Who's Watching the Kids
Encyclopedia
Who's Watching the Kids is a 1978 sitcom
on NBC
starring Caren Kaye
, Lynda Goodfriend
, Scott Baio
and Tammy Lauren
. It was produced by Garry Marshall
, who was partly responsible for ratings domination over at rival ABC
at the time with his string of hits (Happy Days
, Laverne & Shirley
, Mork & Mindy, et al.). The series originated as the pilot special Legs, which NBC aired on May 19, 1978. Who's Watching the Kids premiered on September 22, 1978 and lasted until December 15, 1978.
showgirls sharing their lives together, each with a younger sibling in tow. Raving blonde beauty Stacy Turner (Caren Kaye
) and voluptuous brunette Angie Vitola (Lynda Goodfriend
) were close friends living their dream as Vegas performers at a local venue, Club Sand Pile. The club may have been third rate, but it was the perfect launching pad for the girls' career aspirations. While Stacy and Angie shared an apartment together, added responsibilities were present from the get-go, since both had custody of their much younger siblings. Living with them were Angie's 15-year-old brother Frankie (Scott Baio
) and Stacy's 9-year-old kid sister Melissa (Tammy Lauren
). Frankie and Melissa were rambunctious and worldly, and were forever getting into trouble; they loved to cook up schemes that would get them access to everything Sin City had to offer, including, for Frankie (who styled himself as "the Fox") closer opportunities to make time with the other beautiful women who performed at Club Sand Pile.
Stacy and Angie had to divide their time between their careers and keeping the kids on the straight and narrow, but it was always a challenge. In order to ease their situation, they acquired the help of their next door neighbor, aspiring journalist Larry Parnell (Larry Breeding) to watch the kids while they were off performing. Larry found himself alternating between the roles of family friend and foe, as he often had to chase Frankie and Melissa around in the midst of their scrapes every week. The two liked having Larry around, but they stopped at nothing to undermine anyone's supervision. Larry hoped someday to become a successful writer/reporter, but in the meantime had only made it to covering garden and weather reports at local TV station KVGS. Larry's friend and main cameraman at KVGS, the klutzy Bert Gunkel (James Belushi
), also lived in the building and often helped Larry keep an eye on Frankie and Melissa.
Also in the cast were Mitzi Logan (Marcia Lewis
), the heavyset host and owner of Club Sand Pile, who in addition to helping Angie and Stacy land their big break, was also their landlady. Memphis O'Hara (Lorrie Mahaffey) was a singer at the club, and was the most prominent object of Frankie's affection, although Frankie also made attempts to become friendly with Venus (Shirley Kirkes) and Bridget (Elaine Bolton), two other dancers at the club and close cohorts to Stacy and Angie.
spin-off Blansky's Beauties
, which starred Nancy Walker
. Blansky's Beauties had a very similar plotline to what became Who's Watching the Kids: a bevy of Las Vegas showgirls seeking fame and fortune under the watchful eye of den mother and choreographer Nancy Blansky (Walker). Kaye, Goodfriend, Kirkes and Bolton were four of Blansky's showgirls, and Baio, in his first TV series role, played Anthony DeLuca, a 12-year-old romeo who was always trying to score with the older beauties.
Blansky's Beauties was cancelled after half a season, but apparently Garry Marshall refused to give up on the idea of a sitcom with a Las Vegas showgirls theme. Marshall took the basis of Blansky's Beauties and retooled it for a new series concept, that mainly focused on just a gang of sexy young ladies trying to make it on their own in the Vegas entertainment world, without the aid of an older confidant or the presence of children. The concept proved to be even more sexually-driven than Blansky's Beauties or of what Who's Watching the Kids proved to be, and was thus given the title Legs. NBC was interested in the new project, and agreed to a pilot which would be aired in the spring of 1978 as a one-time special. If the special was highly rated, they would commit to a weekly series. Four of the original Blansky beauties - Kaye, Goodfriend, Kirkes and Bolton - were hired back by Marshall to star in Legs. For Lynda Goodfriend, this was a second transition from one Marshall series to another. After the cancellation of Blansky's, Goodfriend took up Marshall's offer to join the cast of the red-hot Happy Days as the 1977-78 season began, playing Lori Beth Allen, the new love interest of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard
). If Legs went on to be a successful series, it is presumed that Marshall would have written off the character of Lori Beth on Happy Days in order for Goodfriend to commit to her co-starring role on the new show.
