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ONE SEASON WONDERS: Love and Marriage

On Wednesday, I take a look at shows that lasted one season or less. Here's a look at Love and Marriage!

LOVE AND MARRIAGE
















September 28, 1996 - October 12, 1996
3 episodes
FOX

Starring: Tony Denison, Patricia Healy, Alicia Bergman, Erik Palladino, Adam Zolotin, Adam Wylie, Michael Mantell and Meagen Fay
Created by: Amy Sherman

Plot: Jack (Denison) and April (Healy) are a husband and wife who barely have time for each other or their kids (Palladino, Bergman, & Zolotin) with their busy jobs. They live in New Rochelle and have new neighbors Louis and Trudy (Mantell & Fay) with their son, Max (Wylie).

Brief Pilot Review:
Love and Marriage got me thinking about family comedies. This one is like so many other family comedies that have come before and since. It has a couple who is in love with each other and they love their kids, even though they're often exasperated by their kids. How many times have we seen that in TV history? From the most famous examples like The Cosby Show and Roseanne on down, that has been the premise for an insane number of family comedies. Obviously some, like the ones I just mentioned, are transcendent in their writing and performances. But among the rest of them, why do some of them work and some of them don't when they all follow a simple formula? Because the truth is, this comedy wasn't anything special but it was inoffensive. It was no worse or better than a show like Yes, Dear which ran for years on CBS and yet this ran for three episodes.

I think a lot of that has to do with the timeslot (more on that below) rather than the quality. Because, as I already said, the best and worst thing I can say about this show is it was like zillions of other family comedies, some of which have worked and some of which haven't. Tony Denison and Patricia Healy were...  fine. Their chemistry was... fine. The child actors were... fine. The relationship between the parents and kids was... fine. The neighbors were... fine. I know this is a boring review, but that's just how it was watching the show. It was one giant shrug for me. I'm not shocked it failed but I also wouldn't have been shocked if it had ran for a few years on CBS. 

What Went Wrong:
In the 1990s, FOX went through the same rigmarole on Saturday nights over several seasons. They would try something different - a new drama, a comedy block, etc. Then it inevitably wouldn't work and they would revert back to their tried and true lineup of Cops/Cops/America's Most Wanted. That was the case in the Fall of 1996. The network had Cops at 8pm but held Most Wanted on the bench. They made the big move of moving Married... With Children off of Sunday nights after nearly a decade. The comedy was getting up there in years and FOX wanted the bold move of putting The X-Files on Sunday nights at 9pm. So they need a new spot for Married and gave it a near death knell by putting it on Saturdays at 9pm and pairing it with another loud family sitcom, the new Love and Marriage.

Love and Marriage was not quite as boisterous as its lead-in but they still made a sensible pairing. The show wasn't panned by critics but it was mostly met with a big shrug. The Los Angeles Times called it "another routine sitcom" while Variety was a bit more positive, calling it "sharply written." No one had any real hope for it though. As expected, the Saturday night comedy block flopped quickly. Only three episodes aired before FOX yanked the block and replaced it with, you guessed it, America's Most Wanted. Married... with Children resurfaced on Mondays before ending its long run in Spring 1997 but Love & Marriage was never seen again. Its creator was though as Amy Sherman became Amy Sherman Palladino, best known for Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Tomorrow: My Top 10 Episodes of 2022!
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