On Wednesdays, I look at shows that lasted on season or less. Today I am looking at late 1980s flop The Ellen Burstyn Show!
THE ELLEN BURSTYN SHOW
Programming Details:
September 20, 1986 - September 5, 1987
12 episodes
ABC
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Megan Mullally, Jesse Tendler, Barry Sobel and Elaine Stritch
Created by: Norman Steinberg and David Frankel
Plot: Ellen Brewer (Burstyn) is a Baltimore college professor living with her overbearing mother, Sydney (Stritch) and recently divorced daughter, Molly (Mullally) as well as young grandson, Nick (Tendler). Rounding out the main cast is student Tom (Sobel).
The pilot begins with Burstyn addressing the camera directly and it's a pretty gentle presence so it appears like the show is going to be more of a "chuckle" type of show than a laugh out loud one. After that first scene, however, it starts to play more like a broad family sitcom. This show had a tremendous cast and they help to elevate so-so writing at times. Burstyn was a warm presence even though she wasn't particularly funny. She seemed like she might be better off as the center of a dramedy instead of a sitcom. A young Megan Mullally had some good deliveries but she certainly is more restrained than what she became on future shows, most famously Will & Grace.
The broadest performance, not surprisingly, comes from Elaine Stritch who seemed to be reveling in playing the vampy Grandma role. She's like a character from The Golden Girls on a different show. I actually found myself wishing they let her be a little bawdier. Her broader style of comedy didn't seem completely out of place because the show doesn't quite have an identity to it so they certainly could have improved the episode by playing to Stritch's considerable strengths. Throughout the episode, the tone continues to waver back and forth between gentle and broad. I was intrigued by the scenes with Burstyn and students. I'm not sure if that became more of a part of the show in later episodes but it actually seemed to fit Burstyn's style more than the family comedy elements did.
The Ellen Burstyn Show was a show whose success hinged on its lead-in. It was much lower profile than its lead-in, which was a boom or bust scenario: Life With Lucy. Unfortunately for Burstyn, Lucy was a bust. And Burstyn was never going to be as strong. So while Lucy started strong in the ratings and cratered quickly, Burstyn was always a step behind that. Ellen Burstyn was already a very established actress with Oscar and Tony wins under her belt. As a result, reviews were mixed but had hints of disappointments and the idea that Burstyn "deserved better" than a standard sitcom.
The series was cancelled at the same time as Life with Lucy and the comedy block was pulled off the lineup in mid-November. Ellen Burstyn did return to the lineup for burn-off episodes in the Summer of 1987 but has been mostly forgotten since then. Of course the biggest name in TV since then is Mullally who has had a great career and occasionally makes references to the show that gave her a start in TV. Stritch continued to have success on stage and an acclaimed recurring role on 30 Rock before her death in 2014. As for Burstyn herself, she has continued to have a successful in movies and television movies primarily including an Academy Award nomination in 2001 and an Emmy win for the miniseries Political Animals in 2012. She is currently earning acclaim for the current Pieces of a Woman. At the age of 88, she is still going strong and her sitcom is nothing but a distant memory.
Tomorrow: A wrap-up look of That 70s Show!
Next Wednesday: A look at 1990s flop The Bonnie Hunt Show!
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