Legs was successful as a one time special when it aired in May 1978; therefore, NBC provided a berth for the series on its 1978 fall schedule. However, the network talked with Marshall about adding more of a family appeal to the sex-farce sitcom, which he eventually agreed to. This new tweak in the format prompted Marshall to add two young kids to the cast, and he did so by hiring another one of his Happy Days actors away, Scott Baio, who, like Lynda Goodfriend, had also joined the cast of that series in the fall of 1977. Baio had become familiar to Happy Days viewers as Charles "Chachi" Arcola, cousin of Fonzie
(Henry Winkler
). He and young actress Tammy Lauren were entered into the fray of Legs as two kids who lived with their showgirl sisters. Only now, two showgirls instead of four would be the main focus; Kaye and Goodfriend were chosen to be the top-billing stars, while Kirkes and Bolton were relegated to smaller supporting roles. Marshall re-wrote the format so the kids could be well-integrated; the ultimate catch in the re-write was the dilemma Kaye and Goodfriend's characters faced as they were always busy in their performing career: "just who will be watching the kids?" Alas, the series' permanent title came forth from this.
For its second week on the air (September 29, 1978), the original Legs pilot was repeated as the second episode of Who's Watching the Kids. It is unclear why NBC chose the pilot to air after the first WWTK episode to feature the permanent version of the cast, since the Legs pilot did not feature many of the same characters and plotlines that made it to the final product of WWTK. However, it has been speculated that the network wanted to ensure that the series would maintain the same large audience that the Legs pilot had, if it were packaged as an episode of WWTK.
After Who's Watching the Kids failed to make a good impression in the ratings, a few of its cast members would again defect to other Garry Marshall series. Scott Baio and Lynda Goodfriend promptly returned to Happy Days in early 1979, in the same roles they had left. Baio, as Chachi Arcola, would transfer over to one more Marshall series before the end of his career phase with this producer. In early 1982, he and Happy Days star Erin Moran
received their own spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi
. Meanwhile, Tammy Lauren was immediately hired for the supporting role of Hilary Benson on Marshall & Miller/Milkis/Boyett's new ABC
sitcom Angie
, which premiered in February 1979. After the first season of Angie concluded, the producers decided to move Lauren over to an even larger role, as Stacey Richards on their new fantasy-based sitcom Out of the Blue
, which only lasted 10 episodes in the fall of 1979. Marcia Lewis
later became a co-star on Marshall's 1940s-era comedy Goodtime Girls
, which lasted half a season in early 1980. Lynda Goodfriend later appeared in a play at the Lee Strasberg Center, in 1984, called "Four Stars." It was written for the stage by a fledgling writing team at the time, Schulte and Mahony, and they retooled the story into a teleplay with Goodfriend's assistance; Goodfriend went on to direct the project as a video special, which starred Julie Paris (daughter to famous hysterical actor and "Happy Days" director Jerry Paris). The production was financed by Henderson Productions (Garry Marshall), who helped cast the intimate ensemble show.
, who was launching his career just as his brother John
was in the midst of his own mania as a popular Saturday Night Live
and movie star.
A young actor by the stage name of Cole Dammett guest-starred on a few episodes of Who's Watching the Kids. After a string of minor TV guest roles and supporting roles in films during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dammett became a full-time musician under his real name of Anthony Kiedis
, and with long-time friends of his, formed the Red Hot Chili Peppers
.
Constance McCashin
guest starred in the episode "Love Finds Bert Gunkel" (aired November 3, 1978) as Sybil, Larry's elegant English cousin, whom Bert falls for. The following season, McCashin would begin her famous eight-year role as Laura Avery Sumner on Knots Landing
.
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...
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...
starring Caren Kaye
Caren Kaye
Caren Kaye is an American television and film actress who is best known for her roles in the 1983 film My Tutor and the short-lived NBC sitcom It's Your Move.- Career :...
, Lynda Goodfriend
Lynda Goodfriend
Lynda Goodfriend is an American actress who is best remembered as Lori Beth Cunningham , Richie's girlfriend and later to become his wife on the TV sitcom, Happy Days. Prior to that, she played Ethel "Sunshine" Akalino on the short-lived series Blansky's Beauties...
, Scott Baio
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
and Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren is an American actress who has appeared in film and television. She starred in Wishmaster, portraying Alexandra Amberson, a young woman who accidentally awakens the Djinn, a powerful spirit more commonly known as a genie.-Career:To date, Wishmaster is the only feature film in which...
. It was produced 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...
, who was partly responsible for ratings domination over at rival 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...
at the time with his string of hits (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....
, Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
, Mork & Mindy, et al.). The series originated as the pilot special Legs, which NBC aired on May 19, 1978. Who's Watching the Kids premiered on September 22, 1978 and lasted until December 15, 1978.
Synopsis
The titilating sitcom centered around two sexy Las VegasLas Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
showgirls sharing their lives together, each with a younger sibling in tow. Raving blonde beauty Stacy Turner (Caren Kaye
Caren Kaye
Caren Kaye is an American television and film actress who is best known for her roles in the 1983 film My Tutor and the short-lived NBC sitcom It's Your Move.- Career :...
) and voluptuous brunette Angie Vitola (Lynda Goodfriend
Lynda Goodfriend
Lynda Goodfriend is an American actress who is best remembered as Lori Beth Cunningham , Richie's girlfriend and later to become his wife on the TV sitcom, Happy Days. Prior to that, she played Ethel "Sunshine" Akalino on the short-lived series Blansky's Beauties...
) were close friends living their dream as Vegas performers at a local venue, Club Sand Pile. The club may have been third rate, but it was the perfect launching pad for the girls' career aspirations. While Stacy and Angie shared an apartment together, added responsibilities were present from the get-go, since both had custody of their much younger siblings. Living with them were Angie's 15-year-old brother Frankie (Scott Baio
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
) and Stacy's 9-year-old kid sister Melissa (Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren
Tammy Lauren is an American actress who has appeared in film and television. She starred in Wishmaster, portraying Alexandra Amberson, a young woman who accidentally awakens the Djinn, a powerful spirit more commonly known as a genie.-Career:To date, Wishmaster is the only feature film in which...
). Frankie and Melissa were rambunctious and worldly, and were forever getting into trouble; they loved to cook up schemes that would get them access to everything Sin City had to offer, including, for Frankie (who styled himself as "the Fox") closer opportunities to make time with the other beautiful women who performed at Club Sand Pile.
Stacy and Angie had to divide their time between their careers and keeping the kids on the straight and narrow, but it was always a challenge. In order to ease their situation, they acquired the help of their next door neighbor, aspiring journalist Larry Parnell (Larry Breeding) to watch the kids while they were off performing. Larry found himself alternating between the roles of family friend and foe, as he often had to chase Frankie and Melissa around in the midst of their scrapes every week. The two liked having Larry around, but they stopped at nothing to undermine anyone's supervision. Larry hoped someday to become a successful writer/reporter, but in the meantime had only made it to covering garden and weather reports at local TV station KVGS. Larry's friend and main cameraman at KVGS, the klutzy Bert Gunkel (James Belushi
James Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
), also lived in the building and often helped Larry keep an eye on Frankie and Melissa.
Also in the cast were Mitzi Logan (Marcia Lewis
Marcia Lewis
Marcia Lewis was an American character actress and singer. She has been nominated twice for the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and twice for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical .-Biography:Lewis was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and raised in...
), the heavyset host and owner of Club Sand Pile, who in addition to helping Angie and Stacy land their big break, was also their landlady. Memphis O'Hara (Lorrie Mahaffey) was a singer at the club, and was the most prominent object of Frankie's affection, although Frankie also made attempts to become friendly with Venus (Shirley Kirkes) and Bridget (Elaine Bolton), two other dancers at the club and close cohorts to Stacy and Angie.
Connections to other Garry Marshall series
Who's Watching the Kids employed several actors who were already familiar faces from shows produced by Garry Marshall and/or his associates, the team of Thomas L. Miller, Edward K. Milkis, and Robert L. Boyett. Those who had already worked with them all were Caren Kaye, Lynda Goodfriend, Scott Baio, Shirley Kirkes and Elaine Bolton. These five originally appeared together as co-stars on Marshall's short-lived 1977 Happy DaysHappy 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....
spin-off 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:...
, which starred 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...
. Blansky's Beauties had a very similar plotline to what became Who's Watching the Kids: a bevy of Las Vegas showgirls seeking fame and fortune under the watchful eye of den mother and choreographer Nancy Blansky (Walker). Kaye, Goodfriend, Kirkes and Bolton were four of Blansky's showgirls, and Baio, in his first TV series role, played Anthony DeLuca, a 12-year-old romeo who was always trying to score with the older beauties.
Blansky's Beauties was cancelled after half a season, but apparently Garry Marshall refused to give up on the idea of a sitcom with a Las Vegas showgirls theme. Marshall took the basis of Blansky's Beauties and retooled it for a new series concept, that mainly focused on just a gang of sexy young ladies trying to make it on their own in the Vegas entertainment world, without the aid of an older confidant or the presence of children. The concept proved to be even more sexually-driven than Blansky's Beauties or of what Who's Watching the Kids proved to be, and was thus given the title Legs. NBC was interested in the new project, and agreed to a pilot which would be aired in the spring of 1978 as a one-time special. If the special was highly rated, they would commit to a weekly series. Four of the original Blansky beauties - Kaye, Goodfriend, Kirkes and Bolton - were hired back by Marshall to star in Legs. For Lynda Goodfriend, this was a second transition from one Marshall series to another. After the cancellation of Blansky's, Goodfriend took up Marshall's offer to join the cast of the red-hot Happy Days as the 1977-78 season began, playing Lori Beth Allen, the new love interest of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
). If Legs went on to be a successful series, it is presumed that Marshall would have written off the character of Lori Beth on Happy Days in order for Goodfriend to commit to her co-starring role on the new show.
Legs was successful as a one time special when it aired in May 1978; therefore, NBC provided a berth for the series on its 1978 fall schedule. However, the network talked with Marshall about adding more of a family appeal to the sex-farce sitcom, which he eventually agreed to. This new tweak in the format prompted Marshall to add two young kids to the cast, and he did so by hiring another one of his Happy Days actors away, Scott Baio, who, like Lynda Goodfriend, had also joined the cast of that series in the fall of 1977. Baio had become familiar to Happy Days viewers as Charles "Chachi" Arcola, cousin of Fonzie
Fonzie
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days . He was originally a secondary character, but eventually became the lead...
(Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
). He and young actress Tammy Lauren were entered into the fray of Legs as two kids who lived with their showgirl sisters. Only now, two showgirls instead of four would be the main focus; Kaye and Goodfriend were chosen to be the top-billing stars, while Kirkes and Bolton were relegated to smaller supporting roles. Marshall re-wrote the format so the kids could be well-integrated; the ultimate catch in the re-write was the dilemma Kaye and Goodfriend's characters faced as they were always busy in their performing career: "just who will be watching the kids?" Alas, the series' permanent title came forth from this.
