Apple Pie (TV series)

Apple Pie

Apple Pie promotional photo
Format Sitcom
Created by Norman Lear
Starring Rue McClanahan
Dabney Coleman
Jack Gilford
Caitlin O'Heaney
Derrel Maury
Country of origin USA
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 8 (only two were broadcast)
Production
Running time approx. 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run September 23, 1978 – September 30, 1978

Apple Pie is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on the ABC network from September 23, 1978 until September 30, 1978. It is based on the play Nourish the Beast, by Steve Tesich, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1979's Breaking Away.

Apple Pie starred Rue McClanahan as lonely hairdresser Ginger-Nell Hollyhock, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri during the Depression year of 1933.

"You can't pick your own relatives," goes the old saying, but that is exactly what Ginger-Nell does. Placing classified ads in the local newspapers, she recruits a con-man husband, "Fast Eddie" Murtaugh, played by Dabney Coleman; a tap-dancing daughter, Anna Marie Hollyhock, played by Caitlin O'Heaney; a son who wanted to fly like a bird, Junior Hollyhock, played by Derrel Maury; and a tottering old grandfather, Grandpa Hollyhock, played by Jack Gilford; all of whom come to live together—for the laughs.[1]

When the TV sitcom Maude ended in early 1978, producer Norman Lear created Apple Pie as a vehicle for Rue McClanahan, who had played Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude. The show, however, was not well received and was canceled after only two episodes, though eight had been filmed under the direction of Peter Bonerz.[2]

References

  1. ^ Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946-Present (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 33.
  2. ^ Intimate Portrait: Rue McClanahan. DVD. Directed by Lee Grant. 2000; (Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2005).

External links