Apple Pie (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Apple Pie is an American
television
sitcom that was broadcast on the ABC
network from September 23, 1978 until September 30, 1978. It is based on the play Nourish the Beast, by Steve Tesich
, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1979's Breaking Away
.
Apple Pie starred Rue McClanahan
as lonely hairdresser Ginger-Nell Hollyhock, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri
during the Depression
year of 1933.
"You can't pick your own relatives," goes the old saying, but that is exactly what Ginger-Nell does. Placing classified ads in the local newspapers, she recruits a con-man husband, "Fast Eddie" Murtaugh, played by Dabney Coleman
; a tap-dancing daughter, Anna Marie Hollyhock, played by Caitlin O'Heaney
; a son who wanted to fly like a bird, Junior Hollyhock, played by Derrel Maury; and a tottering old grandfather, Grandpa Hollyhock, played by Jack Gilford
; all of whom come to live together—for the laughs.
When the TV sitcom Maude
ended in early 1978, producer Norman Lear
created Apple Pie as a vehicle for Rue McClanahan, who had played Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude. The show, however, was not well received and was canceled after only two episodes, though eight had been filmed under the direction of Peter Bonerz
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom that was broadcast on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network from September 23, 1978 until September 30, 1978. It is based on the play Nourish the Beast, by Steve Tesich
Steve Tesich
Stojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.-Career:...
, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1979's Breaking Away
Breaking Away
Breaking Away is a 1979 American film. A coming of age story, it follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high school. It stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern , Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie and Paul Dooley...
.
Apple Pie starred Rue McClanahan
Rue McClanahan
Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.-Early life:McClanahan was born Eddie Rue...
as lonely hairdresser Ginger-Nell Hollyhock, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
during the Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
year of 1933.
"You can't pick your own relatives," goes the old saying, but that is exactly what Ginger-Nell does. Placing classified ads in the local newspapers, she recruits a con-man husband, "Fast Eddie" Murtaugh, played by Dabney Coleman
Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary...
; a tap-dancing daughter, Anna Marie Hollyhock, played by Caitlin O'Heaney
Caitlin O'Heaney
Caitlin O'Heaney is an American TV, film and stage actress. O'Heaney has worked extensively in live theater, but is best known for playing Sarah Stickney White, the female lead on the ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey in the early 1980s...
; a son who wanted to fly like a bird, Junior Hollyhock, played by Derrel Maury; and a tottering old grandfather, Grandpa Hollyhock, played by Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford was an American actor on Broadway, films and television.-Early life:Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
; all of whom come to live together—for the laughs.
When the TV sitcom Maude
Maude (TV series)
Maude was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with...
ended in early 1978, producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
created Apple Pie as a vehicle for Rue McClanahan, who had played Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude. The show, however, was not well received and was canceled after only two episodes, though eight had been filmed under the direction of Peter Bonerz
Peter Bonerz
Peter Bonerz is an American actor and director who is best known as the character Dr. Jerry Robinson on The Bob Newhart Show....
.