Angie (Sitcom)

Angie (TV series)

Genre: sitcom

Created by: Garry Marshall and Dale McRaven

Developed by: Alan Eisenstock and Larry Mintz

Starring: Donna Pescow, Robert Hays. Doris Roberts, Debralee Scott, Diane Robin, Tammy Lauren, and Sharon Spelman

Theme music composer: Norman Gimbel (Lyrics) and Charles Fox

Opening theme: "Different Worlds" performed by Maureen McGovern

Country of origin: United States

Original language(s): English

No. of seasons: 2

No. of episodes 36

Production

Executive producer(s): Bob Ellison, Dale McRaven, Leonora Thuna

Producer(s): Alan Eisenstock, Bruce Johnson, Larry Mintz

Camera setup: Multi-camera

Running time: 24 minutes

Production company(s): Miller-Milkis Productions and Paramount Television

Distributor: CBS Television Distribution

Broadcast

Original channel: ABC

Audio: format Monaural

Original run: February 8, 1979 – September 4, 1980

Angie is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast by the ABC network from February of 1979 to October of 1980.

Premise

Philadelphia coffee shop waitress Angie Falco (Donna Pescow) starts a romance with customer Bradley Benson (Robert Hays). She assumes he is an impoverished student, but he proves to be a pediatrician from a wealthy family, presumably residents in the Main Line region of the city's suburbs. (In response to Angie asking him just how wealthy, he replied, "You've heard of 'filthy rich?' We're disgusting.")

The other Falco family members are Angie's divorced mother Theresa (Doris Roberts) and her younger sister Marie (Debralee Scott). Brad's relatives consist of his stuffy father Randall (John Randolph), his divorced sister, the overbearing Joyce (Sharon Spelman), and Joyce's daughter Hilary (Tammy Lauren). Angie forms a close bond with Hilary.

Angie and Bradley later marry, merging their two very different families: the blue-blooded Bensons and the urban Italian-American Falcos. The characters of Hilary Benson and Didi Malloy were not continued after the first season. Angie and Theresa later open a beauty parlor together, where they had to contend with a pleasure seeking hairstylist, Gianni (Tim Thomerson).

Characters

Angelina "Angie" Falco, later Angie Benson, is the title character. At first a waitress at the Liberty Coffee Shop in Philadelphia, she meets her prince charming, Brad Benson, M.D., who worked at the medical center across the street. Angie then eloped with him, because of the families arguing about the wedding details, but conceded to a small wedding. Brad eventually bought Angie the coffee shop to keep her busy, but she would later sell it to help her mother buy a beauty salon.

Bradley Benson, M.D., is Angie's wealthy boyfriend and, later, her husband. A pediatrician at the medical center across from where Angie worked, the two fell in love immediately. They eloped, but agreed to a small family wedding. At first, he and Angie lived in his large home which he inherited from his father, but it intimidated Angie, so they moved to a smaller duplex home, where they had their living space upstairs and Brad saw his young patients downstairs.

Theresa Falco is Angie's and Marie's mother. The owner of a news stand, which she ran for years after her husband deserted the family. She, inexplicably, still put a place at the table for him. She loved Brad, and wanted to make sure that he loved Angie. It astonished, and indeed horrified, her that Angie had eloped with Brad, but she convinced her daughter to have a small Catholic wedding. In the second season, she sold the news stand, and, with Angie's help, bought a beauty salon called Rose's House of Beauty.

Marie Falco is Theresa's younger daughter, and Angie's younger sister. She works nights at a day care center, and doesn't like it.

Diedre "DiDi" Malloy is Angie's loudmouthed friend and co-worker at the Liberty Coffee Shop. She was not seen in the second season.

Joyce Benson is Brad's snobby thrice-married older sister. She was seeing a psychiatrist about her third divorce, made all the more difficult because her psychiatrist hated her. The mother of Hillary, she did not hate Angie, but she did not like her either, because she felt Brad could have married someone of their own station, and she felt Angie was not worthy enough to marry her brother.

