Webster

Webster (TV series)

Genre: Sitcom
Created by: Lew Erlicht[1]
Starring:
Emmanuel Lewis
Alex Karras
Susan Clark
Henry Polic II
Eugene Roche
Cathryn Damon
Ben Vereen
Jack Kruschen
Chad Allen
Corin Nemec

Theme music composer Steve Nelson
Madeline Sunshine

Opening theme "Then Came You"
Composer(s) Steve Nelson
Country of origin: United States
Language(s): English
No. of seasons: 6
No. of episodes: 150 (6 unaired) (List of episodes)
Production:
Executive producer(s) Bob Brunner (1986–1989)
William P. D'Angelo
Madeline Sunshine
Steven Sunshine
Producer(s) Stu Silver[1]
Camera setup: Multi-camera
Running time: 22–24 minutes
Production company(s) Emmanuel Lewis Entertainment Enterprises
Georgian Bay Productions
Paramount Television
Distributor CBS Television Distribution

Broadcast

Original channel ABC (1983–1987)
Syndication (1987–1989)
Audio format: Monaural
Original run:September 16, 1983 – March 10, 1989

Webster was an American sitcom about a young African-American boy who is adopted by a white family.

Synopsis

The show, set in Chicago, revolved around Webster Long, a seven-year-old African-American orphan (Emmanuel Lewis) whose biological parents were recently killed in a car accident. He is then taken in by retired football star George Papadopolis (Alex Karras), with whom his late father played professional football in the 1970s, and his wife Katherine (Susan Clark), a blue-blooded socialite with no housekeeping skills whatsoever.

Webster also had an uncle, played by Ben Vereen, who had issues with Webster living with a white couple and sought to adopt him and take him to live in Chicago's South Side.

Shortly into the second season, Webster accidentally burned down the family's apartment with a science kit and the family moved to a large Victorian house in the suburbs. To some, the move from the city was the point where the show "jumped the shark".

However, the show continued despite some of the plots. Many of Webster's friends and classmates passed through, including Rob (Chad Allen). Bill and Cassie Parker (Eugene Roche & Cathryn Damon) leased the Victorian house to the Papadopolises during the show's second and third seasons, until George and Katherine bought it outright (this was Ms. Damon's last TV series role, as she died from cancer a year after leaving the show). Over the course of the fourth season, ratings dropped sharply. The show, which had been a Nielsen top 10 series, now ranked 50th. ABC chose not to renew Webster.

The series' popularity and interest among younger viewers prompted the show to continue in first-run syndication starting in fall of 1987. At this time, the Papadopolis household gained a new member in George's nephew Nicky (Corin Nemec), who moved in when his parents went off to work in Nigeria (on assignment for the UN). Nicky provided Webster with a sort of "brother figure", and the two got along famously. However, Nicky was gone from the show at the start of season six (Nemec would later reach greater fame as the star of Fox's Parker Lewis Can't Lose). While plots continued to mature somewhat with Webster's onset of pre-teendom, the same "cutesy factor" remained, thanks in part to Lewis' timing and portrayal. However, this was something Lewis was slowly getting tired of, despite the fact that he had more creative control over Webster at this point (with Emmanuel Lewis Entertainment Enterprises co-producing with Karras and Clark's Georgian Bay Ltd.) By early 1989, with Lewis clearly outgrowing the title role, Karras and Clark also decided that the time was right to move on. The last episode was taped in March 1989 (but aired later that spring), which did not signify an end of any sort, but was played out as a high event - the cast went on a space adventure with guest star Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf, from Star Trek: The Next Generation (in the ep. titled "Webtrek").

Cast

Emmanuel Lewis as Webster Long

Alex Karras as George Papadapolis

Susan Clark as Katherine Calder-Young Papadapolis

Henry Polic II as Jerry Silver

Heather O'Rourke as Melanie (1983)

Eugene Roche as Bill Parker (1984–1986)

Cathryn Damon as Cassie Parker (1984–1986)

Ben Vereen as Uncle Phillip Long (1984–1985)

Jack Kruschen as "Papa" Papadapolis (1985–1987)

Chad Allen as Rob Whitaker/Joiner (1985–1986)

Carl Steven as Roger (1986–1987)

Danny McMurphy as Timmy (1986–1987)

Gabe Witcher as Tommy (1987)

Nick DeMauro as Benny (1987)

Corin Nemec as Nicky Papadopolis (1987–1988) (credited as Corin "Corky" Nemec)

Series Development and Changes

Alex Karras and Susan Clark were married to each other in real life, as well as on the show. After starting their own production company, Georgian Bay Ltd., ABC approached the couple about a sitcom development deal, which resulted in the proposed series titled Another Ballgame. In this, Karras was the ex-NFL player who quickly found true love on a cruise with socialite Katherine (Clark), and the premise was a raucous romantic comedy. ABC picked it up for the fall 1983 schedule, but major changes would occur before the premiere.

Comic prodigy Emmanuel Lewis, who had just gained instant fame on a series of Burger King commercials, was also sought after by ABC for a series. The trouble was, the network needed to cast Lewis in a project quickly, before he grew another inch (Ironically, like Gary Coleman, Lewis would end up as a dwarf at 4'3".), and what they had in mind was their own version of NBC's Diff'rent Strokes; the only similarity being that both shows had young black boys as leads who were very small for their age being raised by white people, and who would retain a certain amount of cuteness even as their portrayers got older. Also, with the number of comedy pilots greenlighted for that fall's schedule, it was likely that Lewis would not be able to get his own series and timeslot, unless he was worked into already existing comedy projects. So, among others, co-producers on Another Ballgame were approached about working Lewis into the show. Stars Karras and Clark liked the idea of the sudden marriage and instant adoption of a young black boy, and the Webster character was created from there.

