Café Americain is an American

Television in the United States

Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...

 sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 starring Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American actress, best known for her roles as Barbara Cooper Royer on the television series One Day at a Time , Gloria on the television series Touched by an Angel and Melanie Moretti on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland .- Early years :Bertinelli was born in Wilmington,...

 which aired on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 during the 1993-1994 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 season. It was filmed at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank

Burbank, California

Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Overview

Bertinelli played a young American woman, Holly Aldrige, who finds a job working as a waitress in a small café in France. The cast consisted of an assortment of eccentric characters from around the world who regularly visited the café, interacting in many hilarious circumstances. Madame Ybarra, a former dictator's wife, was a thinly veiled spoof of Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos

Imelda R. Marcos is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986...

. Fabiana Borelli, the tempestuous Italian model, and her perpetually jealous Italian lover Carlo, regularly sparred and reconciled, with Carlo declaring of any real or imagined rival, "I kill him! I kill him bad! I kill him two times!" Marcel's on and off relationship with Holly set the stage for comedic interference by several guest star suitors.

Cast

Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American actress, best known for her roles as Barbara Cooper Royer on the television series One Day at a Time , Gloria on the television series Touched by an Angel and Melanie Moretti on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland .- Early years :Bertinelli was born in Wilmington,...

 as "Holly Aldrige"

Lila Kaye as "Margaret Hunt"

Sofia Milos

Sofia Milos

Sofia Milos is an Italian/Greek actress. She is best known for her role as Yelina Salas on CSI: Miami.Milos was born in Zurich, Switzerland, to an Italian father and a Greek mother. In her teens she entered a local beauty pageant, and after winning first prize went on to win the provincial,...

 as "Fabiana Borelli"

Maurice Godin as "Marcel"

Jodi Long

Jodi Long

Jodi Long is an American actress.She was raised in Queens, New York. Her parents are Kimiye , a showgirl performer of Japanese American descent, and Lawrence K...

 as "Madama Ybarra"

Graham Beckel as "Steve Sullivan"

