unforgettable woodsmen Larry, Darryl, and Darryl became the new owners of the Cafe. Jennifer Holmes was replaced by Julia Duffy after the first season as the toffy-nosed and fashion-conscious maid (incidental note: Julia Duffy was runner-up for the role of Diane Chambers on "Cheers"). Tom Poston, who had played "The Peeper" on the earlier Newhart show, plays George Utley, the inn's bachelor live-in handyman.
The 1988 feature film "Funny Farm", starring Chevy Chase, was no doubt a takeoff on "Newhart". A New York writer and his wife sought tranquility, and moved north to a town called Redbud, populated with a collection of oddballs.
"Newhart" was every bit as funny (if not funnier) than its predecessor. In eight years, it never got tiring and never lapsed into self-parody, as long-running comedies often do. This was in part due to Dick Martin, the show's most frequent director and longtime friend of Bob Newhart. It is disappointing that another major series starring Bob Newhart didn't immediately follow. "George and Leo" (1997-98) co-starring Judd Hirsch, was excellent, but got low numbers and was quickly canned.
For the final episode of "Newhart", no holds were barred. A Japanese executive visits town and offers everyone one million dollars each for their homes; he wants to condemn them and turn the town into an amusement park and golf course. All hell breaks loose, and the last moment of this whole scene is Dick Loudon getting smacked in the head by a golf ball. The scene quickly changes to a dimly lit bedroom where Bob is in bed with his wife. He wakes up in the middle of the night with a bit of a stomach ache. As the lights go up, we realize that it's the old Hartley bedroom with the checkered bedspread and wood paneling on the wall. Emily is asleep next to him. Bob starts talking about the horrible dream he just had. He was the owner of an inn in Vermont, and his wife was a blonde who always wore sweaters. His friends were a dopey handyman, a pretentious maid and her malaprop-drenched husband, three swamp-draining woodsmen. Emily says to him, in her sexy, basso monotone, "Bob, from now on, you are not going to eat Japanese food before you go to bed." It was the best-kept secret in Hollywood and the grandest TV punchline of all time.
St. Elsewhere
Aired on NBC from 9/82 - 5/88. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producer: Bruce Paltrow.
Creators: Joshua Brand, John Falsey.
Cast: David Birney (Dr. Ben Samuels), Ed Flanders (Dr. Donald Westfall), David Morse (Dr. Jack Morrison), William Daniels (Dr. Mark Craig), Cynthia Sikes (Dr. Annie Cavanero), Howie Mandel (Dr. Wayne Fiscus), Ed Begley, Jr. (Dr. Victor Erlich), Kavi Raz (Dr. V.J. Kochar), Terence Knox (Dr. Peter White), G.W. Bailey (Dr. Hugh Beale), Eric Laneuville (Luther Hawkins), Norman Lloyd (Dr. Bill Auschlander), Kim Miyori (Dr. Wendy Armstrong), Ellen Bry (Nurse Shirley Daniels), Christina Pickles (Nurse Helen Rosenthal), Denzel Washington (Dr. Phillip Chandler).
The Series: This was MTME's hospital show. The drama takes place at St. Eligius Hospital, a community hospital in an economically deteriorating section of Boston (the staff sometimes call it St. Elsewhere for that reason). The challenging lives of doctors, nurses, and staff is the focus. "St. Elsewhere" certainly had the resources, but it got off to a very slow start. There was a good deal of strong writing and directing, a cast made up of many talented actors (Ed Begley, Jr., William Daniels, Christina Pickles, David Morse, and others), but this was not enough. There was never an identifiable star; Denzel Washington was virtually unknown at the time, and none of the other actors were on the same plateau as Tom Cruise or Goldie Hawn. And naturally, the ratings were poor as a result. The show did have an "excellent comp" (composition) of viewers, mainly in the age 18-49 bracket. After its cancellation in 1983, Grant Tinker demanded that NBC President Brandon Tartikoff renew the series, upon penalty of not selling NBC their new series, "Bay City Blues". But upon renewal of "St. Elsewhere", there was an agreement that changes had to be made, the main one being the addition of "heavy romantic entanglements". The epicenter of most of these was to be young Dr. Jack Morrison and his relationships with women (a young Helen Hunt played one of his live-in girlfriends).
Despite the problems, "St. Elsewhere" did have its share of fine scripts. An early episode called "Cora and Arnie" featured Doris Roberts (veteran actress who's been in TV forever; of late she's been on Everybody Loves Raymond) and James Coco. Their performances as a street couple won both actors Emmys in 1983. The same episode also featured a young Tim Robbins playing a teenaged killer. A holiday episode released around 1986 concerning the kidnapping of Morrison's young son was also a gem.
"St. Elsewhere" originally aired until May of 1988 and today reruns can be found on TV Land. In retrospect, it was extremely quality-oriented compared to the hospital dramas of today. While "Hill Street Blues" was a crime drama, "St. Elsewhere" captured not only the grim and competitive world of medicine, but also the sociodynamics of a decaying community.
Lou Grant
Aired on CBS from 9/77 - 5/82. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producers: James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Gene Reynolds.
Creators: Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Gene Reynolds.
Developed by Leon Tokatyan.
Cast: Edward Asner (Lou Grant), Mason Adams (Charlie Hume), Robert Walden (Joe Rossi), Linda Kelsey (Billie Newman), Nancy Marchand (Margaret Pynchon), Jack Bannon (Art Donovan), Darryl Anderson (Dennis "Animal" Price).
The Series: The last collaboration of Jim Brooks and Allan Burns (joined by Gene Reynolds, co-creator of "M*A*S*H") was "Lou Grant", a groundbreaking sixty-minute drama series. In a way, this was the show that sealed the jar for MTME as the 'quality television manufacturer'.
In 1977, following cancellation of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", Brooks and Burns considered taking the comedic Lou Grant and moving him into a drama series. Asner loved the character, and was anxious to continue playing him. Over the seven years of "Mary", Lou makes references to his post-war experiences as a journalist. Now he was divorced, beyond middle aged, and fired from television; it seemed only natural that he return to that medium. He left Minneapolis for Los Angeles, as editor of the fictional newspaper "The L.A. Tribune". Had it not been for the 1976 feature film "All the President's Men", the idea for "Lou Grant" may never have caught on. Like the much earlier "His Girl Friday" and others, "President's Men" brought back the appeal of the newspaper. The film was a detective story, and the decision was made to make the series one about investigative journalism. "Lou Grant" was quickly established as a serious show with a wittily comedic seasoning. "The Trib", as it's called, was staffed with a number of 'servants', all under the thumb of it's owner/publisher, Margaret Pynchon. Each week, the Trib staff had a different story to get out (although there were many two or three-part stories), hence the one-word episode titles "Hooker" (a great piece featuring Dee Wallace-Stone), "Marathon", "Hoax", "Nazi", "Henhouse".
There was a significant casting change after the first three episodes of "Lou Grant". Rebecca Balding played reporter Carla Mardigian, but was replaced by Linda Kelsey as Billie Newman. Gene Reynolds wanted Kelsey because she was simply more believable in a number of situations; she was older than Balding and her intellect was well-suited to the role. Cast photo here.
Just as "All in the Family" examined the socio-political, "Lou Grant" also tackled rape, homicide, mental illness, prostitution. These subjects were ones that Asner wanted his show to examine; they had never been big on TV before.
Although "Lou Grant" portrayed its thematics vividly and realistically, and the show racked up a number of Emmys, the stories were often semi-mediocre. But for every two or three below average episodes, a heart-wrencher or think-tank would come along and make everyone forget about the forgettable.
The controversial cancellation of "Lou Grant" in 1982 was premature, as the show was still doing well in the Nielsens (although it was declining). The reasons for the cancellation are cloudy. CBS told the media, 'it's the ratings, they're bad and getting worse', but the truth most likely stemmed from Asner's (then) position as president of Screen Actor's Guild. The position was preventing him from practicing his ultra-liberal political beliefs. The cigar-chomping fat-cat sponsors reportedly refused to underwrite the show any further if it remained on the air. An unfortunate closure to an excellent series, and today "Lou Grant" is nowhere to be found on the dial. Since then, Asner's political activities have been balanced, often unevenly, with his acting career.
