The Nancy Walker Show
Encyclopedia
The Nancy Walker Show was a short-lived situation comedy
produced by Norman Lear
and starring Nancy Walker
. It aired for half a season on ABC
, premiering on September 30, 1976 and running until December 23, 1976. The series was a starring vehicle provided to Ms. Walker after she gained a new-found television following as both maid Mildred on NBC
's McMillan & Wife and as Ida Morgenstern, mother of Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper
), on CBS
' Rhoda
; these roles had been preceded by a long, successful career in Broadway
and movies.
, who led a life that many would find enviable. Nancy operated her agency from her fancy apartment suite, which housed a stream of actors, models, and other showbiz hopefuls who came to Nancy to get advice and their big break; that is, if they weren't famous already. She was happily married, but her husband of 29 years, Lt. Commander Kenneth Kitteridge (William Daniels
) was stationed out with the U.S. Navy ten months out of the year, leaving Nancy even more time to devote to her career and all the exciting perks and adventures of a high society Los Angeles life. During the two months that Ken was home, he and Nancy found themselves as newlyweds madly in love. Nancy and Ken had a grown daughter, slow-witted hypochondriac Lorraine (Beverly Archer
), who lived nearby with her new husband, Glen (James Cromwell
). Although Nancy was hardly lonely when Ken was away, she did have regular male company at home and work (which were practically the same) in unemployed actor and client Terry Folson (Ken Olfson), who was living with his agent while paying room and board as Nancy's secretary. Nancy never had to worry about anything more developing between them, since Terry was gay.
However, all this happiness was soon marred when unexpectedly, Ken decided to come home full time and work locally, primarily to make up for nearly three decades of lost time and devotion to Nancy. Nancy would have been delighted, if it weren't for the fact that Ken insisted on bringing Navy-style order and discipline into her life, while suggesting that other changes be made around their love nest that would better accommodate him. Needless to say, Nancy was aghast, and their fast repartee and squabbles were a centerpiece of the comedy. While Ken and Nancy often sparred over Ken's prim conduct, hubby also went as far as trying to throw Terry out of their place (he was "deadwood" in Ken's eyes), and at one point suggested to Nancy that she close down the talent agency so that they could have enough time to spend together. Lorraine and Glen often dropped by to help them sort their disagreements out.
Also seen were hot-shot network TV executive Teddy Futterman (William Schallert
), who met with Nancy whenever one of her clients had a shot at further stardom, and Futterman's precocious young son, Michael (Sparky Marcus
).
with the character of Terry Folson. The public was not surprised that trailblazing producer Norman Lear would for once provide the viewing landscape with a gay character, regularly, in a TV series (since it was still rare and uncharted at the time), considering that Lear had been the first to introduce virginal topics such as racism
, class structure, menopause
, abortion
, and the like within a traditional sitcom format. However, at least one American
TV series had preceded The Nancy Walker Show with a regular character who was gay; the 1972-73 ABC sitcom The Corner Bar
was the first in TV history to have one, with Vincent Schiavelli
's bar patron Peter Panama.
When Nancy Walker signed on to star in this series, her new contract with ABC permitted her to quickly join another existing project before the 1976-77 season ended if The Nancy Walker Show was cancelled after a very short run. The show was cancelled after 10 episodes, and without wasting any time, Walker was quickly snatched up by Garry Marshall
to star in his upcoming sitcom Blansky's Beauties
, a spin-off from his top-rated Happy Days
. Production on the new series started so quickly that Blansky's Beauties premiered on February 12, 1977, only less than two months after the cancellation and last broadcast of The Nancy Walker Show. Walker also had time to film a guest appearance as her new character, Nancy Blansky (who, like Nancy Kitteridge in her previous series, also worked in showbiz) on an episode of Happy Days in order to validate Blansky's as a spin-off of the former. Rather ironically, Blansky's Beauties also failed in the ratings, and was cancelled in the spring of 1977. Thus, Walker is one of the few actors in television to have starred in two failed vehicles in the same season. After her infamous season at ABC, Walker returned to her popular role as Ida Morgenstern on Rhoda
in the fall of 1977.
buddy of Archie Bunker
's, in a number of episodes of All in the Family
during 1974 (Cromwell's character had only been referred to in the scripts during the show's first few seasons before he finally appeared on-screen). Child actor Sparky Marcus would be cast in Lear's controversial soap opera
parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
soon after the cancellation of The Nancy Walker Show. Marcus' character, child evangelist Jimmy Joe Jeeter, was infamous to Mary Hartman fans for the way he died on the show - bathtub electrocution
by a radio.
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...
produced by 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...
and starring Nancy Walker
Nancy Walker
Nancy Walker was an American actress and comedienne of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director...
. It aired for half a season on 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...
, premiering on September 30, 1976 and running until December 23, 1976. The series was a starring vehicle provided to Ms. Walker after she gained a new-found television following as both maid Mildred 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...
's McMillan & Wife and as Ida Morgenstern, mother of Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...
), on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Rhoda
Rhoda
Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...
; these roles had been preceded by a long, successful career in Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and movies.
Synopsis
Walker portrayed Nancy Kitteridge, owner of the Nancy Kitteridge Talent Agency in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, who led a life that many would find enviable. Nancy operated her agency from her fancy apartment suite, which housed a stream of actors, models, and other showbiz hopefuls who came to Nancy to get advice and their big break; that is, if they weren't famous already. She was happily married, but her husband of 29 years, Lt. Commander Kenneth Kitteridge (William Daniels
William Daniels
William David Daniels is an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild . He is known for his performance as Dustin Hoffman's father in The Graduate , as John Adams in 1776, as Carter Nash in Captain Nice, as Mr. George Feeny in ABC's Boy Meets World, as the voice of KITT in...
) was stationed out with the U.S. Navy ten months out of the year, leaving Nancy even more time to devote to her career and all the exciting perks and adventures of a high society Los Angeles life. During the two months that Ken was home, he and Nancy found themselves as newlyweds madly in love. Nancy and Ken had a grown daughter, slow-witted hypochondriac Lorraine (Beverly Archer
Beverly Archer
Beverly Archer is an American actress.She was born in Oak Park, Illinois. She attended San Francisco State University and UC Santa Barbara where she majored in drama....
), who lived nearby with her new husband, Glen (James Cromwell
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...
). Although Nancy was hardly lonely when Ken was away, she did have regular male company at home and work (which were practically the same) in unemployed actor and client Terry Folson (Ken Olfson), who was living with his agent while paying room and board as Nancy's secretary. Nancy never had to worry about anything more developing between them, since Terry was gay.
However, all this happiness was soon marred when unexpectedly, Ken decided to come home full time and work locally, primarily to make up for nearly three decades of lost time and devotion to Nancy. Nancy would have been delighted, if it weren't for the fact that Ken insisted on bringing Navy-style order and discipline into her life, while suggesting that other changes be made around their love nest that would better accommodate him. Needless to say, Nancy was aghast, and their fast repartee and squabbles were a centerpiece of the comedy. While Ken and Nancy often sparred over Ken's prim conduct, hubby also went as far as trying to throw Terry out of their place (he was "deadwood" in Ken's eyes), and at one point suggested to Nancy that she close down the talent agency so that they could have enough time to spend together. Lorraine and Glen often dropped by to help them sort their disagreements out.
Also seen were hot-shot network TV executive Teddy Futterman (William Schallert
William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert is an American actor who has appeared in many films and in such television series as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, The Patty Duke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Waltons, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Love, American Style, Get...
), who met with Nancy whenever one of her clients had a shot at further stardom, and Futterman's precocious young son, Michael (Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus is an American actor born December 6, 1967 in Hollywood, California. He had a prolific career as a child actor.-Career:...
).
Notability
The Nancy Walker Show was one of TV's earliest portrayals of homosexualityHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
with the character of Terry Folson. The public was not surprised that trailblazing producer Norman Lear would for once provide the viewing landscape with a gay character, regularly, in a TV series (since it was still rare and uncharted at the time), considering that Lear had been the first to introduce virginal topics such as racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, class structure, menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and the like within a traditional sitcom format. However, at least one American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
TV series had preceded The Nancy Walker Show with a regular character who was gay; the 1972-73 ABC sitcom The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar is a short-lived American situation comedy that aired on ABC from 1972–1973. The Corner Bar revolved around the lives of the patrons of a tavern called Grant's Toomb. The series is notable for its inclusion of the first recurring gay character on American television, Peter Panama...
was the first in TV history to have one, with Vincent Schiavelli
Vincent Schiavelli
Vincent Andrew Schiavelli was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television often described as "the man with the sad eyes." He was notable for his numerous and often critically acclaimed cameo appearances.-Early life:Schiavelli was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a...
's bar patron Peter Panama.
When Nancy Walker signed on to star in this series, her new contract with ABC permitted her to quickly join another existing project before the 1976-77 season ended if The Nancy Walker Show was cancelled after a very short run. The show was cancelled after 10 episodes, and without wasting any time, Walker was quickly snatched up by Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
to star in his upcoming sitcom Blansky's Beauties
Blansky's Beauties
Blansky's Beauties is an American sitcom which aired on the ABC network in 1977. The main character of the series was introduced in an episode of Happy Days.-Synopsis:...
, a spin-off from his top-rated Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
. Production on the new series started so quickly that Blansky's Beauties premiered on February 12, 1977, only less than two months after the cancellation and last broadcast of The Nancy Walker Show. Walker also had time to film a guest appearance as her new character, Nancy Blansky (who, like Nancy Kitteridge in her previous series, also worked in showbiz) on an episode of Happy Days in order to validate Blansky's as a spin-off of the former. Rather ironically, Blansky's Beauties also failed in the ratings, and was cancelled in the spring of 1977. Thus, Walker is one of the few actors in television to have starred in two failed vehicles in the same season. After her infamous season at ABC, Walker returned to her popular role as Ida Morgenstern on Rhoda
Rhoda
Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...
in the fall of 1977.
Connections to other Norman Lear series
Two cast members of The Nancy Walker Show worked with Norman Lear more than once in their careers. James Cromwell was previously seen as Stretch Cunningham, a pokerPoker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
buddy of Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
's, in a number of episodes of All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
during 1974 (Cromwell's character had only been referred to in the scripts during the show's first few seasons before he finally appeared on-screen). Child actor Sparky Marcus would be cast in Lear's controversial soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is an American soap opera parody that aired in daily syndication from January 1976 to May 1977. The series was produced by Norman Lear, directed by Joan Darling and starred Louise Lasser...
soon after the cancellation of The Nancy Walker Show. Marcus' character, child evangelist Jimmy Joe Jeeter, was infamous to Mary Hartman fans for the way he died on the show - bathtub electrocution
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
by a radio.