''Bagdad Cafe'' is an American television

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 ...

starring

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

and

Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actor, character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and dev ...

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 Entertainmen ...

. The series premiered March 30, 1990, and ran two seasons before being cancelled in winter 1990. The last two episodes aired in July 1991. The show is based on the 1987

Percy Adlon Paul Rudolf Parsifal "Percy" Adlon (; born 1 June 1935) is a German director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his film ''Bagdad Cafe''. He is associated with the New German Cinema movement (ca. 1965–1985), and has been noted f ...

film ''

Bagdad Cafe ''Bagdad Cafe'' (sometimes ''Bagdad Café'', titled ''Out of Rosenheim'' in Germany) is a 1987 English-language West German film directed by Percy Adlon. It is a comedy-drama set in a remote truck stop and motel in the Mojave Desert in the U.S. st ...

''.

Cast

as Brenda *

as Jasmine *

James Gammon James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series. Gammon portrayed Lou Brown, the manager in the movies '' Major League'' and ' ...

as Rudy *

Monica Calhoun Monica Calhoun (born July 29, 1971) is an American film and television actress. Calhoun is best known for her roles in the films ''Bagdad Cafe'', ''The Players Club'', '' The Salon'', '' The Best Man'', and its sequel ''The Best Man Holiday''. Ca ...

as Debbie *

Scott Lawrence Scott Lawrence (born September 27, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role as Cmdr. Sturgis Turner on the CBS series '' JAG''. Lawrence played the role from 2001 until 2005, when the series ended. He is also known for being the maj ...

as Juney *

Cleavon Little Cleavon Jake Little (June 1, 1939 – October 22, 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He began his career in the late 1960s on the stage. In 1970, he starred in the Broadway production of ''Purlie'', for which he earned both ...

as Sal In this version, Jasmine was not German.

Production

The series was shot in the conventional

format, in front of a studio audience. The show did not obtain a sizable audience, being forced to compete with ABC's Top 20 hit ''

Family Matters ''Family Matters'' is an American television sitcom that debuted on ABC on September 22, 1989, and ended on May 9, 1997. However it moved to CBS, where it was shown from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-off of '' Perfect Strangers ...

'' and was cancelled after two seasons. Insiders say that production of the series ended on November 16, 1990, after a dispute between Goldberg and the show's co-executive producer,

Thad Mumford Thaddeus Quentin Mumford Jr. (February 8, 1951 – September 6, 2018) was an American television producer and writer. He wrote and produced for a number of television series spanning different genres, including ''The Cosby Show'', ''A Different Wo ...

. Executive producer Kenneth Kaufman was told that Goldberg called CBS president Jeff Sagansky in late November to say that she was quitting the show. With no time to recast Goldberg's role, CBS ended the series and pulled the remaining episodes from the broadcast schedule.

Episodes

Fifteen episodes were produced, and are registered with the

United States Copyright Office The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who are ...

.From the United States Copyright Office catalog:

Season 1 (1990)

Season 2 (1990–91)

Reception

Ken Tucker of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' rated the series a C, saying that "rarely has a bad sitcom been better acted". Despite being impressed with the acting from Stapleton and Little, Tucker was disappointed that the producers did not hire better writers, to match the quality of the movie on which the series is based. Howard Rosenberg of the ''Los Angeles Times'' said the show's premiere "doesn't click tonight, it yields no laughs". However, John J. O'Connor of ''The New York Times'' remarks that "the stars seem to be enjoying themselves immensely", and compliments the director of the pilot noting, "Paul Bogart, a sitcom miracle worker, directs the first episode with enough aplomb to qualify himself as a master illusionist".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0098746, Bagdad Cafe 1990 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms 1990s American black sitcoms CBS original programming English-language television shows Live action television shows based on films Television shows set in California Television series by New World Television Television series by CBS Studios