The premise of Webster's parents' death, and his adoption into the Papadopolis household, originated with the second phase of the pilot, which had the show's title changed to Then Came You. The only other modifications to happen from here was the network's decision to have the show's major focus to be on the Webster character, instead of it being a split romantic/family comedy; and to phase out cast member Art LaFleur, who, once getting to air, only appeared in the pilot. Amazingly Karras and Clark still agreed to the changes, as creative control was still in their hands with their production company. However, Clark originally forbade their co-producers and ABC from changing the title to Webster, as she wanted to maintain the ensemble aspect of the series. While early promotions for the sitcom carried the title Then Came You, the brass ultimately settled on Webster just before its September premiere. (It is safe to assume that the show theme song, "Then Came You", originated during the second phase of the pilot.)

Even though the show was an instant hit, the result of the final product was not what Alex and Susan foresaw as their ideal starring vehicle. The first season was fraught with tension, not only between Karras and Clark but with them and Paramount. After the initial episodes that set up the show's premise (George & Katherine's wedding, Webster's arrival and the resulting adjustments), most of the plots became exclusively Webster-driven, even though it was the writer's intention to get Alex and Susan's character's own storylines in as much as possible. The couple battled all season with the brass over production, which, fortunately, never delayed taping, but caused bad vibes for everyone present, especially Lewis. It was reported that Lewis was often whisked away off the set whenever Karras and Clark argued and demanded rewrites, and it became so severe that Lewis blamed the trouble not only on his title character, but on himself. After the end of season one, things started to cool down, as the network stopped pushing hard for "all Webster, all the time", and Paramount eventually came to an agreement with Alex and Susan that they would continue to get prominent storylines for their characters - as long as Emmanuel Lewis, who ABC saw as a money maker above all else, would get production credit alongside Karras and Clark. This is what launched "Emmanuel Lewis Entertainment Enterprises, Inc."

Finally, by season three at the latest, the stormy relations of the first season disappeared on set. The main cast bonded well from then until the end, with Karras becoming a surrogate father figure to Lewis. As famed TV director Joel Zwick remarked, "as far as TV sitcom families go, it took them longer than most to acclimate to each other."

The show, set in Chicago, revolves around Webster Long, a seven-year-old black orphan (Emmanuel Lewis) whose biological parents, Travis and Gert Long, were recently killed in a car accident. He is then taken in by retired football star George Papadopoulos (Alex Karras), with whom Travis had played professional football in the 1970s, and his wife Katherine (Susan Clark), an upper crust socialite with no housekeeping skills whatsoever.

George and Katherine's new married life was part of the premise, but it was Webster who was the main focus of the show. The Papadopouloses lived in a luxurious high-rise apartment in Chicago, with burly George now working as a sportscaster at local station WBJX-TV, and Katherine becoming an accomplished family psychologist.

Sarcastic social climber Jerry Silver (Henry Polic II) was Katherine's male secretary, who was her professional and personal confidant. Although the series is set in Chicago, the apartment complex shown in exterior shots of the first two seasons is actually The Mirabella condominium building, located at 10430 Wilshire Blvd, in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California.

Webster also had an uncle, Phillip Long, played by Ben Vereen, who had issues with Webster living with a white couple and sought to adopt him and take him to live in Chicago's South Side, not to mention acrimony between himself and George. After his numerous attempts at the latter during the second season, Phillip moved to Hollywood to launch an acting career. In the later seasons, Phillip would return in a few guest appearances.

One interesting aspect of the show was Webster's choice of names for his adoptive parents. Shortly after being adopted he took to calling George by his first name, George. Katherine he took to calling Ma'am. This was addressed in one episode where Katherine asked Webster why he used such a formal name for her. Webster explained that by referring to Katherine as Ma'am he was calling her as close to 'Mom' as he could come without actually calling her Mom and disrespecting his birth Mother.

Shortly into the second season, Webster accidentally burned down the family's apartment with a science kit and the family moved to a large Victorian house located at 1432 North State Parkway in Chicago's Gold Coast (41.908825°N 87.628949°W).[2]

The show continued on with its usual tone, besides some of the newer inventive plots. Many more of Webster's friends and classmates passed through, including Rob Whitaker (Chad Allen). A recent product of divorce whose mother had custody of him, Rob was kidnapped by his father in one episode, which led the Papadopoulos', Rob's mother, and the community to rally in hopes of finding him.

When he returned, it was Katherine who successfully intervened with Rob's father. Later in the third season, for unexplained reasons, Rob's last name became Joiner. Bill and Cassie Parker (Eugene Roche and Cathryn Damon) leased the Victorian house to the Papadopoulos' during the show's second and third seasons, until George and Katherine bought it outright (this was Damon's last TV series role, as she died from cancer a year after leaving Webster). A thread of drama was added when Bill and Cassie's runaway daughter and grandson appeared for one episode, setting up a tearful reunion.

Jerry, who was a more prominent member of show in the first season (receiving the "co-starring" heading in the opening credits after the show's three leads), had since become an occasional character, but would continue for the entire series. George's jovial aging father, George Sr. (Jack Kruschen), known to all as "Papa" Papadopolis, began appearing occasionally in the fall of 1985. Over the course of the fourth season, ratings dropped sharply. The show, which had been a Nielsen top 30 series, ranked 46th by the end of the season. ABC chose not to renew Webster.