Hill Street Blues
1980-87. Film, 60 min. NBC.
Executive Producer: Steven Bochco.
Cast: Daniel J. Travanti (Capt. Frank Furillo), Michael Conrad (Sgt. Phil Esterhaus), Michael Warren (Officer Bobby Hill), Bruce Weitz (Detective Mike Belker), James B. Sikking (Lt. Howard Hunter), Joe Spano (Seargent Henry Goldblum), Barbara Bosson (Fay Furillo), Taurean Blacque (Detective Neil Washington), Kiel Martin (Detective J.D. Larue), Rene Enriquez (Lt. Ray Calletano), Betty Thomas (Officer Lucy Bates), Charles Haid (Officer Andy Renko), Veronica Hamel (Joyce Davenport).
The Series: To say that "Hill Street Blues" was merely a cop drama would be to do the show a disservice. It had elements of character study, cops & robbers, soap opera and politics all rolled into one. Most importantly, it forever altered the way cops were portrayed on television. Previously, the policeman had been consigned either the role of meek civil servant ("Dragnet," "Adam-12") or the role of macho life-saver ("Hawaii Five-O," "Starsky & Hutch"). "Hill Street Blues" treated the men and women of Hill Street as regular people with flaws just like everybody else.
The cast of characters was certainly unique. In the eye of the storm was Captain Frank Furillo, a quiet yet tough man who not only had to put up with the day-to-day operations of Hill Street but also his bitchy ex-wife Fay, whose whole existence seemed to center around collecting alimony. Furillo also was in the midst of a secret love affair with public defender Joyce Davenport. Eventually, they not only went public with the romance but were married in a quick lunch-time ceremony. Other notables in the cast include Officers Hill & Renko, a white and black partnered together, who were both shot and killed in the pilot episode yet brought back because they tested well with audiences. There was also gun-happy, yet suicidal, SWAT leader Howard Hunter, second-in-command Ray Calletano, the crazy undercover cop Mick Belker, and literally dozens more, all just as carefully defined. Perhaps the character with the most lasting memory was Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, played by the late Michael Conrad. Conrad passed away in the middle of the series' run, and was given an affectionate sendoff by the show's writers. In the storyline, he passed away while making love with Grace Gardner, a middle-aged widow of a fellow officer. For the first three seasons, it was Esterhaus who closed the beginning of every episode with the cautionary words, "hey, let's be careful out there."
Perennially low-rated, the show most likely would have been cancelled after the first season were it not for the eleven Emmy nominations it received. Eventually, it clawed its way up to 21st in the year-end ratings, beaten by such notables as "The Fall Guy" and "Hart to Hart". Regardless, "Hill Street Blues" has endured as one of, if not the most, influential television shows of all time. Successors such as "NYPD Blue" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" would never have been created without the blueprint that "Hill Street Blues" left behind. "Law and Order" was also an offshoot of "Blues". Dick Wolf created this series for CBS in 1987 after two years writing for "Blues." CBS passed, but NBC eventually picked it up.
Remington Steele
Aired on NBC from 1982-87. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producer: Michael Gleason.
Creators: Michael Gleason, Robert Butler.
Cast: Pierce Brosnan (Remington Steele), Stephanie Zimbalist (Laura Holt), James Read (Murphy Michaels), Janet DeMay (Bernice Fox).
The Series: Comedy/drama about Laura Holt, a female P.I. (private investigator) who creates a fictitious character to run her agency, only to have him appear in person- and then take his job seriously. Remington Steele Fan Page.
Bay City Blues
Aired on NBC from 10/25/83-11/15/83. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producer: Steven Bochco.
Creators: Steven Bochco and Jeffrey Lewis.
Cast: Michael Nouri (Joe Rohner), Kelly Harmon (Sunny Hayward), Pat Corley (Ray Holtz), Bernie Casey (Ozzie Peoples), Perry Lang (Frenchy Nuckles), Patrick Cassidy (Terry St. Marie), Dennis Franz (Angela Carbone), Larry Flash Jenkins (Lynwood Scott), Michele Greene (Judy Nuckles), Ken Olin (Rocky Pallido), Tony Spiridakis (Lee Jacoby), Mykel T. Williamson (Deejay Cunningham), Jeff McCracken (Vic Kresky), Peter Jurasik (Mitch Klein), Sharon Stone (Cathy St. Marie), Marco Rodriguez (Bird), Sheree North, Kevin McCarthy, Julius J. Carry III, Eddie Velez, Denise Galik.
The Series: Drama about the men and women associated with a minor league baseball team in a small town in California. One reviewer had some good things to say about it: 'The show does more than replace nightsticks with Louisville Sluggers. The series features a repertory company with quirky and distinctive characters, simultaneously strong and vulnerable. Each episode has multiple intersecting plot lines, tight camera shots, overlapping dialogue a la Robert Altman movies (or locker rooms), private lives spilling over into public, and a concern with such human-size issues as embarrassment, anxiety, loyalty, and how to hit a hanging curve. Knowledge of baseball lore is useful, but not essential.' Obviously NBC didn't see it the same way, and they canned "Bay City Blues" after only four episodes. Looking at the cast list, there are several names that jump out. Kevin McCarthy (star of the 1956 classic feature "Invasion of the Body Snatchers") appeared in an episode; Sharon Stone, a staple in the world of film today, played one of the baseball team members; Sheree North, who played Lou Grant's girlfriend Charlene in two MTMS episodes; and a young Mykel T. Williamson (Mykelti Williamson, as he's known nowadays), aka Bubba from "Forrest Gump", was also onboard.
Beverly Hills Buntz
Aired in 1987 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
This show started as an MTM TV movie, aired in 1981 and starring Loretta Swit in place of Sharon Gless. CBS picked it up as a series, cancelled it, then picked it up again and it took off. "Buntz" was a spinoff of "Hill Street Blues" starring Dennis Franz. He reprised his "Blues" role as Norm Buntz, only this time he was an LA private detective (he was fired from the force in the last episode of "Blues".) Peter Jurask (Sid the Snitch) was his sidekick.
The Last Resort
Aired from 9/19/79 - 3/17/80 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Producer and Writer: Gary David Goldberg.
Cast: Larry Breeding (Michael Lerner), Stephanie Faracy (Gail Collins), Zane Lasky (Duane Kaminsky), Walter Olkewicz (Zach Comstock), Ray Underwood (Jeffrey Barron).
The Series: A group of high school students work summer breaks at a restaurant located in the mountains. Supposedly the stories were based on Goldberg's own experiences as a waiter in his youth. It did very poorly in the ratings and was actually cancelled twice, first in December of 1979 and then in March of 1980. Some reporters thought it was a steal off the feature film "National Lampoon's Animal House", which seems a little unlikely given the set-up and location.
Paris
Aired on CBS 1979-80. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producer: Steven Bochco.
Cast: James Earl Jones (Woodrow "Woody" Paris), Lee Chamberlain (Barbara), Hank Garrett (Deputy/Chief Bench), Cecilia Hart (Stacy Erickson), Jake Mitchell (Charlie Bogert), Frank Ramirez (Ernie Villas), Michael Warren (Willie Miller).
The Series: Drama about LAPD Capt. Woodrow "Woody" Paris, head of a detective squad. He also teaches criminology courses at UCLA and is married happily. The series examines the criminal investigations, the college courses, and his homelife. MTM had long since been interested in doing a series featuring a black actor, and the ultra-gifted Jones seemed the natural choice. The series was much like "Lou Grant", but several factors led to its early cancellation. Bochco and Jones never saw eye-to-eye on the kind of official Woody Paris was supposed to be. Jones wanted him to be a symbol of authority, Bochco evidently did not. CBS failed to promote the show sufficiently, and scheduled it for five Saturday nights and six Tuesday nights. Even today, Bochco was not happy with his work on "Paris". But he got another shot on "Hill Street Blues" a year later.
Variety mentions that one of the most powerful moments in capital punishment in TV History occurred in an episode of "Paris". The episode featured George Sanford Brown as a wrongfully convicted inmate who Paris discovers is innocent, just as a cyanide capsule releases its toxic vapor and kills him.
