Star of the Family

Last updated
Star of the Family
Star of the Family.jpg
Main cast
GenreSitcom
Created by Stu Silver
Rick Mitz
Starring Brian Dennehy
Katherine Saltzberg
Michael Dudikoff
Todd Susman
Evonne Kezios
Opening theme"Movin' Along" performed by Kathy Maisnik
ComposerSteve Nelson
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes10
Production
Executive producers Charles H. Joffe
Buddy Morra
Larry Brezner
ProducersStu Silver
Paul Waigner
Jack Siefert
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesRJMB
Little Andrew Enterprises
Paramount Television
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseSeptember 30 (1982-09-30) 
December 9, 1982 (1982-12-09)

Star of the Family is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 30 to December 9, 1982. The show featured Brian Dennehy as fire chief Leslie "Buddy" Krebs and Katherine Saltzberg, then Maisnik, as his singer daughter, Jennie Lee Krebs. The show was developed by Robin Williams, then an ABC star in Mork & Mindy . [1]

Contents

The series debuted on September 30, 1982 on Thursdays after Joanie Loves Chachi , and was canceled after ten episodes.

Synopsis

Fire Captain Buddy Krebs' (Dennehy) 16-year-old daughter Jennie Lee (Saltzberg) begins getting show-business offers because of her singing talents in the country/pop genre. This scares Buddy because he does not want his daughter to grow up too fast. [2] Adding to his troubles, his wife runs off with a bellhop, and his 17-year-old son (Michael Dudikoff) has more muscles than brains. Additionally, his crew at the firehouse are "strange": Leo Feldman (Todd Susman) tells his mother he is a doctor instead of a fireman; Frank Rosetti (George Deloy) has only sex on the brain; and Max Hernandez (Danny Mora), a Hispanic, speaks fractured English. Finally, his daughter signs with a manager named Judy "Moose" Wells (Judy Pioli): the name fits the description of the woman. Another character on the series was named Tiffany (played by Amanda Wyss).

Casting

Kathy Maisnik was 19 years old when she was cast as Jennie Lee; Star of the Family was her first professional acting role. Executive producer Larry Brezner said, "The determination to cast her came from Brian Dennehy more than anyone else. We were down to three girls, and each of them had to come in and play the role with 20 network executives looking on. She was the only one who you believed could have stood up to Brian." [3]

Reception

Barbara Holsopple of The Pittsburgh Press said that the show is "great family fun and boasts two gems... Just watching their faces as they react to each other makes your mouth smile as something tugs at your heart." [4]

Bill Hayden of the Gannett News Service panned the show, saying, "Brian Dennehey and Kathy Maisnik deserve medals for valor. These very talented performers are forced to waste their skills as the leads of Star of the Family... The producers have taken what is a bright, engaging concept and encumbered it with so many stock characters and situations that it is a prematurely tired, routine comedy." [5]

Cast

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1"Pilot" Joel Zwick Stu Silver September 30, 1982 (1982-09-30)
2"The Critic"UnknownUnknownOctober 14, 1982 (1982-10-14)
3"Save My Life, Please"UnknownUnknownOctober 21, 1982 (1982-10-21)
4"Marking Time"UnknownUnknownOctober 28, 1982 (1982-10-28)
5"Quiet Kind of Hero"UnknownUnknownNovember 4, 1982 (1982-11-04)
6"Spring Is in the Air"Jon SharpStu SilverNovember 11, 1982 (1982-11-11)
7"I Got It Good and That Ain't Good"UnknownUnknownNovember 18, 1982 (1982-11-18)
8"The Boy Next Door"UnknownUnknownNovember 18, 1982 (1982-11-18)
9"Phil"UnknownUnknownDecember 2, 1982 (1982-12-02)
10"Arcade Wars"UnknownUnknownDecember 9, 1982 (1982-12-09)

US TV Ratings

SeasonEpisodesStart DateEnd DateNielsen RankNielsen RatingTied With
1982-8310September 30, 1982December 9, 198284 [6] N/AN/A

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennie Garth</span> American actress (born 1972)

Jennifer Eve Garth is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom What I Like About You (2002–06). In 2012, she starred in her own reality show, Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country on CMT. Her memoir titled Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde was published by New American Library on April 1, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ritter</span> American actor (1948–2003)

Johnathan Southworth Ritter was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984), and received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1984. Ritter briefly reprised the role on the spin-off Three's a Crowd, which aired for one season, producing 22 episodes before its cancellation in 1985.

Angelyne is an American singer, actress, media personality, and model who came to prominence in 1984 after the appearance of a series of billboards in and around Los Angeles, California, with only one word, "Angelyne", picturing her posing suggestively. These caught the attention of local media outlets, and soon she received several offers for film roles, magazine interviews, and television show appearances.

<i>The Danny Thomas Show</i> American sitcom

The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show focused on his relationship with his family, yet went through a number of significant changes in cast and characters during the course of its run. Episodes regularly featured music by Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Richardson</span> American actress

Patricia Castle Richardson is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. She also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Ulee's Gold (1997).

