Tucker's Witch

Tucker's Witch
Starring Tim Matheson
Catherine Hicks
Theme music composer Brad Fiedel
Opening theme Brad Fiedel
Ending theme Brad Fiedel
Composer(s) Brad Fiedel (unaired pilot, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12)
Shirley Walker (1.6)
J.A.C. Redford (1.7)
George Kahn (co-composer on episodes 1.11, 1.12)
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons One
No. of episodes 12 (pilot not aired)
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Hill/Mandelker Films
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format Color
Original release October 6, 1982 – June 9, 1983

Tucker's Witch is a comedy-detective series that aired on CBS television from October 6, 1982, to November 10, 1982, and again sporadically from March 31 to June 9, 1983. It starred Tim Matheson and Catherine Hicks as a charming married couple, Rick and Amanda Tucker, who own and operate their private detective agency in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Amanda possesses psychic powers, which is an asset in solving cases but also tend to get the pair into various troubles.[1]

Pilot

The show's pilot was originally filmed in early 1982 as The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon, and starred Art Hindle and Kim Cattrall. In May 1982, CBS announced the series had been picked up with that title and cast.

However, over the summer of 1982 the film Porky's debuted in the United States. The film contained a notably racy scene with Cattrall, and received negative critical attention overall, despite its box office success. CBS suddenly demanded that Cattrall be let go from the series, and that the pilot be reshot with a new female lead.[2][3] Catherine Hicks replaced Kim Cattrall, and in fact the whole cast and even the show's title changed: Tim Matheson came in for Art Hindle (Hindle had also played a small role in Porky's), and the show was retitled Tucker's Witch. The original pilot was never aired.

Broadcast history

Tucker's Witch aired at 10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesdays in its first run, and proved unable to compete with ABC's Dynasty and NBC's Quincy, M.E.. The show was placed on hiatus after six episodes had aired; months later, it was brought back to burn off the remaining episodes. The program was switched to Thursday for the second half of its run.[4]

In later rebroadcasts on the USA Network, the program was retitled The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon—the series' originally-intended title.[5]

The show was produced by Hill-Mandelker Films.

Cast

Episodes

The series pilot, in which Art Hindle and Kim Cattrall played Rick and Amanda, was never broadcast.

Ted Danson played an elevator killer in the 1982 premiere episode during the same season he began playing bartender Sam Malone on Cheers.[6][7] Danson first was seen as Sam Malone on the September 30th premiere episode of Cheers and then seen on Tucker's Witch on October 6, six days later.[8] The better known guest stars in Tucker's Witch included Barry Corbin, Simon Oakland, Ted Danson, Joe Penny, and Noble Willingham.[9]

# Episode Release Date
1 The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon October 6
2 Big Mouth October 13
3 The Corpse Who Knew Too Much October 20
4 The Curse of the Toltec Death Mask October 27
5 Terminal Case November 3
6 Abra-Cadaver November 10
7 Dye Job March 31
8 Psyche Out April 7
9 Rock Is a Hard Place April 14
10 Formula for Revenge April 28
11 Living and Presumed Dead May 5
12 Murder Is the Key[9] June 9

References

  1. ↑ "Tucker's Witch, plot summary". IMDB.com. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
  2. ↑ https://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=In+1982,+she+was+in+the+pilot+for+a+detective+drama,+%22+Tucker%27s+Witch+.%22+CBS+recast+the. Retrieved October 31, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ Jicha, Tom (September 21, 2003). "Long before Sex and the City, Cattrall was the victim of one of the most childish episodes in TV history. In the spring of 1982, she was cast to star in a CBS fall series called The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon. That summer Porky's featured Cattrall's racy scene in the gym. Nowadays, a network would do contortions to get a star like that on the air. Back then, the CBS brass ordered the series reshot with a new female lead, which turned out to be Catherine Hicks. It also was retitled Tucker's Witch. The show quickly cratered.". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 42.
  4. ↑ 1982-1983 American network television schedule
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ https://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=CBS%27+Tucker%27s+Witch+series+during+the+same+season+he+began+pl+aying+bartender+Sam+Malone+on+Cheers. Retrieved October 31, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ https://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=He+was+first+seen+as+Sam+Malone+on+the+Sept.+30+premiere+episode+of+Cheers.+Six+days+later,+on+Oct.+6,+he+had+his+ups+and+downs+on+the+first+Tucker%27s+Witch+. Retrieved October 31, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. 1 2 "Tucker's Witch Episodes listing". IMDB.com. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
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