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour
Aired on CBS from 3/4/79 - 5/6/79. Videotape, 60 minutes.
Producer: Perry Lafferty.
Director: Robert Scheerer.
Head writer: Arnie Kogen.
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore (Mary McKinnon), Michael Keaton (Kenneth Christy), Michael Lombard (Harry Sinclair), Ron Rifkin (Artie Miller), Joyce Van Patten (Iris Chapman), Dody Goodman (Ruby Bell).
The Series: This was MTM's rebound to the failure of "Mary" in October of 1978. "MTM Hour" had the show-within-the-show format that featured Mary as a talk show host who leads a busy life preparing for her show, called 'The Mary McKinnon Show'. Dick Van Dyke appeared on one episode, and was asked the question, 'Don't you think Mary looks a lot like that girl who played Laura Petrie on your show?' Van Dyke replies, 'No'. At least one dance number was included in every episode, and show-biz gossip was exchanged in the dialogue between Mary McKinnon and the cast. "MTM Hour" got horrid reviews and was quickly pulled from the lineup. But Mary had nothing to worry about; her next project was to be the feature film "Ordinary People", which launched the next phase of her career, and revealed her ability to play women who were anything but comic.
The Texas Wheelers
Aired on ABC 9/13/74-7/24/75. Film, 30 min.
Producer: Chris Hayward
Creator: Dale McRaven.
Cast: Jack Elam (Zach Wheeler), Mark Hamill (Doobie Wheeler), Gary Busey (Truckie Wheeler), Karen Oberdiser (Boo Wheeler), Tony Becker (T.J. Wheeler), Lisa Eilbacher (Sally Wheeler).
The Series: From The Hollywood Reporter, 9/13/74: By all rights, MTM Enterprises should have another hit on its hands with "The Texas Wheelers", a marvelously constructed piece of family comedy-drama featuring the long underrated Jack Elam as clan head Zack Wheeler and the sensitive, intelligent acting of Gary Busey as his oldest son, Truckie. The series opener is concerned with Truckie's attempts to keep the family together in the wake of his mother's death and the absence of father Zack, who deserted the family several months before. The sudden return of Zack produces initial problems, but later resolves a conflict between Truckie and younger brother Doobie, Mark Hamill, who wants to leave school. However, the decision to use John Prine's "Illegal Smile", a song about smoking marijuana, as the show's theme tune is a strange one.
Audiences liked this show, and one reporter went on to say that it could be the best thing MTM Enterprises had come up with. "Texas Wheelers" was realistic, but deemed "inappropriate for family viewing". The father was a lazy drunk and a poor slob, and this was not an image the networks wanted to present. After all, they'd canned the rural comedies back in 1970, and probably didn't want to get that pattern going again. Poor choice of time slot also resulted in lower numbers.
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers
Aired on CBS from 9/14/74 - 1/4/75. Film, 30 min.
Executive Producers: James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Producer: Steve Pritzker.
Associate Producer: Michael Zinberg.
Cast: Paul Sand (Robert Dreyfuss), Michael Pataki (Charlie Dreyfuss), Penny Marshall (Janice Dreyfuss), Dick Wesson (Jack Riordan), Steve Landesberg (Fred Meyerbach), Craig Richard Nelson (Mason Woodruff), Jack Gilford (Ben Dreyfuss).
The Series: Robert Dreyfuss is a bassist in the Boston Symphony. He has an overprotective brother and sister-in-law who constantly torment him. Dreyfuss is the typical classical musician who's bashful and only feels comfortable around his own kind. It is a shame that this sitcom did not survive. It received favorable reviews and it was predicted to have a place right up with "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Rhoda". Paul Sand was a great talent who had guest-starred in an episode of "Mary", and Brooks and Burns knew then that they could make a show for him. For some reason, CBS did not like the first three shows produced. There were problems with the main character that the writers never managed to fix, mostly involving the relationship with his girlfriend (who was also supposed to be his best friend). Jim Brooks: "It wasn't working, and instead of acknowledging the problem, we just walked away from it." The show was cancelled mid-season.
Doc
Aired on CBS from 8/16/75 - 10/30/76. Videotape, 30 minutes.
Executive Producers: Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels.
Producers: Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore.
Creators: Ed Weinberger and Stan Daniels.
Concept developed by David Lloyd.
Cast: Barnard Hughes ('Doc' Joe Bogert), Elizabeth Wilson (Annie Bogert), Mary Wickes (Ms. Tully), Irwin Corey ('Happy' Miller), Judy Kahan (Laurie Bogert-Fenner), John Harkins (Fred Fenner), Herbie Faye (Ben Goldman), Audra Lindley (Janet Scott), David Ogden Stiers (Stan Moss), Ray Vitte (Woody Henderson), Lisa Mordente (Teresa Ortega).
The Series: "Doc" was a summer replacement of "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers". Doc Joe Bogert runs a general family practice in an old brown-stone house in Manhattan. Instead of giving his patients hordes of medication, he instead treats them by offering concern and understanding. He is part of a large, Catholic family with a number of grandkids. Like Archie Bunker on "All in the Family", he has a son who drives him crazy. Like Dr. Bob Hartley on "The Bob Newhart Show", he has a number of seemingly deranged patients. In "Doc"'s second season, they moved him up to a clinic, which all but wrecked the tone of the show. The concept of "Doc" was similar to that of "Hospital", a black comedy in which Hughes had played a doctor.
Three For The Road
Aired on CBS from 1/14/75 - 5/24/75. Film, 60 min.
Executive Producer: Jerry McNeely.
Producer: William F. Phillips.
Creator: Jerry McNeely.
Cast: Alex Rocco (Pete Karras), Vincent Van Patten (John Karras), Leif Garrett (Endy Karras).
The Series: Jerry McNeely, a longtime TV writer, was approached by Grant Tinker and asked to come up with a drama series that would air on Sunday nights. Peter Karras is a photojournalist-widower who voyages around the US in a Winnebago-style travelodge with his sons. The show is about his various assignments. This was MTME's first 60-minute dramatic series, and the pilot episode (directed by Boris Sagal) was a full 90 minutes. It was supposed to be a family show, and it would have lasted had it not suffered a bad time slot (early Sunday evening). Alex Rocco, who usually played the typical bad guy, evidently played the lead with warmth no one knew he had. Only twelve of the thirteen episodes produced were aired. A sad ending to a series that had a great deal going for it.
The Bob Crane Show (aka "Second Start")
Aired on NBC from 3/6/75 - 6/19/75. Film, 30 minutes.
Writers/Producers: Norman Powell, Martin Cohan.
Cast: Bob Crane (Bob Wilcox), Trisha Hart (Ellie Wilcox), Todd Sussman (Marvin), Jack Fletcher (Dean Ingersoll), Ron Graham (Mr. Busso).
The Series: Bob Wilcox decides to go back to school and become a doctor at the age of 40-something, which caused him to be dependent on his wife, who's a business professional. Most people remember Bob Crane from his long-running role as Col. Hogan on "Hogan's Heroes". He'd had one or two roles as a doctor elsewhere, including "The Donna Reed Show", and knew Mary Tyler Moore from her Dick Van Dyke days.
The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show
9/13/76 - 10/15/76. Film, 60 minutes.
Executive Producers: Lorenzo Music, Lewis Arquette.
Producer: Albert J. Simon.
Director: Bob Lally.
Cast: Lorenzo and Henrietta Music, Bella Bruck, Sandy Helberg, Bob Gibson, Samantha Harper, Erik Darling, Dave Willock.
The Series: The networks rejected this show, a spinoff from "The New Lorenzo Music Show"/"The Lorenzo Music Show". It was a reasonably workable comedic variety program that featured Lorenzo Music (co-creator of "The Bob Newhart Show", co-producer of "Rhoda", later the voice of Garfield the Cat), who had a witty personality. For the first two years of MTMS, Music was the audience warm-up man, who came out and interacted with the studio audience each Friday night, and introduced the cast members. In 1972, he and David Davis created "The Bob Newhart Show", which became their new pet project.
The Tony Randall Show
Aired from 9/23/76 - 3/15/77 on ABC; 9/20/77 - 3/25/78 on CBS. Film, 30 minutes.
Producers: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Hugh Wilson.
Principal Cast: Tony Randall (Judge Walter Franklin), Barney Martin (Jack Terwilliger), Allyn McLerie (Ms. Reubner), Rachel Roberts (Bonnie McClellan), Devon Scott (Bobby Franklin), Penny Payser (Bobby Franklin), Brad Savage (Oliver Wendell Franklin), Diana Muldaur (Judge Eleanor Hooper).
The Series: Comedy about Judge Walter Franklin, a widower, and his family, friends, and colleagues. He has a housekeeper (played by Rachel Roberts) and secretary (Allyn McLerie) who serve as his surrogate dominating wives. Character-wise, Franklin is quite similar to Felix Unger. But Felix was a neurotic bachelor who hated cigars and fattening foods while Franklin is merely "a nice, intelligent guy with kids" who likes to talk in often pedantic wise-cracks and sophist-style riddles. The series failed because of this difference. And once again, the time slot in the line-up was bad. It aired on Thursday nights, after "The Jeffersons", a choice that co-producer Hugh Wilson called, "borderline insanity". "Tony Randall" aired as part of the 'family hour' on ABC for its first year, then when ABC passed it up for the next season, CBS took it up. Grant Tinker: "We should have stayed in the courtroom instead of going home with him. That was our mistake."
The Duck Factory
Aired from 4/12/84-7/4/84 on CBS. Videotape, 30 min.
Creators: Allan Burns, Herbert Klynn.
Producers: Thad Mumford, Dan Wilcox, Rod Daniel.
Animation Producers: Ted and Gerry Woolery Playhouse Pictures.
Cast: Jim Carrey (Skip Tarkenton), Jack Gilford (Brooke Carmichael), Don Messick (Wally Wooster), Teresa Ganzel, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., Nancy Lane, Julie Payne.
The Series: A struggling animation studio produces a cartoon character called Dippy Duck. The rather offbeat staff members live in fear that their show will be cancelled by the network (echoes of "The Betty White Show" here). Here's what Tom Carson of The Village Voice had to say about this obscure sitcom that starred (gasp!) Jim Carrey:
'The comedy-drama mix, not to mention the comedy-action mix, obviously aren't completely new to TV. But they've become particularly important because the sitcom formulas have gotten even more worn out than those of the action shows, and aren't nearly as suspectible to revivifying outside influences. Hollywood just doesn't offer as much to steal that would fit the mechanical, laugh-jerking, ubiquitous breed of sitcom we all know, deplore, and probably still watch when there's nothing else on-even though we may feel like even the lowest common denominator just isn't the family it used to be. The shows just aren't doing their crass job properly: a show as bad as "We've Got it Made" ought to be either a cultural monstrosity or nothing. "The Duck Factory" is much, you know, worthier- in a line with all those determinedly grown-up and humane, MTM-derived '70's sitcoms which stayed enshrined as the form's definitive class act even after they started losing the battle for popular appeal with Fred Silverman's teeny shows. But in a way, the new series also has the effect of making the MTM style of sitcom seem, if not as threadbare as the standard crap, at least something of an anachronism...
'Much of this was fairly funny- and being filmed on location rather than in front of a studio audience gave the show a visual mobility that turned its most throwaway lines into snappy asides. But what most MTM shows are about above all is personal relations- celebrated, rather statically, through whatever sentiments link people in common, despite the superficial differences occasioned by character. here, however, the creators have had to invent a mouthpiece protagonist who can verbalize the emotional linkages. Skip (Jim Carrey) brushes up against all sorts of events which ought to make his innocence appear fatuous, and sweeps them away by verbalizing even more. His adulation restores a sense of craftsmanly pride to an aging artist overcome by weary resignation (Jack Gilford); in half an hour, he makes three separate fervent speeches about how much the studio and keeping the studio family together means, all of the you-don't-know-how-great-you-are variety. When characters start making speeches about this, it's usually out of fear that the situation involved won't get the meanings across on its own. "The Duck Factory" seems to constantly overcompensate for a connection with the audience that's somehow lacking; for instance, while the aspirations of earlier MTM characters were immediately recognizable to us in their small scale (not to mention their failure). Skip's not only got a big-time mission- to make the world laugh again- but is presented as if he's going to succeed at it.
'The sentiments, once again made explicit, only register as sentimentality- a sentimentality that's quite out of synch with the tone of the purely comic stuff, making for all sorts of contradictory effects. MTM has always hired the best comedic writers around, and the prevailing style in comedy writing now is acerbic - merely mean-spirited at worst, rudely knowing at its best and most likable. "Duck Factory"'s writers catch the style all right, but its sardonic riffs and one-upping details don't belong in the same series with the emotional affirmations which are the MTM sitcom's reason for being.
'Now that "Duck Factory"'s predecessor in the Thursday time slot has gone off the air, "Cheers" is the only sitcom that feels as attuned to the audience as, say, the old "Mary Tyler Moore Show" itself once did- and I think it's mostly because the good people on "Cheers" are seldom any better than they have to be. If one of them has a moment of vulerability or idealism or self-knowledge, it's a response to a situation, not the opened page of their soul; the moment itself might be shown up by later events as fatuous, or lampooned even at the time, and it couldn't be more alien to most MTM shows' standard moment of epiphany; the discovery that nothing ever changes, and people always stay reassuringly the same. All in all, it seems quite fitting that, in this decade, the MTM sensibility has worked best not on sitcoms but on rather florid dramatic shows - where it isn't intended to be the comic relief.'
"The Duck Factory" didn't last long; it was cancelled in May of 1984 and there was talk of changing the format some, then bringing it back on CBS, but it never happened. This was the last MTM sitcom to originate; "Remington Steele", "Newhart", "St. Elsewhere" and "Hill Street Blues" finished up their runs between 1987 and 1990, thus wrapping up MTM Enterprises' 20-year contribution of quality sitcoms.
PILOTS
Bachelor at Law
Aired on CBS 6/5/73.
Producer: Ed. Weinberger. Writer: Ed. Weinberger. Director: Jay Sandrich.
Cast: John Ritter, Kathleen O'Malley, Harold Gould, Betsy von Furstenburg, Richard Schaal, Curt Conway, Ron Rifkin, Wayne Heffley.
Summary: MTM's first pilot. A young lawyer is hired at a law firm where the senior lawyer is a conman. This was evidently a very funny show in the making, but CBS passed on it. They picked up "Roll Out!," a sitcom in the same vein as "M*A*S*H", focusing on a black Army unit stationed in Italy. The star was Mel Stewart, who played Henry Jefferson on "All in the Family."
Bachelors 4: Friends & Lovers
Aired on CBS 5/16/74.
Writers: Allan Burns and James L. Brooks. Director: Jay Sandrich
Cast: Paul Sand, Lynn Lipton, Michael Pataki, Penny Marshall, Kathleen Miller, Dick Wesson.
Summary: This was the pilot of "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers", which was originally planned to be a set of four pilot films about single men. The pilot was about bachelor Robert Dreyfuss' audition for the Boston Symphony. Like the first episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", a job interview of the main character was the focus. Every pilot is, after all, an audition for the network programming execs. It won, and became a series that fall. It lasted only 13 weeks.
Three For the Road
Aired on CBS 9/4/75.
Writer: Jerry McNeely. Director: Boris Sagal.
Cast: Alex Rocco, Vincent Van Patten, Leif Garrett, John Beck, John McLiam, Julie Sommars, Katy Sagal, Alan McRae.
Summary: First of 12 episodes of the series about a journalist who travelled around the US on assignment, with his two sons.
Royce
Aired on CBS 5/21/76.
Writer: Jim Byrnes. Director: Andrew McLaglen.
Cast: Robert Forster, Mary Beth Hunt, Moosie Drier, Terri Wood, Michael Parks.
Summary: Western drama set in the 1870s about an ex-gunfighter dealing with the harsh realities of frontier life. Filmed on location in Arizona.
The New Lorenzo Music Show
Aired on ABC 8/10/76.
Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Lorenzo Music, James L. Brooks, Jerry Davis, Allan Burns.
Director: Tony Mordente.
Cast: Lorenzo Music, Henrietta Music, David Ogden Stiers, Jack Eagle, Steve Anderson, Lewis Arquette, The Bandini Brothers.
Summary: Details about the short-lived series are muddy at this late date, but the pilot was evidently funny. It concerned Lorenzo Music auditioning for a talk show of his own, or something of that ilk. The writing and acting were solid, but the networks and audiences weren't interested in it at all. Music then resumed his chores on "Rhoda" as Carlton, Your Doorman.
Don't Call Us
Aired on CBS 8/13/76.
Writer: David Lloyd. Director: Robert Moore.
Cast: Jack Gilford, Allan Miller, Tina Louise, Leland Palmer, James Luisi.
Summary: Marty and Larry King run a theatrical agency, called Talent Unlimited, in Philadelphia. The pilot was an "audition"-themed script, similar to "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers".
Martinelli, Outside Man
Aired on CBS 4/8/77.
Writer: Paul Magistretti. Director: Russ Mayberry.
Cast: Ron Liebman, Woody Strode, Janet Margolin, Nicholas Colasanto, Al Ruscio, Pepper Martin, William Wintersole.
Summary: Crime drama about a federal agent who works undercover. This show was planned to be a sixty-minute drama, but at the time (1977), the networks weren't interested in cop shows at all. They changed their tune about five years later with "Hill Street Blues" and "Remington Steele".
Bumpers
Aired on ABC 5/16/77.
Writers: David Davis, Charlotte Brown. Director: James Burrows.
Cast: Richard Masur, Stephanie Faracy, Jack Riley, Tim Reid, Ray Buktenica, Brian Dennehy.
Summary: Comedy about a man who works in an automobile factory. Charlotte Brown was, at the time, heavily involved as co-producer of "Rhoda". Richard Masur was a semi-regular on that series, and they made a series for him that, like many other pilots, was rejected well before it aired. Unless the ratings for a pilot are astronomical, and for "Bumpers" they were far from that, the series won't be picked up.
The Chopped Liver Brothers
Aired on ABC 6/20/77.
Writers: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Hugh Wilson. Director: Hugh Wilson.
Cast: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Rick Podell, Robert Emhardt, Michael Pataki, Phil Roth, Philip Bruns.
Summary: Patchett and Tarses were stand-up comics before entering the world of television; they decided to fictionally portray some of their experiences. Supposedly this was an ethnic comedy, and ABC was probably not interested in it for that reason. Hugh Wilson went on to create "WKRP in Cincinatti".
The Natural Look
Aired on NBC 7/6/77.
Writer: Lenora Thuna. Director: Robert Moore.
Cast: Barbara Feldon, Bill Bixby, Caren Kaye, Michael MacRae, Brenda Forbes.
Summary: Comedy about a newlywed couple. Edie is an exec for a cosmetics company; Bud is a pediatrician.
Kinfolks
CBS; never aired.
This pilot was filmed, in hopes that it could be a mid-season replacement. African-American writer Melvin Van Peebles, got a letter inviting him to a family reunion down south. He'd never met the sender of the invitation, and suspected there had been a mistake. He never showed up at the reunion. Van Peebles had the idea of setting up the same situation of a black family hosting the reunion which a white family attends. The white family members don't know what to do with themselves, while the little girl of the family hugs an elderly black aunt. The idea was developed into the award-winning TV drama called "Just an Old Sweet Song", directed by Robert Ellis Miller. From there, "Kinfolks" was developed. The pilot had the warm reunion, but had some violence in the story that stereotyped blacks. It never aired.
The Many Loves of Arthur
Aired on NBC 5/23/78. 60 minutes.
Writer: Gerald DePego.
Director: Bill Bixby.
Cast: Richard Masur, Caroline McWilliams, Constance McCashin, David Dukes, Silvana Gallardo.
Summary: This was a sixty-minute pilot filmed with the intent of being a dramatic/comedic series. The hybrid of the two forms obviously did not work well. Richard Masur played a veterinarian named Arthur who is overly obsessed with animals. He goes to Seattle to save a pregnant hippopotamus at the zoo who is dying. He meets a stewardess on the plane who joins him for the duration of the trip. Their relationship is short-lived, and he breaks up with her. He manages to deliver the baby hippo just before the mother dies, and then calls her and tells her that he wants to give it another shot. Somehow the death/rebirth of the hippos is symbolic to him, and it somehow restores his faith in relationships with women. Bill Bixby, who starred in "My Favorite Martian" and appeared as a stock actor in many a TV series in the sixties, directed this pilot. It was probably turned down because the networks knew that audiences didn't want to see a comedy about animals. Probably a wise decision.
Your Place Or Mine?
Aired on CBS 5/27/78.
Writers: Bob Ellison, David Lloyd. Director: Jim Burrows.
Cast: Jane Actman, Stuart Gillard, Peter Hobbs, Elizabeth Kerr, George Pentecost.
Summary: A male writer living in Manhattan seeks peace and quiet; a female editorial assistant lives in a quiet part of Queens, but likes the bright lights of Manhattan. They meet, then swap apartments, meanwhile falling in love. Unfortunately, we never get to see what happened to them.
The Busters
Aired on CBS 5/28/78.
Writer: Jim Byrnes. Director: Vincent McEveety.
Cast: Bo Hopkins, Brian Kerwin, Slim Pickens, Susan Howard, Chris Robinson.
Summary: Drama about two cowboys who work in the rodeo industry. This was another attempt at a western drama; "Royce" had utterly failed, and this number failed likewise.
Down Home
Aired on CBS 8/16/78.
Writer: Melvin Van Peebles. Director: Fiedler Cook.
Cast: Robert Hooks, Madge Sinclair, Beah Richards, Edward Binns, Norma Connolly, Kevin Hooks, Eric Hooks (list incomplete).
Summary: This pilot was another attempted spinoff of "Just an Old Sweet Song"; a northern black family moves south in hopes for a better life.
Operating Room
Aired on NBC 10/4/78.
Writers: Steven Bochco, Bruce Paltrow. Director: Bruce Paltrow.
Cast: Barbara Babcock, Bruce Bauer, Oliver Clark, David Spielberg, James Sutorius, Janice Kent, Barbara Bosson, Patricia Conklin, Ron Troup, Barbara Perry.
Summary: Comedy about some doctors who worked hard, then liked to relax at a beach house in Malibu. This was supposed to be similar to "M*A*S*H" in scope, but never got off the ground. Possibly Bochco and Paltrow learned from their mistakes here when they launched "St. Elsewhere" four years later.
Going Home Again
Summary: Grant Tinker had the idea of producing a fifteen-part series about an American family living during the time of a major historical event (in particular, the Kennedy assassination). He produced a pilot that he took over to PBS. What resulted was fairly impressive. The plot goes something like this. A movie crew is making a documentary about John David White, a famous writer. We see them outside the White's Victorian house, and the narrative alternates between their story and the saga of the White family, all of whom are about to return home for a family reunion. White's children. live away from home. One is a college student, one is a playwright, another is a sex fiend who is seen in bed with his girlfriend, a Hollywood movie star; yet another is a monk/civil rights activist; and the youngest daughter is determined to be an underachiever. We meet all of them. After they arrive home for the reunion, the assassination of Kennedy is broadcast. The ending of the show is a cliffhanger; the story is supposed to continue, but it never did.
Mother and Me, M.D.
Aired on NBC 6/14/79.
Director: Michael Zinberg.
Cast: Rue McClanahan, Leah Ayres, Jack Riley, Ken Gilman, Howard Witt.
Summary: Hospital comedy about a young female intern (Ayres) whose mother is the head nurse.
Battle of the Generations: Not Until Today (Home Again)
Aired on NBC, 6/27/79.
Writer: David Lloyd. Director: Michael Zinberg.
Cast; Darren McGavin, Dick Sargent, Raleigh Bond, Michael Horton, Peter Jurasik.
Summary: An illegitimate child of a police officer in a small town returns to find his father. Dick Sargent of "Bewitched" plays a priest. Apparently this was a warm-hearted sort of script with only a hint of the ultra-classic David Lloyd comedy seen in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". The network passed on it, probably because of its lack of comedy.
