Temperatures Rising
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Temperatures Rising was an American television situation comedy that ran from September 12, 1972 to August 29, 1974 on the ABC network.
The network had a good deal of faith in the low-rated series, which went through three cast changes, two different formats, and two time slots during its run.
Initially, the show was set at Washington, D.C.'s Capital General Hospital, presided over by chief of surgery Vincent Campanelli (James Whitmore). In its second season, the overhauled series became The New Temperatures Rising Show and Capital General was transformed into a private medical facility owned by Martha Mercy (Sudie Bond) and run by her penny-pinching son Paul (Paul Lynde). Cleavon Little was the sole survivor of the original cast. Media reports at the time stated that ABC research indicated that viewers liked Temperatures Rising but disliked James Whitmore, whereas viewers liked Paul Lynde but not The Paul Lynde Show. Therefore, the positive items were combined. Due to plummeting ratings, the network cancelled the show mid-season, but resuscitated it - with still more changes in cast (most notably, Alice Ghostley replaced Bond in the role of Paul's sister Edwina) and premise - in the summer of 1974, when it ran for two months before being cancelled permanently.
William Asher, who worked for years on then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery's Bewitched, produced TR for Screen Gems. He brought Lynde onto the cast following the failure of a separate sitcom during 1972-73, a show intended as a vehicle for the comedy actor (he played a recurring character on Bewitched) and regular on the game show Hollywood Squares.
[edit] Cast
- Sudie Bond as Martha Mercy (Second cast)
- John Dehner as Dr. Charles Claver (Second cast)
- Nancy Fox as Nurse Ellen Turner (First cast)
- Alice Ghostley as Edwina Moffitt (Third cast)
- Cleavon Little as Dr. Jerry Noland (All three casts)
- Jeff Morrow as Dr. Lloyd Axton (Second cast)
- Paul Lynde as Dr. Paul Mercy (Second and third cast)
- Joan Van Ark as Nurse Annie Carlisle (First cast)
- James Whitmore as Dr. Vincent Campanelli (First cast)
