The Chicago Teddy Bears
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| The Chicago Teddy Bears | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Directed by | Norman Tokar Leslie H. Martinson Gary Nelson |
| Starring | Ann Sothern(pilot only) Dean Jones Jamie Farr Art Metrano Marvin Kaplan Mickey Shaughnessy Huntz Hall John Banner |
| Theme music composer | Jerry Fielding |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Jerry Thorpe Hy Averback |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 17, 1971 – December 10, 1971 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Chicago Teddy Bears was a short lived American sitcom that aired on CBS. The series was part of the networks 1971 fall lineup, premiering on September 17, 1971.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Prohibition-era Chicago has always been fodder for plots about its intrigues, ever since it was contemporary; most of the resulting entertainment has centered around violent confrontations between criminal gangs and the police or between factions of gangsters and while it might occasionally contain comic elements functioning as comic relief, the bulk of it was generally unsentimental, as seen in The Untouchables. However, The Chicago Teddy Bears was basically a straight sitcom, where the threat of violence was mainly inferential rather than overt; unlike the group which inspired the show's title, the Chicago Bears, then and now the city's NFL team, these "bears" were not particularly aggressive.
In The Chicago Teddy Bears, Linc McCray (Dean Jones) and his Uncle Latzi (John Banner) were partners in a speakeasy. As it was fairly successful, small-time hood Nick Marr (Art Metrano) wanted to muscle in on it. Actually, Nick was also Linc's first cousin and also Latzi's nephew; the naive Latzi couldn't believe that another one of his nephews could really be anything but a fine boy. However, Marvin the bookkeeper (Marvin Kaplan) and Linc's inept bodyguards, notably Duke (Jamie Farr), were very frightened of Nick.
Actually, this series was originally intended as a comeback vehicle for Ann Sothern, whose last regular TV role had been as the voice of My Mother The Car. In the pilot of The Chicago Teddy Bears, she played a street vendor (of flowers) who was intended to be a mediator between Linc and Nick. Apparently the CBS brass found her role quite unconvincing, and she was written out of the actual series.
[edit] Cancellation
Due to a the show's timeslot, opposite The Brady Bunch, the series received low ratings and was cancelled by CBS after only three months on the air.
[edit] References
- Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows
