Oh Madeline
Oh Madeline is an American sitcom television series starring Madeline Kahn that aired on ABC from September 27, 1983 to March 13, 1984. It was based on the British sitcom Pig in the Middle that aired on ITV from 1980 until 1983.
| Oh Madeline | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Based on | Pig in the Middle by Terence Brady & Charlotte Bingham |
| Developed by | Tom Werner Marcy Carsey |
| Directed by | J.D. Lobue |
| Starring | Madeline Kahn James Sloyan Louis Giambalvo Jesse Welles Francine Tacker |
| Composers | Dan Foliart Howard Pearl |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Tom Werner Marcy Carsey |
| Producer | Irma Kalish |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Carsey-Werner Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 27, 1983 – March 13, 1984 |
| Related | |
| Pig in the Middle | |
Overview
The show revolves around Madeline Wayne, a housewife bored after 10 years of marriage to Charlie, a sweet but square man who made his living writing steamy romance novels under the name Crystal Love. Madeline's best friend was Doris, a timid divorcee previously married to Charlie's best friend, a middle-aged swinger named Bob. Annie was Charlie's amorous editor.
Madeline, bored with her predictable, sedate existence in a middle-class suburb, and wanting to put some zest back in into her life, decides to try every trendy diversion that she can find - such as seaweed-based health foods, exercise clubs, and "ladies only" clubs featuring male strippers.
The show contained a lot of slapstick comedy, as well as marital misunderstandings in the tradition of I Love Lucy. The show is notable as the first television show produced by Carsey-Werner Productions, which would go on to produce numerous sitcoms with comedians as leads over the next several decades. Kahn would work with Carsey-Werner again on Cosby (which was also based on a British sitcom One Foot in the Grave) in 1996 until her death in 1999.
Cast
- Madeline Kahn - Madeline Wayne
- James Sloyan - Charlie Wayne
- Louis Giambalvo - Robert Leone
- Jesse Welles - Doris Leone
- Francine Tacker - Annie McIntyre
- Randee Heller - Faye
US ratings
| Season | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Nielsen Rank | Nielsen Rating[1] | Tied With |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983-84 | 18 | September 27, 1983 | March 13, 1984 | 50 | 15.1 | Diff'rent Strokes, Matt Houston |
Episodes
| Nº | Title | Director | Written by | Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "That Was No Lady" | J.D. Lobue | Irma Kalish | September 27, 1983 | |
| Madeline creates a mess when she is trapped in the bathroom of Doris's ex-husband during a clandestine mission to help Doris retrieve her diary. | |||||
| 2 | "Mummy Dearest" | J.D. Lobue | Neal Marlens | October 4, 1983 | |
| At a masquerade party, Doris accuses Madeline of flirting with her husband when she mistakes him for Charlie in a mummy costume. | |||||
| 3 | "Portrait of the Artist with a Young Man" | J.D. Lobue | Unknown | October 18, 1983 | |
| Madeline signs up for a pottery class and befriends a young student, Tony (Franc Luz), unaware of his amorous intentions. | |||||
| 4 | "All the World's a Stage" | J.D. Lobue | Unknown | October 25, 1983 | |
| Madeline tries to convince a new friend that her acting partner at the community playhouse is actually her husband. | |||||
| 5 | "Book of Love" | J.D. Lobue | Bruce Ferber & David Lerner | November 1, 1983 | |
| Madeline is shocked to find Charlie in a romantic pose with an actress (Trisha Noble) whose memoirs recount her long-ago affair with him. | |||||
| 6 | "To Ski or Not to Ski" | J.D. Lobue | Cindy Begel & Lesa Kite | November 8, 1983 | |
| After she forces a reluctant Charlie to go on a ski weekend together, Madeline tries to keep him from finding out that she has injured her ankle in a skiing accident. | |||||
| 7 | "Madeline Acts Forward at the Retreat" | J.D. Lobue | Unknown | November 22, 1983 | |
| After Madeline criticizes an egotistical novelist (Jeffrey Tambor), he becomes passionately obsessed with her. | |||||
| 8 | "Chances Are" | J.D. Lobue | Cindy Begel and Lesa Kite | November 29, 1983 | |
| Madeline believes that singer Johnny Mathis is actually a celebrity impersonator that Robert hired to perform at her high school reunion. | |||||
| 9 | "The Write Stuff" | J.D. Lobue | Barton Dean | December 6, 1983 | |
| Madeline ropes Doris into a wacky plan to retrieve every copy of a newspaper edition that she believes contains an article that is damaging to Charlie's career. | |||||
| 10 | "Sisters" | J.D. Lobue | Richard Rosenstock & Roy Teicher, Barton Dean & Neal Marlens | December 13, 1983 | |
| Madeline's long-lost sister Joyce (Melanie Chartoff) comes to visit and sets her romantic sights on Robert and Charlie. | |||||
| 11 | "Ah, Wilderness" | J.D. Lobue | Robert Sternin & Prudence Fraser | January 3, 1984 | |
| Madeline and Charlie end up in jail when they help an innocent-looking man while on a camping trip. | |||||
| 12 | "Monday Night Madeline" | J.D. Lobue | Barton Dean | January 10, 1984 | |
| Madeline becomes personally involved in a wrestling match after landing a job as a television sports commentator. | |||||
| 13 | "The Lady and the Lamp" | J.D. Lobue | Richard Rosenstock & Roy Teicher, Barton Dean & Neal Marlens | January 17, 1984 | |
| Madeline panics when she wakes up in Robert's bed with a hangover and no recollection of what happened the night before. | |||||
| 14 | "Things That Go Bump in the Night" | J.D. Lobue | Lisa A. Bannick | January 24, 1984 | |
| Madeline makes a valiant effort to protect Robert from his girlfriend's jealous ex-boyfriend on the same night a burglar strikes. | |||||
| 15 | "My Mother the Carnal" | J.D. Lobue | Neal Marlens | January 31, 1984 | |
| Madeline is shocked when she discovers her prim-and-proper mother (Geraldine Fitzgerald) had an affair with a stand-up comedian (Bill Macy) several years ago. | |||||
| 16 | "Ladies' Night Out" | J.D. Lobue | Austin & Irma Kalish | February 21, 1984 | |
| On a night out with Doris and Faye, Madeline dances with male strippers and then loses a fortune in money at a gambling casino. | |||||
| 17 | "Play Crystal for Me" | J.D. Lobue | Robert Sternin & Prudence Fraser, Barton Dean & Neal Marlens | February 28, 1984 | |
| Madeline disguises herself as a flamboyant author so she can appear on a TV talk show with a competing romance novelist (Charles Ludlam), who is a man posing as a woman. | |||||
| 18 | "A Little Fight Music" | J.D. Lobue | Robert Sternin & Prudence Fraser | March 13, 1984 | |
| Faye invites Madeline to perform in a concert staged by the community theater, but Madeline gets stage fright and is unable to sing during the audition. | |||||
Syndication
Oh Madeline briefly aired on USA Network in the early 1990s. An attempt to revive the show as The Madeline Kahn Show was proposed by Metromedia Producers Corporation for the 1985-1986 season, but the deal never happened.[2]
Awards and nominations
Kahn was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1984, losing to Joanna Cassidy for the series Buffalo Bill.
References
- "1983-84 Ratings History -- The Networks Are Awash in a Bubble Bath of Soaps".
- "Madeline's back" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 7, 1985. p. 194. Retrieved October 24, 2023.