Dear John (U.S. TV series)

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Dear John
Dear John (U.S. TV series).jpg
Genre Sitcom
Based on Dear John by John Sullivan
Developed by
  • Bob Ellison
  • Peter Noah
Starring
Theme music composerJohn Sullivan
Opening theme"Dear John" by Wendy Talbot
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes85 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Ed Weinberger Productions
Paramount Television
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network NBC
Original releaseOctober 6, 1988 (1988-10-06) – July 22, 1992 (1992-07-22)
Chronology
Related shows Dear John (1986)

Dear John is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1988 to 1992. It was originally based on the British sitcom of the same name. It was retitled Dear John USA when it was shown in the UK. During its four-season run, it was bounced to and from various time periods on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. It moved from its post- Cheers slot on Thursdays to a post– Night Court slot on Wednesdays in 1990.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

NBC American television and radio network

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial terrestrial television network that is a flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with additional major offices near Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. The network is one of the Big Three television networks. NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network", in reference to its stylized peacock logo, introduced in 1956 to promote the company's innovations in early color broadcasting. It became the network's official emblem in 1979.

<i>Dear John</i> (UK TV series) British sitcom

Dear John was a British sitcom, written by John Sullivan. Two series and a special were broadcast between 1986 and 1987.

Contents

Synopsis

The sitcom is set in New York City. Judd Hirsch stars as John Lacey, a teacher at a preparatory school in Manhattan. After ten years of marriage, one day he returns home and finds a Dear John letter: his wife, Wendy, is leaving him for his best friend. When the court grants Wendy the house and custody of their son, Matthew, John moves into an apartment in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Judd Hirsch American actor

Judd Seymore Hirsch is an American actor known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS series NUMB3RS (2005–2010). He is also well known for his career in theatre and for his roles in films such as Ordinary People (1980), Running on Empty (1988), Independence Day (1996), and A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Manhattan Borough in New York City and county in New York, United States

Manhattan, often referred to locally as the City, is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City and its economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, and historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers; several small adjacent islands; and Marble Hill, a small neighborhood now on the U.S. mainland, physically connected to the Bronx and separated from the rest of Manhattan by the Harlem River. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each aligned with the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan.

Six months after the divorce, John joins the One-to-One Club, a support group for people who are divorced and single. It is led by Louise (Jane Carr), an Englishwoman whose conversation frequently returns to the topic of sex. The regular attendees are Kate McCarron (Isabella Hofmann), a beautiful divorcée; Kirk Morris (Jere Burns), a cocky ladies' man; Ralph Drang (Harry Groener), a shy and unconfident man who works as a tollbooth collector; Bonnie Philbert (Billie Bird), a talkative retiree; Tom (Tom Willett), Mrs. Philbert's quiet boyfriend; and a young Southerner named Mary Beth Sutton (Susan Walters). [1]

In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy.

Ellen Jane Carr is an English actress. She is well known for the voice role of "Pud'n" on the animated The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. She also played a character called "Pudding" in the Jilly Cooper-penned BBC sitcom It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling.

Isabella Hofmann is an American actress.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired Nielsen ratings [2]
First airedLast airedRankRating
1 22October 6, 1988 (1988-10-06)May 11, 1989 (1989-05-11)1118.5
2 24September 28, 1989 (1989-09-28)May 15, 1990 (1990-05-15)1717.2
3 22September 19, 1990 (1990-09-19)May 1, 1991 (1991-05-01)50N/A
4 17September 19, 1991 (1991-09-19)July 22, 1992 (1992-07-22)77N/A

Reception

Critics

John Leonard of New York magazine previewed the pilot episode, in which John Lacey tries to attend a support group "for the recently singled", and stumbles instead into a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. "I found this funny, and maybe even profound", Leonard wrote. NBC launched the show two days before Empty Nest , another sitcom about a middle-aged man who recently lost his wife. "Some talented people run around in them agreeably", said Leonard, commenting on both shows. [3]

John Leonard (critic) Critic, writer, commentator

John Leonard was an American literary, television, film, and cultural critic.

<i>New York</i> (magazine) American magazine on life, culture, politics, and style, focusing on New York City

New York is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite, and established itself as a cradle of New Journalism. Over time, it became more national in scope, publishing many noteworthy articles on American culture by writers such as Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, Nora Ephron, John Heilemann, Frank Rich, and Rebecca Traister.

Alcoholics Anonymous mutual aid movement

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship with the stated purpose of enabling “its members to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." It was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio. With other early members, Wilson and Smith developed AA's Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development. AA's initial Twelve Traditions were introduced in 1946 to help the fellowship be stable and unified while disengaged from "outside issues" and influences.

Ratings

In its first season, the sitcom was part of NBC's Thursday night lineup. It attracted the eleventh largest audience of all prime time television programs in the United States for the 1988–89 season. Its viewer share (as recorded in Nielsen ratings) declined in later seasons. NBC moved it time slot several times.

The prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television programming.

Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems operated by Nielsen Media Research that seek to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States using a rating system.

SeasonViewers
(millions)		Rank
(by audience share)		References
1
(1988–89)		18.511 [4]
2
(1989–90)		17.117 [4]
3
(1990–91)		?50[ citation needed ]
4
(1991–92)		?77[ citation needed ]

Paramount Domestic Television sold the show into syndication after Dear John ended its run in 1992.

Paramount Domestic Television compagny

Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures. It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming, the successor to Paramount Television Domestic Distribution, Paramount Television Sales, and Desilu Sales.

Broadcasting syndication is the license to broadcast television programs and radio programs by multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less of a practice in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates; although less common, shows can be syndicated internationally. The three main types of syndication are "first-run syndication", which is programming that is broadcast for the first time as a syndicated show and is made specifically to sell directly into syndication; "off-network syndication", which is the licensing of a program that was originally run on network TV or in some cases, first-run syndication ; and "public broadcasting syndication".

Awards

In "Stand By Your Man", the thirteenth episode of the first season, Cleavon Little makes a guest appearance as a closeted gay man whose marriage to a woman has just ended. His performance won him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards in 1989. [5] [6] Judd Hirsh won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy in 1989 and was nominated again the following year.

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References

  1. ↑ "Family Programs: Dear John". The Program Exchange . Archived from the original on 2002-03-21. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  2. ↑ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (Ninth Edition). Ballantine Books. p. 1692. ISBN   978-0-345-49773-4.
  3. ↑ Leonard, John (October 10, 1988). "Television § In brief". New York . p. 82. Retrieved 2017-05-07– via Google Books.
  4. 1 2 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2003). "Appendix 3 Top-Rated Programs by Season". The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (8th ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. p. 1468. ISBN   978-0-345-45542-0.
  5. ↑ McBride, Joseph (October 23, 1992). "Cleavon Little". Variety. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  6. ↑ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2003). "Appendix 2 Emmy Award Winners – 1988–1989 (presented September 17, 1989)". The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (8th ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. p. 1439. ISBN   978-0-345-45542-0.
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