''Baby, I'm Back'' (stylized onscreen as ''Baby... I'm Back!'') is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in early 1978. The series stars

Demond Wilson Grady Demond Wilson (born October 13, 1946) is an American actor and author. He portrayed Lamont Sanford, the son of Fred Sanford (played by Redd Foxx) in the NBC sitcom ''Sanford and Son'' (1972–77), and Oscar Madison in ''The New Odd Coupl ...

Denise Nicholas Denise Donna Nicholas (born July 12, 1944) is an American actress, author, and social activist. Nicholas is known primarily for her roles as high-school guidance counselor Liz McIntyre on the ABC comedy-drama series ''Room 222'' and Councilwoma ...

Helen Martin Helen Dorothy Martin (July 23, 1909 – March 25, 2000) was an American actress of stage and television. Martin's career spanned over 60 years, appearing first on stage and later in film and television. Martin is best known for her roles as Wand ...

and

Kim Fields Kim Victoria Fields-Morgan ( Fields, formerly Freeman; born May 12, 1969) is an American actress and director. Fields is best known for her roles as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–1988), and as Regine Hu ...

Synopsis

Raymond Ellis is a compulsive gambler who abandoned his family (wife Olivia, son Jordan and daughter Angie) and headed to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Seven years later while in California, Ray finds out that his wife plans to remarry to Colonel Wallace Dickey, and that he has been declared legally dead. This prompts him to move back to Washington, D.C., where he tries to win back Olivia by proving he is a better husband, and a better father to his kids, and to prove that he is still alive. However, he now has to contend with his mother-in-law Luzelle and Olivia's soon-to-be husband Colonel Wallace Dickey.

Production

The pilot was videotaped in September 1977. CBS picked the pilot up as a

mid-season replacement In American network television scheduling, a mid-season replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between December and May. Mid-season replacements usually take place after a ...

, going into production at the

CBS Studio Center Radford Studio Center, alternatively CBS Studio Center, is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. The lot has 18 sound stages from , of office space, and 223 dressing rooms. T ...

lot in November 1977, for airing from January to April 1978. In the book ''Funny You Should Ask: Oral Histories of Classic Sitcom Storytellers'' by Scott Lewellen, Garrett created the show to address the social issue of the time of black males not being able to get jobs to provide for their families. Many had abandoned their families because of it and in this case, the lead character did abandon his family, but once he found work and got his act together, he came back, hence the name of the show. In the show, the mother had a great government job at the Pentagon and lived in a nice apartment. At the time of casting Wilson had just completed ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the United ...

'' and Nicholas was a hot commodity. Garrett saw the chemistry between the two. Nicholas said in a summer 1978 edition of ''

Jet Magazine ''Jet'' is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded in November 1951 by John H. Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois, the magazi ...

'' that she was surprised at the cancellation of the series despite decent ratings. Garrett stated the show was cancelled due to

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning ''All in the Famil ...

wanting ''

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African ...

'' to come back for another season and told CBS that he would create them another show in exchange for it.

Cast

as Raymond Ellis *

as Olivia Ellis * Tony Holmes as Jordan Ellis *

as Angie Ellis *

as Luzelle Carter * Ed Hall as Colonel Wallace Dickey

Episodes

Syndication

Reruns aired occasionally on

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0076982 1978 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings 1970s American black sitcoms 1970s American sitcoms CBS original programming English-language television shows Television shows set in Washington, D.C. Television series by MGM Television