''Beverly Hills Buntz'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series and a spin-off of the acclaimed police drama ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

''. Beverly Hills Buntz aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from November 5, 1987, to April 22, 1988.

Overview

The show was a half-hour dramedy, a hybrid between light

private eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

fare and a

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 ...

. The main character, Norman Buntz, was previously seen as a morally and ethically questionable cop on ''

'', which was a dramatic series (this series is one of a handful of examples of a series in one genre, drama, spinning off a series in another: comedy). The series has the character quitting the police force, moving to

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

, and becoming a private investigator. In a programming experiment,

president

Brandon Tartikoff Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...

announced that this show would be a "designated hitter" and was originally given prize time slots once a month following ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'' and ''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portray ...

''. The other two "designated hitters" that season were the

Bruce Weitz Bruce Peter Weitz (born May 27, 1943) is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker in the TV series ''Hill Street Blues'', which ran from 1981 until 1987. Weitz won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

and

Nancy Walker Nancy Walker (born Anna Myrtle Swoyer; May 10, 1922 – March 25, 1992) was an American actress and comedian of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director (lending her talents to ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', on wh ...

sitcom, ''

Mama's Boy Mother's boy, also commonly and informally mummy's boy or mama's boy, is a term for a man seen as having an unhealthy dependence on his mother at an age at which he is expected to be self-reliant (e.g. live on his own, be economically independent) ...

,'' and the second season of the

Edward Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' an ...

drama ''

The Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...

''. Eventually, Buntz was scheduled Fridays at 9:30pm between ''Night Court'' and ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

'' in March 1988. ''Night Court'' and ''Buntz'' were unsuccessful, but ''Miami Vice'' gained a fifth season with an improved performance having moved from 9pm back to 10pm. Three pilots of ''Buntz'' were filmed including one by director

Hal Ashby William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The Russ ...

. Thirteen episodes were filmed, of which only nine were broadcast. The first episode was broadcast November 5, 1987 and the last on April 22, 1988. The series starred

Dennis Franz Dennis Franz Schlachta (; born October 28, 1944), known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–2005), a role that ea ...

as Norman Buntz, and

Peter Jurasik Peter Jurasik ( ; born April 25, 1950) is an American actor known for his television roles as Londo Mollari in the 1990s science fiction series ''Babylon 5'' and Sid the Snitch on the 1980s series ''Hill Street Blues'' and its short-lived spin ...

as Sid "The Snitch" Thurston.

Dana Wheeler-Nicholson Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (born October 9, 1960) is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in the films '' Fletch'' (1985), '' Tombstone'' (1993), ''Fast Food Nation'' (2006) and '' Parkland'' (2013). She is also known for her role ...

joined the cast and former ''Blues'' character Irwin Bernstein played by

George Wyner George Wyner (born October 20, 1945) is an American film and television actor. Wyner graduated from Syracuse University in 1968 as a drama major and was an in-demand character actor by the early 1970s. Wyner has made guest appearances in over 10 ...

made an appearance.

Cast

as Norman Buntz *

as Sid Thurston *

as Rebecca Griswold

Episodes

References

External links

* {{MTM Enterprises 1980s American crime television series 1980s American sitcoms 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings American crime comedy television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television shows set in Beverly Hills, California American television spin-offs Television series by MTM Enterprises Television series created by David Milch