Episodes

No.	Title	Initial airing	Written by:	Directed by:	Guest Starring:
1	Pilot	September 18, 1993	Peter Noah	James Burrows James Burrows James Edward Burrows is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.-Biography:...	Peter Spears, Lilyan Chauvin Lilyan Chauvin Lilyan Chauvin , born Lilyan Zemoz, was a French-American actress, television host, director, writer, former Vice President of Women in Film, author, teacher and private coach.... , Barry Dennen, Lena Pousette
2	Le Confidence Game	September 25, 1993	Peter Noah	Robert Berlinger Robert Berlinger Robert Berlinger is an American television director and producer.-Career:Berlinger was born in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Dartmouth College...	Lilyan Chauvin, Wesley Leong, Phillip Simon, Kevin Mikado, Andre Lachaumette
3	Weekend at Holly's	October 2, 1993	Sarit Catz, Gloria Ketterer	James Burrows	Lilyan Chauvin, Zig Roberts, Shaun Stevens
4	The Language of Really Good Friends	October 9, 1993	Bruce Rasmussen Bruce Rasmussen Bruce Rasmussen is an American television producer. Born in Connecticut, he was supervising producer with the hit TV series Roseanne in 1992 for which he was awarded the Golden Globe, the Peabody, and the Humanitas Prize and went on to produce The Drew Carey Show in 1995 and more recently...	Robert Berlinger	Frank Bruynbroek, Yasemin Baytok, Earl Carroll, Roy Doliner
5	Happy Birthday to Moi	October 16, 1993	Eric Cohen	James Burrows	Shane Fraser, Lilyan Chauvin, Carlos Gomez, Michael J. Kuhlman, Atilla Aszodi
6	Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It?	October 23, 1993	Bill Barol	Robert Berlinger	Elaine Thomas, Joe Alfasa, Roy Doliner
7	Home Alone	November 6, 1993	Bruce Rasmussen Bruce Rasmussen Bruce Rasmussen is an American television producer. Born in Connecticut, he was supervising producer with the hit TV series Roseanne in 1992 for which he was awarded the Golden Globe, the Peabody, and the Humanitas Prize and went on to produce The Drew Carey Show in 1995 and more recently...	Robert Berlinger	Teresa Parente, Eddie Van Halen Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
8	There's No Business Like Show Business	November 13, 1993	Sarit Catz, Gloria Ketterer	Robert Berlinger	Blake Bailey
9	... And Giblets for All	November 20, 1993	Bill Barol	Robert Berlinger	Lorna Scott, Richard Gilbert-Hill, Alex Nevil Alex Nevil Alex Nevil is an American actor and younger brother of 1980s pop musician Robbie Nevil.Alex has maintained a long career as a television guest star, most notably portraying Rebecca Howe's lecherous young boss Martin Teal on Cheers in 1988. He has been married to Allyson Nevil since 2001.-External...
10	Toast of the Town	November 27, 1993	Bruce Rasmussen	Robert Berlinger	Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, as well as portraying Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood for nine episodes and Bob Bishop in Heroes for eleven episodes over the second and third seasons... , Richard Gilbert-Hill
11	Mommy Dearest	December 11, 1993	Sarit Catz, Gloria Ketterer	Robert Berlinger	Philippe Bergeron
12	Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly	December 18, 1993	Eric Cohen	Robert Berlinger	Annette Claudier, Heinrich James, Brent Wisner, Carol Ficatier, Ian Abercrombie Ian Abercrombie Ian Abercrombie is an English actor, best known for playing Alfred Pennyworth in Birds of Prey. He appeared as Elaine Benes' boss Justin Pitt during the sixth season of Seinfeld, and as a fastidious butler on Desperate Housewives.-Biography:He is the cousin of John Abercrombie, a jazz guitarist of...
13	The Dating Game	January 4, 1994	Sarit Catz, David Silverman, Gloria Ketterer, Marcy Gray Rubin	Robert Berlinger	Anthony Guidera
14	Le Date	January 11, 1994	Peter Noah	Robert Berlinger	Luigi Amodeo
15	All about Kelly	January 18, 1994	Sarit Catz, Gloria Ketterer	Robert Berlinger	Yasemin Baytok, Alex Nevil Alex Nevil Alex Nevil is an American actor and younger brother of 1980s pop musician Robbie Nevil.Alex has maintained a long career as a television guest star, most notably portraying Rebecca Howe's lecherous young boss Martin Teal on Cheers in 1988. He has been married to Allyson Nevil since 2001.-External...
16	Love the One You're With	February 8, 1994	Bruce Rasmussen	Matthew Diamond Matthew Diamond Matthew Diamond is an American film and television director, producer and choreographer.He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for directing the documentary film The Dancemaker...	Craig Branham, Shaun Toub, Brian Hamilton, Ken Lerner Ken Lerner Ken Lerner is an American television, stage and film actor who is perhaps most famous for playing "Principal Flutie" in the first episodes of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:... , Christine Estabrook Christine Estabrook Christine Estabrook is an American television and film actress. She has been featured in several motion pictures mostly in supporting roles... , Luigi Amodeo
17	Oh, Brother	May 28, 1994	Sarit Catz, Gloria Ketterer	Pamela Fryman Pamela Fryman Pamela Fryman is an American sitcom director and producer.-Career:Fryman got her first job on The John Davidson Show as an assistant to the talent coordinator, and went on to be a booth production assistant and secretary on Santa Barbara, eventually moving up to Assistant Director , and...	Luigi Amodeo
18	The Fashion Show	May 28, 1994	Eric Cohen	Robert Berlinger	Kim Baronof, Katie Noel Wright, Jack Bannon, Cynthena Sanders

Trivia

Marion Ross

Marion Ross

Marion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...

 was originally cast as Margaret.

The role of Margaret Hunt was also offered to 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...

, but she turned it down.