<i>Coach</i> (TV series) American television sitcom (1989–1997)

Coach is an American sitcom television series that aired for nine seasons on ABC from February 28, 1989, to May 14, 1997, with a total of 200 half-hour episodes. The series stars Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional NCAA Division I-A Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles football team. For the last two seasons, Coach Fox and the supporting characters coached the Orlando Breakers, a fictional National Football League expansion team. The program also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam and Bill Fagerbakke as Michael "Dauber" Dybinski, assistant coaches under Fox. The role of Hayden's girlfriend Christine Armstrong, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Meriwether</span> American actress and former model

Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughter-in-law in the 1970s crime drama Barnaby Jones starring Buddy Ebsen. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in 1975 and 1976, and an Emmy Award nomination in 1977. She is also known for her portrayal of Catwoman, replacing Julie Newmar in the film version of Batman (1966), and for a co-starring role on the science fiction series The Time Tunnel. Meriwether had a recurring role as Ruth Martin on the daytime soap opera All My Children until the end of the series in September 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Dennehy</span> American actor (1938–2020)

Brian Manion Dennehy was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included First Blood (1982), Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), Cocoon (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Tommy Boy (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Ratatouille (2007), and Knight of Cups (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film Death of a Salesman (2000). Dennehy's final film was Driveways (2020), in which he plays a veteran of the Korean War, living alone, who befriends a young, shy boy who has come with his mother to clean out his deceased aunt's hoarded home.

Jeffrey Steven Franklin is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known for being the creator of the ABC sitcom Full House and its Netflix sequel Fuller House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathy Garver</span> American actress

Kathy Garver is an American actress most remembered for having portrayed the teenaged orphan, Catherine "Cissy" Davis, on the popular 1960s CBS sitcom, Family Affair. Before that, she was cast by Cecil B. DeMille in the film The Ten Commandments (1956), and after that, she provided the voice of Firestar in the animated television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–83). Garver authored The Family Affair Cookbook (2009), Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (2015), and X Child Stars: Where are They Now? (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Dudikoff</span> American actor

Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr. is an American actor and martial artist. Born in New York City, his family later moved to Los Angeles. Dudikoff did different jobs to pay for his education, during this time he became a model. This led him to do acting auditions. He played supporting roles in films and television shows, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts action film American Ninja (1985).

Miller-Boyett Productions is an American television production company that mainly developed television sitcoms from the 1970s through the 1990s. It was responsible for family-oriented hit series such as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, The Hogan Family, Bosom Buddies, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters and Step by Step.

<i>Still Standing</i> (American TV series) American television sitcom (2002–2006)

Still Standing is an American television sitcom created by Diane Burroughs and Joey Gutierrez, that aired on CBS from September 30, 2002, to March 8, 2006. It stars Mark Addy and Jami Gertz as Bill and Judy Miller, a working-class couple living in Chicago, Illinois. Taylor Ball, Renee Olstead, and Soleil Borda portray their children and Jennifer Irwin portrays Judy's sister Linda.

<i>Bob</i> (TV series) American television situation comedy

Bob is an American sitcom television series created by Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, and Phoef Sutton. It aired on CBS from September 18, 1992, to December 27, 1993, for two seasons. The series was the third starring vehicle sitcom for Bob Newhart, following his previous successful CBS sitcoms The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Aletter</span> American actor

Frank George Aletter was an American theatre, film, and television actor.

George DelHoyo, also known as George Deloy, is a Uruguayan-born American actor.

<i>Young & Hungry</i> American TV series or program

Young & Hungry is an American romantic sitcom created by David Holden. The multi-camera series starred Emily Osment, Jonathan Sadowski, Aimee Carrero, Kym Whitley and Rex Lee, and premiered on ABC Family on June 25, 2014. On March 7, 2016, Freeform renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on June 1, 2016, and concluded on August 3, 2016. On October 24, 2016, Osment announced via Twitter that Young & Hungry was renewed for a fifth season. On March 15, 2018, it was officially announced that the fifth season would be the last. The final ten episodes premiered on June 20, 2018, and concluded on July 25, 2018. A series finale movie was initially announced with the cancellation, but was scrapped on August 24, 2018. Young & Hungry received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Katherine Saltzberg is an American actress, singer, and comic. She is best known for starring as the showbiz-talented 16-year-old daughter of Brian Dennehy's character in the ABC sitcom, Star of the Family.

<i>Mystery Girls</i> American sitcom

Mystery Girls is an American sitcom starring Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth that aired on ABC Family on June 25 through August 27, 2014. The series follows Holly and Charlie, former stars of the fictional 1990s TV detective series Mystery Girls who reunite to solve actual mysteries.

<i>Disjointed</i> American sitcom (2017-18)

Disjointed is an American television sitcom created by David Javerbaum and Chuck Lorre and starring Kathy Bates. Twenty episodes of the series were ordered from Warner Bros. by Netflix, with the first 10 episodes premiering on August 25, 2017. The last 10 episodes were released on January 12, 2018. On February 14, 2018, Netflix canceled the series.

References

  1. Hughes, Mike (September 29, 1982). "Teen savors life as overnight star". Gannett News Service. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  2. Alexander, Rodi (August 27, 1982). "Presenting Kathy Maisnik, a Sparkling New ABC Find". The North Jersey News. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. Bianculli, David (October 10, 1982). "Kathy Maisnik Wants To Be a 'Star'". Knight-Ridder. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. Holsapple, Barbara (September 30, 1982). "Two Sitcoms Nicely Mine Human Nature". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  5. Hayden, Bill (October 21, 1982). "'Star of the Family': Good idea gone awry". Gannett News Service. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  6. Lina. "The TV Ratings Guide: 1982-83 Ratings History -- Soap Bubbles Rise, Several Veterans Part and NBC Renews Poorly Rated Masterpieces" . Retrieved 1 April 2018.[ dead link ]