Starring Ellen Burstyn, Megan Mullally and Elaine Stritch. It only ran for one season - mostly in the fall of 1987 with the back end of the season burnt off in late summer.

It was cancelled with a 7.6 rating, which today would make it a top 10 show!

The clip below also has some first-rate 80s commercials!

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 21

June 7, 2020 6:08 PM

Harvey Keitel , her "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" cos-star, popped in for one episode.

by Anonymous

reply 1

June 7, 2020 6:39 AM

Stritch has comedic chops. The others don't.

Must have been the year of the maxi skirt.

by Anonymous

reply 2

June 7, 2020 6:45 AM

That is one overwrought show — the sets, the costumes, layers and layers and accessories and details and clutter.

Ellen Burstyn's chunky layered neckpiece is clunking so loudly at 19:42 it distracts from her dialogue.

And is Elaine Stritch wearing a neck brooch on a nightgown at 22:44?

by Anonymous

reply 3

June 7, 2020 6:55 AM

I've always been curious about this show. Thanks for posting.

by Anonymous

reply 4

June 7, 2020 7:11 AM

David Frankel was a very funny (and cute) writer who did a bunch of shows that didn't catch on in the late '80s/early '90s: this one, Grapevine and Doctor Doctor (which was hilarious and very gay friendly for the time, IIRC).

by Anonymous

reply 5

June 7, 2020 7:11 AM

For an A-list movie star not that long before this she jumped to television awfully quickly, didn’t she?

That just wasn’t done then. Maybe for an “event” type TV movie, but that’s about it.

by Anonymous

reply 6

June 7, 2020 9:00 AM

I loved seeing Megan Mullally. She was 29.

by Anonymous

reply 7

June 7, 2020 9:09 AM

Her last hit movie was in '78 and her last Oscar nomination was in '80, R6.

After that, she did mostly TV movies. So it wasn't a quick jump.

by Anonymous

reply 8

June 7, 2020 9:42 AM

stritch is alwys good, she makes others look like amateurs....

saw ellen cumin out of hotel in frisco one, she looked her age.....but has class.

by Anonymous

reply 9

June 7, 2020 10:32 AM

The one thing the actors studio can't give burstyn is class. that ugly voice gives her away all the time.

by Anonymous

reply 10

June 7, 2020 12:10 PM

Wasn't this show scheduled to follow 'Life with Lucy' on ABC's Saturday night line-up? Neither one caught on as NBC had 'The Facts of Life' and 'Golden Girls' on opposite. And CBS had 'Designing Women' on as well on Saturday nights.

by Anonymous

reply 11

June 7, 2020 1:16 PM

So there's this, the Steel Magnolias tv show, 30 Rock....does Stritch ever play a different kind of character or it's all just variations on her own personality? She's kind of like an old white Mr. T.

by Anonymous

reply 13

June 7, 2020 4:55 PM

In Ellen Burstyn book she writes that she was relieved that the show was cancelled. She wrote that she need one million dollars fast - and a series was the only way to do it (as every pilot season she got offers for her own show)

by Anonymous

reply 14

June 7, 2020 4:57 PM

show looks/sounds and feels dated (VERY 1980s) but Burstyn is a talent who can keep the show rolling.

by Anonymous

reply 15

June 7, 2020 5:07 PM

A sitcom can earn an actor a ton of money if it clicks, and there's no reason not to get in the game.

Actors want to work, and having already won an Oscar by then what did Ellen have to prove? Nothing.

by Anonymous

reply 16

June 7, 2020 5:39 PM

She was in her 50s and movie roles had dried up. Any one see her on Broadway in "84 Charing Cross Road" in the early 80s?

by Anonymous

reply 17

June 7, 2020 5:47 PM

For the love of God, please stop typing "Frisco"!

by Anonymous

reply 18

June 7, 2020 5:53 PM

R13 my impression is that Stritch is a NY personality, and seems to be playing herself when not in a stage show (and even then sometimes)

by Anonymous

reply 19

June 7, 2020 5:54 PM

R11, I believe that is correct. Lucy's and Ellen's shows were on back-to-back on ABC and both bombed and were quickly canceled.

by Anonymous

reply 20

June 7, 2020 5:57 PM

R17 - Frank Rich in The New York Times didn't like the production and shaded Burstyn. "Because of the play's constricted form, both lead actors face the trap of sinking into cute stand-up routines. Miss Burstyn, to this fan's amazement, falls into it. She is, as always, a forceful presence, even with a dangling cigarette, bohemian clothes and ratty wigs. Her timing of her caustic one-liners is expert - maybe too expert. With excessive hand-gestures and winks, she sometimes indicates just where she'd like us to laugh or applaud. It would help if she had better jokes - too much is made of her dental problems and mispronunciation of British names - and could play to another actor instead of some indeterminate point in the balcony."

by Anonymous

reply 21

June 7, 2020 6:08 PM