Bureau, 1979.
Writer: Gary David Goldberg
Summary: "Bureau" was a 30-minute pilot about romance of journalists in Vietnam. CBS gave him the go-ahead because the idea was promising and Grant Tinker liked it because it had "traces of "M*A*S*H" that were nice". The pilot was filmed and the test group ranked it "below average". It oscillated between moments of pathos and moments of comedy, and was very clumsily acted and directed. A second script was rewritten as a full-fledged comedy with laugh track, but this too didn't work. CBS especially disliked it because it was a re-visit to Vietnam, which was still fresh in everyone's mind at the time. Goldberg created and executive-produced "Family Ties" several years later.
Carlton Your Doorman
Aired 5/21/80 on CBS.
Producers: Lorenzo Music, Barton Dean.
Writers: Lorenzo Music and Barton Dean, based on the character created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Directors: Charles Swenson and Fred Wolf.
Featuring the voices of Lorenzo Music, Jack Somack, Lucille Meredith, Kay Cole, Lurene Tuttle, Paul Lichtman, and other actors.
Summary: "Carlton" was an animated special about Carlton, the inebriated doorman from Rhoda's apartment building. This was the only production that MTME did that was fully animated, and it is uncertain whether it was intended to be a full series or just a small number of cartoons. At the time, there was a Carlton Fan Club, and the special was probably done for the members. At any rate, Carlton was a drunk who played well off of Rhoda's temperament...it's unlikely he would have worked well on his own. Lorenzo Music's description of Carlton: "He's in his 20's, blond, skinny with sloping shoulders, messy hair and droopy eyelids. Carlton is lazy, Carlton is slovenly, Carlton is a moocher and a lush." But he did have his admirers.
Love, Natalie
Aired on NBC 7/11/80.
Producer: Patricia Rickey.
Writers: Judy Kahan, Merrill Markoe.
Director: Peter Bonerz.
Cast: Judy Kahan, Christopher Allport, Corey Feldman, Kimberly Woodward, Kenneth Tigar, Jean DeBaer, Becky Michelle, Darian Mathias.
Summary: A 'serious comedy' about the everyday problems of a wife/mother. This was evidently a comedy that viewers found easy to identify with, especially young married women. It never got picked up, though.
Brothers
Aired on CBS 7/30/80.
Producers: Norman Stiles, Charles Raymond.
Writers: Rick Podell, Michael Preminger.
Cast: Charles Levin, James O'Sullivan, Dori Brenner, Bobby Ramsen, James Hong, Jeanetta Arnette, Chip Fields.
Summary: Pilot about two adopted brothers. One was a lawyer, single; one was a grocery store clerk who was married. They share an apartment. There was later a comedy with the same title developed by Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels (which was, incidentally, the first series aired on Showtime), but it's uncertain whether or not the ideas for the two series were similar or not.
First Time, Second Time
Aired on CBS 10/25/80. 30 min.
Director: Asaad Kelada
Writers: Bob Comfort, Rick Kellard
Cast: Ronny Cox, Julie Cobb, David Hollander, Mary Frann, David Clennon.
Summary: Show about a remarried professional man whose son by his first marriage won't accept his new mother. Then an Asian man comes to stay with them, and further "pisses off" the kid.
Comedy of Horrors
Aired on CBS 9/1/81. 30 min.
Director: Bill Persky.
Executive Producers/Writers: John Bonni, Harry Columby.
Cast: Walter Olkewicz, Deborah Harmon, Richard Roat, Vincent Schiavelli, Jo de Winter, Kip Niven, Ivana Moore. Hosted by Patrick MacNee.
Summary: From Variety, 9/9/81:
MTM Enterprises' "Comedy of Horrors", half-hour pilot attempted to give standard horror material a light touch. The humorous touch was okay in its own way but failed to disguise the triteness of the serious angle of the pilot's plot. With Patrick MacNee serving as host and audience teaser, the locale was identified as being on a scenic but desolate stretch of North Carolina beach (but never shown). When Kip Niven and new wife Patricia Conwell arrive, they are unaware of the host's tip that only the innocent and pure-of-heart are safe there. With help from a wraithlike ghost, Niven's murderous intent is turned against him in rather pedestrian fashion. "Horrors" might be a concept worth pursuing, but it failed to exhibit much in the pilot.
Stephanie
Aired on CBS 9/8/81. 30 minutes.
Producer: Alan Uger.
Director: Burt Brinkerhoff.
Writers: Alan Uger, Michael Kagan.
Cast: Stephany Faracy, Betty White, Robert Hitt, Jeanetta Arnette, Alvy Moore, Kent Perkins, Steve Landesberg.
Summary: Stephanie Faracy appeared in "Bumpers" several years earlier; MTME tried her out on her own series, "Stephanie". She played a girl who was trying to land the job as host of an LA TV Magazine show, against the will of the show's creator (played by Betty White). Another pilot that used the "audition" format, the show had potential, but never got on the schedules.
Nichols and Dymes (aka "Iron Cowboys")
Aired on NBC 10/7/81. 60 minutes.
Producer: Les Sheldon.
Director: Rod Daniel.
Cast: Rocky Bauer, Robin Strand, George Mc Daniel, Kate Murtagh, Bill Cross, Alan Beckwith.
Summary: Comedy that was basically a steal off "Chips". Two motorbiker country boys who were also federal agents working undercover, who were also prone to getting into trouble.
The Revenge of the Gray Gang
Aired 10/20/81 on NBC. 60 minutes.
Producer: Gary Nelson.
Writer: Michael Norell.
Cast: Noah Beery, Scatman Crothers, Mike Mazurki, Maxine Stuart, Richard Whiting, Tony La Torre, Pat McNamara.
Summary: Comedy about a group of retired folks.
Every Stray Dog & Kid
Aired on NBC 10/21/81. 60 minutes.
Producer: Steven Bochco.
Director: Joseph Gunn.
Writer: James Burrows.
Cast: Maureen Anderman, Denise Miller, Bruce Weitz, Kris McKeon, Pat Peterson, Alan Fudge, Todd Lookinland, Veronica Redd-Forrest, Laurence Haddon, Steven Spencer, Stanley Brock.
Summary: From Variety, 10/21/81:
A busted hour-long pilot. Every Stray Dog & Kid was aimed at the family trade but the pilot, although earnestly dealing with wayward kids from a realistic standpoint, did not deliver enough emotional impact. The premise was that unmarried Maureen Anderman, an ex-con now working as a writer, had three juvenile offenders placed under her supervision (by means never disclosed - a definite flaw in the concept's believability). Friendly com Bruce Weitz dumps another youngster on her, which further complicates her time schedule and her plans to marry literary agent Alan Fudge, who has two kids of his own. The pilot was the handiwork of executive producer Steven Bochco and supervising producer Gregory Hoblit (recent Emmy winners for "Hill Street Blues"), but the impression given was that "Stray" had had preceded "Blues" on their production schedule.
One Night Band
Aired on CBS 6/28/83. 60 minutes.
Executive Producers: Bob Comfort, Richard Kellard.
Writers: Bob Comfort, Richard Kellard.
Director: Robert Butler.
Cast: Gregory Cassel, George Deloy, Stephanie Kramer, Brad Maule, Carl Weintraub, Steve Sandor, Linda Hart, Monica Parker, Marji Martin, Patrika Darbo.
Summary: Comedy about four entertainers on tour, who face some adventures and misadventures.
Bliss
Aired on ABC 6/28/84. 30 minutes.
Director: Gene Reynolds.
Writers: Doug Keyes, Chip Keyes.
Cast: George Kennedy, Diane Stilwater, Chris Sarandon, Allan Miller, Philip Sterling, George D. Wallace, Barbara Babcock.
Summary: Pilot about an old man who owns a chocolate factory. He calls his daughter back from her executive position in New York to take over the factory. She does return, and drives the staff crazy with her new ideas for reform at the plant. This was Gene Reynolds' first project since the cancellation of "Lou Grant", and no one liked it.
