Coming of Age (1988 TV series)

Coming of Age
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Emily Marshall
Written by	Miriam Trogdon Michael Zinberg
Directed by	James Gardner
Starring	Paul Dooley Phyllis Newman Alan Young Glynis Johns
Theme music composer	Louis Prima
Opening theme	"Sing, Sing, Sing" performed by Doc Severinsen
Composer	Tim Truman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	15 (4 unaired)
Production
Executive producer	Barry Kemp
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Bungalow 78 Productions Universal Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 15, 1988 (1988-03-15) – July 27, 1989 (1989-07-27)

Coming of Age is an American sitcom that aired on CBS in the United States for two seasons from 1988 to 1989.

Premise

Coming of Age features Paul Dooley and Phyllis Newman as Dick and Ginny Hale, who lived in a retirement community in Arizona. Dick resented his retirement – a former airline pilot, he had been forced to retire by a Federal Aviation Administration rule that requires all U.S. commercial pilots to retire by age 60. Dick hated almost everything about his retirement, including his surroundings. He was appalled by the hot climate, the thin walls separating the Hale's apartment from that of their neighbors (Alan Young and Glynis Johns), and mostly by the contented attitude of the other residents including Pauline Spencer (Ruta Lee). Kevin Pollak played Brian Brinker, who ran the community but was very inept at his job, with Lenore Woodward playing his elderly and very nosy secretary Wilma Salzgaber. Brinker would also be a love interest to Dick and Ginny's daughter, another wrinkle about The Dunes which raised the ire of Dick.

This program was first aired as a midseason replacement in March 1988. It was not well received and was pulled from the schedule after only three episodes were aired. Nevertheless, it was added to the CBS 1988 fall lineup. It failed again, and was quickly pulled from the schedule. The airing of more episodes in June and July 1989 was a "burn-off", an attempt to recoup at least some of the investment in the show by using it as filler during the traditionally low-rated summer months.

Cast

• Paul Dooley as Dick Hale
• Phyllis Newman as Ginny Hale
• Alan Young as Ed Pepper
• Glynis Johns as Trudie Pepper
• Kevin Pollak as Brian Brinker
• Lenore Woodward as Wilma Salzgaber
• Ruta Lee as Pauline Spencer

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	3		March 15, 1988 (1988-03-15)	March 29, 1988 (1988-03-29)
2	12		October 24, 1988 (1988-10-24)	July 27, 1989 (1989-07-27)

Season 1 (1988)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Rating/share (households)
1	1	"Pilot"	Tony Mordente	Emily Marshall	March 15, 1988 (1988-03-15)	11.0/17 [1]
Dick and Ginny, due to Dick's forced retirement from the Federal Aviation Administration, settle in to the retirement community The Dunes, and meet all the new inhabitants, despite Dick's constant consternation.
2	2	"The Sopwith Pup"	Unknown	Unknown	March 22, 1988 (1988-03-22)	7.6/12 [2]
3	3	"The Kids Are Coming, The Kids Are Coming"	Unknown	Unknown	March 29, 1988 (1988-03-29)	10.1/16 [3]

Season 2 (1988–89)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)	Rating/share (households)
4	1	"All I Wanted Was a New Car: Part 1"	Michael Zinberg	Sheldon Bull	October 24, 1988 (1988-10-24)	15.9 [4]	11.6/17 [4]
Dick is unable to get a loan towards the purchase of a new car because he's considered in an untrustworthy category due to being retired, so he gets a part-time job. Meanwhile, Ed, Trudie, and Ginny decide to compete in a square dancing competition.
5	2	"All I Wanted Was a New Car: Part 2"	Unknown	Unknown	October 31, 1988 (1988-10-31)	16.0 [5]	11.7/18 [5]
6	3	"Hale to the Chief"	Tony Mordente	Jeffrey Duteil	November 14, 1988 (1988-11-14)	14.9 [6]	11.5/17 [6]
Dick campaigns to get cable installed at The Dunes after him and Ed's attempts to install a satellite dish are futile. Bob and Ray (in their final appearance as a duo) guest star as a bullying elderly brother duo who get in the way of Dick and use underhanded tactics to intimidate the rest of the inhabitants of The Dunes.
7	4	"Cindy Flies the Coop"	Unknown	Unknown	November 21, 1988 (1988-11-21)	13.3 [7]	9.6/14 [7]
8	5	"Todd is My Co-Pilot"	Unknown	Unknown	June 29, 1989 (1989-06-29)	7.4 [8]	5.6/10 [8]
9	6	"A Wife in the Theatre"	Unknown	Unknown	July 6, 1989 (1989-07-06)	7.4 [9]	5.5/10 [9]
10	7	"Pauline et Rouge"	James Gardner	Sheldon Bull & Emily Marshall	July 20, 1989 (1989-07-20)	7.4 [10]	5.4/10 [10]
Ed's brother, Red (Van Johnson), visits The Dunes and gets romantically involved with Pauline.
11	8	"Boy Meets Girl"	Unknown	Unknown	July 27, 1989 (1989-07-27)	8.3 [11]	6.2/11 [11]
12	9	"Fever"	TBD	TBD	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A	N/A
13	10	"Christmas at the Dunes"	TBD	TBD	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A	N/A
Dick and Ginny celebrate Christmas, the one holiday that Dick loves so much that it puts him in a happy enough mood to tolerate everyone at The Dunes. Their daughter and grandkids make plans to visit Dick and Ginny for the holidays, but for Dick nothing goes exactly as planned.
14	11	"Daddy's Girl"	TBD	TBD	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A	N/A
15	12	"Dick's Back"	TBD	TBD	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A	N/A

References

1. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . March 23, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306010273.
2. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . March 30, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   305993024.
3. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . April 6, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306060935.
4. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . November 2, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306129406.
5. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . November 9, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306136856.
6. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . November 23, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306124674.
7. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today . November 30, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest   306106502.
8. "A summer holiday shuffle". Life. USA Today . July 7, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306227507.
9. "Fox gets a boost from 'Video'". Life. USA Today . July 12, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306223263.
10. "Fox finally finds a top spot". Life. USA Today . July 26, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306211572.
11. "Fox in 'Married' bliss Sunday". Life. USA Today . August 2, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306234816.

General

• Brooks, Tim, and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• Coming of Age at IMDb