All's Fair

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All's Fair
Richard Crenna Bernadette Peters Alls Fair 1977.JPG
Crenna and Peters
FormatSitcom
Created byNorman Lear
StarringRichard Crenna
Bernadette Peters
Michael Keaton
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes24
Production
Running timeapprox. 0:30
(per episode)
Broadcast
Original channelCBS
Original runSeptember 20, 1976 – April 30, 1977
All's Fair is an American television situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1976 to 1977. The show co-stars Richard Crenna as a conservative political columnist and Bernadette Peters as a liberal photographer and concerns their romantic mismatch because of age and political opinions. This is the television series debut of actor Michael Keaton as Lanny Wolf. Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role. Although the show received some good reviews, it lasted only one season.

Plot[edit]

In Washington, D.C., an older (49) conservative columnist Richard C. Barrington (Richard Crenna) and a young (23) liberal photographer Charlotte (Charley) Drake (Bernadette Peters) become romantically involved. The complications of their politics and the age difference provide the story lines. They are "separated by politics, generation gap, manners and living styles".[1]
Barrington is a gourmet cook who lives in a luxurious Washington townhouse, and Drake is a vegetarian. Barrington has a girl friend, a literary agent (Salome Jens), when he first meets Drake.[2] The style of the show is "almost constant hysteria, the rapid pacing set to the sounds of argumentative shouting."[1]

Cast and crew[edit]

Cast
Source: Nostalgia Central[3]
Crew

Reception[edit]

The reviewer for Knight News Wire wrote that the show "looks like the best new comedy series of the year...The show looks sound in both writing and acting ... the characters spend a lot of time shouting. Lear seems to have decided ... that high-decibel dialogue is necessary to hold the attention of a large audience."[6]
The critic for The New York Times wrote that "The casting is first-rate and the finger-snapping pace of the show leaves just about everything looking easy and undemanding.[2]
The reviewer for Copley News Service wrote that he did not believe in the relationship (between Crenna and Peters). However, he wrote that "it works. It works because Crenna is an expert farceur and Peters is, well, cute and full of the old ginger. It works because the dialogue has crackle and wit. ... Peters has spunk and spirit and a bawdy and snappishly delightful wit ... a well-paced, intelligently conceived and altogether trenchant comedy and I don't see how it can miss."[7]

Awards and nominations[edit]

  • Golden Globe, 1977, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical - Bernadette Peters (nominated)[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b O'Connor, John J. "TV View. Competition Makes Networks Go Rigid", The New York Times, September 26, 1976, page D29
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b O'Connor, John J. "TV: An Odd, Late Season That Is Full of Gaps: Few New Shows Promising, but Most Follow Formula Old Sitcom Series Return in Slightly Altered Guise", The New York Times , September 20, 1976, p. 46
  3. Jump up^ " 'All's Fair'" Nostalgia Central
  4. Jump up^ Stein, Ben and Burton, Al. "Chapter 22" 26 Steps to Succeed in Hollywood (2006), books.google.com, Hay House. Inc., ISBN 13-978-1-4019-0700-6, p.68
  5. Jump up^ Sipos, Thomas M. "Ben Stein -- Portrait Of A Hollywood Republican" hollywoodinvestigator.com, September 28, 2003
  6. Jump up^ Winfrey, Lee. " 'All's Fair' Hot New Show" Boca Raton News, Knight News Wire (news.google.com), September 20, 1976
  7. Jump up^ Freeman, Don. "All's Fair' has Lear Touch" Beaver County Times (Copley News Service), news.google.com, October 7, 1976
  8. Jump up^ "Bernadette Peters Golden Globe Wins and Nominations", Goldenglobes.org, accessed April 15, 2012

External links[edit]