VARIETY SPECIALS
Mary's Incredible Dream
Aired on CBS 1/22/76. Videotape, 60 minutes.
Producer/Creator/Writer: Jack Good.
Directors: Gene McAvoy, Jaime Rogers.
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Doug Kershaw, Ben Vereen, Arthur Fiedler, The Manhattan Transfer.
The Show: Produced during the original run of MTMS, this 60-minute special was just as horrid as the title suggests. And to top it off, the total cost of production was close to one million dollars. Who knows how Arthur Fiedler, legendary conductor of The Boston Symphony Orchestra, got into the picture?!!!
Constantinople
Aired on ABC 7/25/77. Videotape, 30 minutes.
Producer: Jack Good.
Director: Rita Gillespie.
Writer: Jack Good.
Cast: H.B. Barnum Blues and Boogie Band, Lance LeGault, John Valenti, The Manhattan Transfer, Doug Kershaw, Slidin' Jake, Kathie Epstein, Mark Atkinson, Tina Turner, Ian Whitcomb.
The Show: A misnomer- the title had nothing whatsoever to do with the show, or anything else. It was more or less a 30-minute concert featuring a bunch of talented artists. According to one reviewer, it all went by so fast that any fans of these people who were expecting to hear them in a single number might has well have not tuned in at all. But it apparently had some good work.
How To Survive the 70s and Maybe Even Bump Into Happiness
Aired on CBS 2/22/78. Videotape, 60 minutes.
Producer/Director: Bill Persky.
Writers: Bill Persky, Phil Hahn, April Kelly, Wayne Klein, Tom Sawyer, Sam Bobrick.
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Harvey Korman, John Ritter, Catlin Adams, Candice Azzara, Ed Barth, Allen Case, Gino Conforti, Sam Denoff, Michael Durrell, Arnie Freeman, Chris Guest, Steve Landesberg, Alan Oppenheimer, Henry Polic, Beverly Sanders, Dick Van Dyke, Bill Bixby.
The Show: This special was very well received. Segments with Mary and Dick Van Dyke, Bill Bixby, and others, were highly comic. By 1978 the variety show format was quickly losing steam; Grant Tinker and Mary both agreed that the special could have been a pilot, but they waited nearly a year before trying Mary on another sitcom ("The Mary Tyler Moore Hour", which did not last). Interesting fact: Bill Persky and Sam Denoff were story editors and writers on "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Persky headed "Survive the 70's" and he gave Denoff an acting part. The two men had a 20-year professional writing partnership that ended amicably around 1978.
Project Peacock: "How to Eat Like a Child"
Aired on NBC from 9/22/81-?/82. 60 minutes.
Producer/Writer: Judy Kahan.
Director: Robert Scherer.
Cast: Dick Van Dyke with Corey Feldman, Darien Dash, Andy Freeman, Brandon Goldstein, Paula Hoffman, Rachel Jacobs, Billy Jacoby, Sunshine Lee, John Louie, Arlene McIntyre, Christy Murrell, Georg Alden, Ricky Segall, Rebecca Wolfe, Kimberly Woodward.
The Show: A comedy-musical series of twenty-nine programs for children, led by Dick Van Dyke and a group of kids, based on the book "Project Peacock" by Delia Ephron. Whether or not the other twenty-eight programs aired has not been ascertained, but evidently the other shows covered/were to cover such topics as "Waiting", "How to Aggravate Your Mother", "How to Play Hookie From School", "How to effectively tattle on your sister", and so on. Wholesome programming? You decide...if you can find this odd series anywhere on your dial. And yes, that's right, Corey Feldman and Billy Jacoby were part of this series.
TV MOVIES AND MINISERIES
Just an Old Sweet Song
Aired on CBS 9/14/76. 80 minutes.
Producer: Philip Barry.
Executive Producer: Lionel Ephraim.
Director: Robert Ellis Miller.
Writer: Melvin Van Peebles.
Cast: Cicely Tyson (Priscilla Simmons), Robert Hooks (Nate Simmons), Beah Richards (Grandma), Lincoln Kilpatrick (Joe Mayfield), Minnie Gentry (Aunt Velvet), Edward Binns (Mr. Claypool), Kevin Hooks (Junior), Eric Hooks (Highpockets), Mary Alice (Helen Mayfield).
The Show: This was an award-winning drama about an urban black family and their return to the south, where their roots are. It was originally aired as a General Electric Theater installment. Some liked it, some called it "stereotypical and embarrasing". The MTM pilot "Kinfolks" was produced later, but it never aired.
Something for Joey
Aired on ABC 4/6/77. 97 minutes.
Producer: Jerry McNeely.
Director: Lou Antonio.
Writer: Jerry McNeely.
Cast: Geraldine Page (Anne Cappelletti), Gerald O'Loughlin (John Cappelletti, Sr.), Marc Singer (John Cappelletti), Jeff Lynas (Joey Cappelletti), Linda Kelsey (Joyce Cappelletti), Brian Farrell (Marty Cappelletti), Paul Picerni (Coach Paterno), Stephen Parr (Eddie O'Neill), David Hooks (Bishop Sheen), June Dayton (Mrs. Frome), James Karen (Dr. Wingreen), David Garfield (Dr. Klunick), Kevin McKenzie (Mark Riley).
The Show: "Something for Joey" was based on the experiences of John Cappelletti, then a prized football player, who dedicated a trophy to his younger brother, Joey, who was dying of leukemia. It was similar to the feature film "Brian's Song" in some ways. "Joey" won some Emmy nominations and was the highest rated TV movie of 1977. The picture was made with permission from John Cappelletti and his family, a short time after Joey passed away.
Nowhere to Run
Aired on NBC 1/16/78. 100 minutes.
Producer: Jim Byrnes.
Director: Richard Lang.
Writer: Jim Byrnes.
Cast: David Jansen (Harry Adams), Stefanie Powers (Marion Adams), Allan Garfield (Herbie Stoltz), Linda Evans (Harry's new love), John Randolph (Marian's father), Neva Patterson (Marian's mother), Ahna Capri (Ex-Mrs. Soltz).
The Show: Drama featuring David Jansen playing an engineer who has come up with a system for winning at blackjack as part of an elaborate scheme to escape from his bitchy wife.
The Critical List
Aired 9/11 and 9/12/78 on CBS as 90 minute specials.
Executive Producer: Jerry McNeely.
Director: Lou Antonio.
Cast (partial listing): Lloyd Bridges (Dr. Dan Lassiter), Melinda Dillon (Dr. Kris Lassiter), Buddy Ebsen (Charles Sprague), Barbara Parkins (Angela Adams), Robert Wagner (Dr. Nick Sloan), Ken Howard (Nels Freidberg), Winwood McCarthy (Ned Josephson), James Whitmore, Jr. (Dr. Jack Hermanson), Richard Basehart (Matt Kinsella), John Larch (Sprony), Joanne Linville (Nan Forester), Ben Piazza (Dr. Henry de Jong).
The Show: This two-part special was intended to star Jeff, Beau, and Lloyd Bridges, but Lloyd was the only one who was interested in the project. It was originally written as three two-hour shows, but McNeely shortened the six hours into four. The story was based on the novels "Skeletons" and "Critical List" by Marshall Goldberg, M.D., which detailed the life of a doctor over a span of years. "The Critical List", MTM's only miniseries, brought together the three principal themes that threaded most of the MTM dramas: crime, medicine, and the media. Lloyd Bridges evidently did quite well despite a mediocre script that lacked continuity. The show was considered for series development, but somehow never got off the table.
First, You Cry
Aired 11/8/78 on CBS. 120 minutes.
Producer: Philip Barry.
Director: George Schaefer.
Writer: Carmen Culver, based on the novel "First, You Cry" by Betty Rollin.
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore (Betty Rollin), Anthony Perkins (Arthur), Richard Crenna (David), Jennifer Warren (Erica), Don Johnson, Patricia Barry, Vivi Janiss.
