The Famous Teddy Z

The Famous Teddy Z is an American sitcom that aired on CBS during the fall of 1989. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and inspired by the true story of Jay Kantor, who was a mailroom clerk at MCA and later became Marlon Brando's agent.^[1]

Synopsis

The series starred Jon Cryer as Theodore "Teddy" Zakalokis, a young man working in a Hollywood talent agency in order to avoid being stuck in his Greek-American family's bakery. When Hollywood star Harland Keyvo (a caricature of Marlon Brando) meets Teddy Z, he is so impressed by his honesty that he makes him his new agent. The humor is derived from Teddy's innocent approach to the business, contrasted with the snake-like behavior of his fellow agents. The cast also included Jane Sibbett, Alex Rocco, Milton Selzer, Josh Blake, and Erica Yohn. Rocco's character, Al Floss, also made a crossover appearance on Murphy Brown, as the agent for several of that show's characters.

The series pilot was seen to be far stronger than subsequent episodes, but the series received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one for the pilot, and for Alex Rocco, who won an Emmy as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, but low ratings led CBS to drop it with five episodes unaired. It was later run in its entirety on Comedy Central in 1993 with episodes introduced by Rocco, and by Trio under the heading "Brilliant But Canceled."^[2]

Cast

• Jon Cryer.....Theodore "Teddy" Zakalokis
• Alex Rocco.....Albert "Al" T. Floss
• Josh Blake.....Aristotle "Ari" Zakalokis
• Tom LaGrua.....Richard "Richie" Herby
• Milton Selzer.....Abe Werkfinder
• Jane Sibbett.....Laurie Parr
• Erica Yohn.....Deena Zakalokis

Production notes

The theme song was written by Guy Moon, Stephanie and Steve Tyrell and performed by Bill Champlin of the rock group, Chicago.

Episode list

Season 1

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• The Famous Teddy Z at the Internet Movie Database
• The Famous Teddy Z at TV.com
• The Famous Teddy Z at epguides.com