For its second week on the air (September 29, 1978), the original Legs pilot was repeated as the second episode of Who's Watching the Kids. It is unclear why NBC chose the pilot to air after the first WWTK episode to feature the permanent version of the cast, since the Legs pilot did not feature many of the same characters and plotlines that made it to the final product of WWTK. However, it has been speculated that the network wanted to ensure that the series would maintain the same large audience that the Legs pilot had, if it were packaged as an episode of WWTK.
After Who's Watching the Kids failed to make a good impression in the ratings, a few of its cast members would again defect to other Garry Marshall series. Scott Baio and Lynda Goodfriend promptly returned to Happy Days in early 1979, in the same roles they had left. Baio, as Chachi Arcola, would transfer over to one more Marshall series before the end of his career phase with this producer. In early 1982, he and Happy Days star Erin Moran
Erin Moran
Erin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...
received their own spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi
Joanie Loves Chachi
Joanie Loves Chachi is an American television spin-off of the popular American sitcom Happy Days that was originally broadcast on ABC from March 23, 1982 to September 13, 1983...
. Meanwhile, Tammy Lauren was immediately hired for the supporting role of Hilary Benson on Marshall & Miller/Milkis/Boyett's new 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...
sitcom Angie
Angie (TV series)
Angie is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast by the ABC network from February 1979 until October 1980.-Premise:Philadelphia coffee shop waitress Angie Falco starts a romance with customer Bradley Benson...
, which premiered in February 1979. After the first season of Angie concluded, the producers decided to move Lauren over to an even larger role, as Stacey Richards on their new fantasy-based sitcom Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue (1979 TV series)
Out Of The Blue is an American fantasy sitcom that aired on ABC during the fall of 1979. It is chiefly notable as having featured a Mork & Mindy crossover, and for the controversy surrounding its status as a spin-off of Happy Days....
, which only lasted 10 episodes in the fall of 1979. Marcia Lewis
Marcia Lewis
Marcia Lewis was an American character actress and singer. She has been nominated twice for the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and twice for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical .-Biography:Lewis was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and raised in...
later became a co-star on Marshall's 1940s-era comedy Goodtime Girls
Goodtime Girls
Goodtime Girls was a short-lived situation comedy produced by Garry Marshall and his associates, Thomas L. Miller, Edward K. Milkis, and Robert L. Boyett, which ran on ABC from January 22, 1980 to August 29, 1980...
, which lasted half a season in early 1980. Lynda Goodfriend later appeared in a play at the Lee Strasberg Center, in 1984, called "Four Stars." It was written for the stage by a fledgling writing team at the time, Schulte and Mahony, and they retooled the story into a teleplay with Goodfriend's assistance; Goodfriend went on to direct the project as a video special, which starred Julie Paris (daughter to famous hysterical actor and "Happy Days" director Jerry Paris). The production was financed by Henderson Productions (Garry Marshall), who helped cast the intimate ensemble show.
Before they were stars
This was the TV sitcom debut for James BelushiJames Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
, who was launching his career just as his brother John
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
was in the midst of his own mania as a popular Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and movie star.
A young actor by the stage name of Cole Dammett guest-starred on a few episodes of Who's Watching the Kids. After a string of minor TV guest roles and supporting roles in films during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dammett became a full-time musician under his real name of Anthony Kiedis
Anthony Kiedis
Anthony Kiedis is an American vocalist/lyricist, and occasional actor best known as the lead vocalist of the Grammy-winning American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his mother before moving, shortly before his 12th birthday, to Hollywood,...
, and with long-time friends of his, formed the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
.
Constance McCashin
Constance McCashin
Constance McCashin is an American actress.McCashin was born in Chicago. She is best known for her role as Laura Avery Sumner on the prime time drama Knots Landing, which she played from the show's debut in 1979 until 1987 when the character died of a brain tumor and her funeral was the basis of...
guest starred in the episode "Love Finds Bert Gunkel" (aired November 3, 1978) as Sybil, Larry's elegant English cousin, whom Bert falls for. The following season, McCashin would begin her famous eight-year role as Laura Avery Sumner on Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
.
External links
- Who's Watching the Kids on the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...