The Show: "First, You Cry" was based on Betty Rollin's real life experience with breast cancer. A good deal of research time was invested by Culver, who talked with Mary Tyler Moore and Betty Rollin while she was writing the script. The special aired, got high ratings, and won four Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama and Best Lead Actress (guess who won that one?). There were some poignant moments that came from Moore's performance as Betty Rollin, who did lose a breast to the cancer and had to make the usual adjustments to her life. Moore's urgent performance expressed her desire to let people know about the problem, although she herself has, thankfully, never suffered it. The TV movie itself is horrendously depressing, despite fine performances from Anthony Perkins, Richard Crenna, and Jennifer Warren.
Vampire
Aired 10/7/79 on ABC. 90 minutes.
Producer: Gregory Hoblit.
Director: E.W. Swackhamer.
Writers: Steven Bochco, Michael Kozoll.
Cast (partial listing): Jason Miller (John Rawlins), Richard Lynch (Anton Voytek), E.G. Marshall (Harry Kilcoyne), Kathryn Harold (Leslie Rawlins), Barrie Youngfellow (Andrea), David Hooks (Casket Salesman).
The Show: A happily married couple gets involved with a Hungarian prince who turns out to be a vampire.
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
Aired 2/6/80 on CBS. 90 minutes.
Producer: Donald A. Baer.
Director: Jerrold Freedman.
Writer: Edward DeBlasio, based on the novel of the same title by Shep Greene.
Cast (partial listing) : Scott Baio (Buff Saunders), Lance Kerwin (Billy Carpenter), Don Murray (Ken Saunders), Ed Lauter (Gus Carpenter), Mariclare Costello (Louise Carpenter), Stephen Davies (Alan), Toni Kalem (Tina).
The Show: Buff Saunders, a fine high school hockey player. is an alcoholic. Buff's only support comes from his friend Bill Carpenter, who helps him through the tirade. Baio, Kerwin, and Murray give fine performances, but the script was flatly written and little sympathy can be felt for the alcoholic boy played by Baio (Fonzie's cousin Chachi of "Happy Days").
Fighting Back
Aired 12/7/80 on NBC. 90 minutes.
Executive Producer: Jerry McNeely.
Producer: Don Baer.
Director: Robert Lieberman.
Writer: Jerry McNeely, based on the book of the same title by Rocky Bleier.
Cast: Robert Urich (Rocky Bleier), Bonnie Bedelia, Richard Herd, Art Carney (Art Rooney).
The Show: "Fighting Back" was the story of Rocky Bleier, a football player who fought in Vietnam. During his service, he suffered a foot injury and was given a fifty-fifty chance of being able to walk again. Football was out of the question until he underwent an operation. He recovered, and eight years later was in his twelfth season with the Steelers. The special fared very well in the ratings and was well received.
Thornwell
Aired 1/28/81 on CBS. 90 minutes.
Producer: Mark Tinker.
Writer: Michael de Guzman.
Director: Harry Moses.
Cast: Glynn Turman (James Thornwell), Vincent Gardenia, Craig Wasson, Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Edward Bell.
The Show: "Thornwell" was based on the life and horrendous experiences of a black US Army man named Thornwell, who was accused by army counter-intelligence of stealing classified documents while on duty in France. Thornwell initially denied stealing the documents but the Army put him through many weeks of hard investigation, culminating with a secretly administered dosage of LSD. Subsequently, Thornwell made several confessions in which he admitted that he stole the documents. However, because of the bizarre way the investigation was conducted, Thornwell was allowed to leave the military with the case of the missing documents still unresolved. The harrassment caused Thornwell to undergo severe bouts of depression, and he saw his two marriages end in divorce. About fifteen years later, Thornwell gets a letter from the US Government, stating that he'd been the victim of drug experimentation while on duty. Thornwell hired a lawyer who was able to get him $625,000 in compensation.
A great deal of research went into "Thornwell", which from the summary above suggests that it was a fantastic television drama. Writer Michael de Guzman talked to many people involved in the case, including the man who gave Thornwell the injection of LSD. de Guzman has said that every single scene in the movie was based on the information he obtained, but that not all the interviewees he spoke with were able to recount the details clearly. Therefore, some of the material in the show is likely inaccurate.
"Thornwell" was expected to rake in the Emmys, or at least receive some nominations. It didn't. Glynn Turman was good in the lead, but some of the other cast were poor and the script had many dramatic flaws. Still, it presented an interesting case.
In Defense of Kids
Aired on CBS 6/4/83. 100 minutes.
Producer: Seth Freeman.
Director: Gene Reynolds.
Writer: Michele Gallery.
Cast: Blythe Danner, Joyce Van Patten, Beth Ehlers, Sam Waterston, Tony La Taorre, Khalif Bobatoon, Noelle Parker.
The Show: Michele Gallery, frequent writer on "Lou Grant", collaborated with Gene Reynolds and Seth Freeman on this special that was in the sensationalist "Lou Grant" vein. A lawyer (Blythe Danner) gives up her position in a law firm in order to open an independent organization that will assist young people with legal problems. Joyce Van Patten plays a social worker with a gift for her job. The Hollywood Reporter gave "In Defense" high praise.
FEATURE FILMS
A Little Sex
Released by Universal, 1982. Produced by MTM Enterprises. 90 minutes.
Producers: Robert de Laurentis and Bruce Paltrow.
Writer: Robert de Laurentis.
Cast: Tim Matheson (Michael), Kate Capshaw (Katherine), Edward Herrmann (Tommy), John Glover (Walter), Joan Copeland (Mrs. Harrison), Susanna Dalton (Nancy), Wendie Malick (Philomena), Wallace Shawn (Oliver).
The Movie: Michael, who directs TV commercials, loves Katherine. But he has an uncontrollable sex drive and can't tare himself away from other gorgeous women. He confides in his older brother, who advises him to settle down and marry Katherine. Soon after, he gets the bug again and has an affair, and this time Katherine catches him in the act. In the end, they make up and he supposedly "reforms completely".
Shot in New York, some nice photography is about all this film has to offer. It's a mediocre script that plays more like a TV movie given the choice of Matheson and Capshaw for the leads. The Don Juanish Michael is a victim of a losing battle against testosterone, and there's seemingly little he can do about it. This would be a little more plausible if he and Katherine actually had something going for their relationship, however. He's going to keep getting the promiscuity bug unless he gets help with his problem, and given the kind of person he's made out to be, the chances of that happening are slim.
"A Little Sex" was hardly a box office hit and won no critical acclaim. It's in a few video stores here and there, and if you run across it, turn around, walk away, and rent "Ordinary People" or "Flirting With Disaster" instead.
Just Between Friends
Co-produced by Orion Films and MTM Enterprises, 1986. Released 1986.
Written and Directed by Allan Burns
Producers: Allan Burns and Edward Teets
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore (Holly Davis), Christine Lahti (Sandy Dunlap), Ted Danson (Chip Davis), Julie Payne (Karen), Reed Morgan (Charlie), Sam Waterston (Harry Crandall), Susan Rinell (Kim Davis), Timothy Gibbs (Jeff Davis), Salome Jens (Helga).
The Movie: Holly and Sandy meet at an exercise class. Sandy is single and childless. Holly invites her over for dinner, completely unaware that Sandy and Holly's husband Chip are having an affair. Holly and Sandy decide to buy out the current owner of the gym and open up their own exercise school. Chip is killed in a cab collision shortly before Sandy finds out she's pregnant with his child. While cleaning out Chip's office, Holly finds cards and photos of Chip and Sandy. Horrified and hurt, she confronts Sandy, who tries to apologize for what happened. Holly repays Sandy the money she put up for the exercise school and terminates the friendship. After the baby is born, they renew their friendship.
This was one of the best of the larger MTME productions. It plays very much like a TV movie, well-written by Allan Burns. Fine acting from Mary, Christine Lahti, and Ted Danson (smack-dab in the middle of his Sam Malone role).
Sitemaster note: A great deal of information presented here was extracted from MTM: Quality Television, © 1984, edited by Jean Feuer, Paul Kerr, and Tise Vahimagi. As most of the pilots and variety specials listed are obscure and have been in the vaults of various TV networks for over 25 years, there is very little information about them other than in this comprehensive book. This book did not have a wide distribution when it was first printed and has been out of print since the mid 1980s. No copyright laws have been violated in the presentation of this material, in whole or in paraphrasis.
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