Webster (TV series)

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Webster was a sitcom which premiered on ABC on September 16, 1983, and ran on that network until September 11, 1987, but continued in first-run syndication until 1989.

The show, set in Chicago, revolved around Webster Long, a seven-year-old African-American orphan (played by Emmanuel Lewis) whose biological parents were recently killed in a car accident. He is taken in by George Papadopolous (played by Alex Karras), with whom his late father played professional football in the 1970s, and his wife Catherine (played by Susan Clark), a blue-blooded socialite with no housekeeping skills whatsoever.

Webster constantly refers to Catherine as "Ma'am" and often gets around their house by using a dumb-waiter. The move to the home was caused by Webster burning down the family's apartment with a science kit in his closet.

The show also delved into more creepy matters when it was revealed that the new home has a secret passage way behind a clock and that a full size female doll is kept in a room in which a young girl died.

Webster also dealt with his uncle, played by Ben Vereen, that consistently wanted to adopt Webster and take him to live on the south side of Chicago with "his people."

The final episode was termed a "very special episode" and featured Webster leaving Ma'am and George after a successful lawsuit by his uncle forced Webster to live with his Aunt Charmaine in the Robert Taylor Homes federal housing project of Chicago. Webster is delighted to find a job as the bat boy for the Chicago White Sox at the nearby Comiskey Park, but he laments no longer living with the two people who raised him through some formative years. Webster is shown having to deal with crime for the first time in his life and his diminutive size quickly causes him problems with more street tough residents. His future is left clouded as the final shot features him being surrounded by a gang of street thugs. The plan was for the situation to be resolved at the start of the next season, but the show's subsequent cancelation thwarted any attempt to do so.