Hillary Benson is Joyce's daughter, who was not seen in the second season. She was happy about her uncle's marriage and she loved her new aunt.

Randall Benson is Brad's and Joyce's father and Hillary's grandfather. He was, at first, bemused by Angie, but he realized that she loved Brad and he her, and so grew to like her.

Phipps is the Benson family butler. He liked Angie.

Gianni is the hairdresser at Rose's House of Beauty, the beauty salon that Angie and Theresa bought. He was always chasing after his female clients to the annoyance of Angie and Theresa.

Mary Mary; Mary Grace; and Mary Katherine are three former school mates of Angie's. They were also her close friends.

Production

Although Thomas L. Miller, Robert L. Boyett, and Edward K. Milkis were the show's supervising producers for the second season, the show was produced by Miller-Milkis Productions at Paramount Television. Angie was also one of the few Miller-Milkis productions that did not take place in Miller's hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Theme song

The show's theme song, "Different Worlds," was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox and performed by Maureen McGovern. "Different Worlds" peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, McGovern's only #1 on that chart.

Main cast

Cancellation

The show was a ratings hit during its first half-season on air. It ranked fifth for the 1978-79 season with a 26.7 average household share, thanks in big part to Thursday night lead-in Mork & Mindy, which ranked No. 3. All of the top-five shows in 1978-79 were ABC comedies, with the others Laverne & Shirley (No. 1), Three's Company (No. 2) and Happy Days (tying Mork & Mindy at No. 3).

However, ratings for Angie dropped drastically after a move to Tuesday for the start of the 1979-80 season, even though the show was placed between Happy Days and Three's Company. (ABC moved Laverne & Shirley in an effort to bolster ratings on other nights.) Viewers lost interest in the interplay between the two lead characters after they were married in the season premiere, and many critics noted that much of the previously feisty chemistry that Pescow and Hays demonstrated on screen was apparently compromised once their characters were wed.

The show was cancelled in its second season. Thirty-six episodes in total were produced.

Episode list

Season 1 (1979)

№/ Title/ Original air date

1 "The Proposal" February 8, 1979

2 "Wedding Wings" February 15, 1979

3 "The Elopement" February 22, 1979

4 "The Morning After" March 1, 1979

5 "The Adjustment" March 15, 1979

6 "Theresa's Date" March 22, 1979

7 "The House Guests" March 29, 1979

8 "The Opportunity" April 12, 1979

9 "Joyce's Job" April 19, 1979

10 "The First Fight" April 26, 1979

11 "Angie's Good Deed" May 10, 1979

12 "The Check Up" May 17, 1979

Season 2 (1979-1980)

№/ Title/ Original air date

13 "Angie's Old Friends" September 11, 1979

14 "The First Separation" September 18, 1979

15 "Moving Day" September 25, 1979

16 "Marie's Crush" October 2, 1979

17 "The Gift" October 23, 1979

18 "The Thief" October 30, 1979

19 "Vinnie's Return" November 6, 1979

20 "Uncle Cheech" November 13, 1979

21 "Family Feud" November 20, 1979

22 "Harvey's Mother" November 27, 1979

23 "Mary Mary Marries" December 4, 1979

24 "The Gambler" December 11, 1979

25 "Coffee Wars" December 18, 1979

26 "Angie and Brad's Close Encounter" January 14, 1980

27 "The Beauty Shop" January 21, 1980

28 "Theresa's Gigolo" February 4, 1980

29 "Marie Moves Out" February 11, 1980

30 "Brad's Best Buddy" April 12, 1980

31 "February Fever" April 19, 1980

32 "The President's Coming, the President's Coming!" April 26, 1980

33 "The Kid Down the Block" July 31, 1980

34 "Friends in Need" August 7, 1980

35 "Angie and Joyce Go to Jail" September 4, 1980

36 "Angie and the Doctor" Unaired

Syndication

Reruns aired on ABC Daytime from June 17 to September 20, 1985, as well as on TV Land in the late 1990s.