| Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Paul Mazursky Larry Tucker |
| Written by | James S. Henerson Bernard M. Kahn |
| Directed by | Rick Edelstein Leo Penn |
| Starring | Robert Urich Anne Archer David Spielberg Anita Gillette |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 12 (7 aired) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | James S. Henerson |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Frankovich Enterprises, in association with Screen Gems |
| Distributor | Columbia Pictures Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | 26 September 1973 – 7 November 1973 |
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was a situation comedy broadcast in the United States by ABC as part of its 1973 fall lineup. It was based on the movie of the same title. It was produced by Screen Gems.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was of necessity somewhat different from the R-rated 1969 movie upon which it was based. The film involved the (short-lived) desire of the two title couples to engage in a sexual foursome, which would have been obviously unacceptable on U.S. broadcast television in 1973. Instead, it made do with plots which were attempts at titilation by the broadcast standards of the time, but which stood a chance of surviving the censors at the network's Division of Standards and Practices. These included skinny dipping, premarital sex, and unmarried couples cohabiting, which were still thought to be racy topics for network television by many at the time. Generally, Ted and Alice Henderson were more conservative than the "liberated" Bob and Carol Sanders. No members of the original film cast reprised their roles in the series.
Apparently, the show was too tame to appeal to the crowds who had gone to see the movie, but still too risqué for much of the general television viewing public, as it received very low Nielsen ratings, also because it had to compete with CBS's Top 10 hit The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and NBC's Top 30 hit Adam-12 and was canceled less than two months after its premiere.
The show is perhaps best remembered for featuring a then eleven-year old Jodie Foster as Ted and Alice's daughter. (This differed from the movie version, in which the characters had actually had a son, rather than a daughter.)
Contents |
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "Can I Help It If She's Crazy About Me?" | September 26, 1973 |
| 1-2 | "Alice's Wild Oat" | October 3, 1973 |
| 1-3 | "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (pilot) | October 10, 1973 |
| 1-4 | "I'm Not Jealous, Only Curious" | October 17, 1973 |
| 1-5 | "Open Marriage, Closed Mind" | October 24, 1973 |
| 1-6 | "Nobody Wants To Talk About It" | October 31, 1973 |
| 1-7 | "The Bare Truth Hurts" | November 7, 1973 |
| 1-8 | "Such Good Friends" | unaired* |
| 1-9 | "Walk A Mile In My Clogs" | unaired* |
| 1-10 | "Double, Double, Doyle & Trouble" | unaired* |
| 1-11 | "Inadmissable Evidence" | unaired* |
| 1-12 | "My Butcher Is A Thief" | unaired* |
*These episodes finally appeared on USA Cable Network, with the rest of the series, in 1984.
Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows