''Billy'' 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 ...

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 ...

from February 26 to April 28, 1979. The series was based on

Keith Waterhouse Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. Biography Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...

and

Willis Hall Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with h ...

's 1960

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

play ''

Billy Liar ''Billy Liar'' is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse that was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and been featured in a number of popular songs. The semi-comical story is about William Fisher, ...

'' and their 1973-74 TV series of the same name.

Synopsis

''Billy'' stars

Steve Guttenberg Steven Robert Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including '' Cocoon'', ''Police Academy'', ''Three Men a ...

as Billy Fisher, a mortician's clerk with a tendency to daydream. His

Walter Mitty Walter Jackson Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's first short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and in book form in '' My World—and Welcome to It'' in 1942. Thurber ...

-like tendency would have him imagining that he was a famous surgeon, a rock superstar, a

disk jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

, a television network executive, or a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

star. Each episode of ''Billy'' had at least two of his fantasies, which included appearances by

Don Adams Donald James Yarmy (April 13, 1923 – September 25, 2005), known professionally as Don Adams, was an American actor. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the television situation comedy ''Ge ...

Suzanne Somers Suzanne Marie Somers (née Mahoney; born October 16, 1946) is an American actress, author, singer, businesswoman, and health spokesperson. She appeared in the television role of Chrissy Snow on ''Three's Company'' and as Carol Foster Lambert on ...

Larry Csonka Larry Richard Csonka (; born December 25, 1946) is a former professional American football fullback who played for the Miami Dolphins for the majority of his career, along with the New York Giants for three years, and a short stint with the Mem ...

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...

, and

Lou Ferrigno Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (; born November 9, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles; and appeared in the documentar ...

Peggy Pope Florence Margaret "Peggy" Pope (May 15, 1929 – May 27, 2020) was an American actress of stage, television and film. Early life Pope was born in Montclair, New Jersey. Her father was a notable doctor in the area. She graduated from Smith Col ...

and James Gallery portray Billy's often-frustrated parents (she thought Billy had a vivid imagination; he viewed Billy as a chronic, compulsive liar).

Paula Trueman Paula Trueman (April 25, 1897 – March 23, 1994) was an American film, stage and television actress.Year of birth confirmed by 1920, 1930 and 1940 US census records as well as her 1922 U.S. passport application.

played his grandmother, who believed that Billy was insane, Bruce Talkington played Billy's friend Arthur Milliken, a fellow worker at Shadrack and Shadrack funeral home and Michael Alaimo as Billy's employer.

Reception

''Billy'' replaced ''

Co-Ed Fever ''Co-Ed Fever'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS in 1979. The series attempted to capitalize on the success of the motion picture ''National Lampoon's Animal House''. It was the third of three "frat house" comedy series to air in early 1 ...

'' in CBS' Monday night lineup during February 1979, when the latter series was cancelled after one episode. ''Billy'' did only slightly better and was cancelled two months later, its last episode broadcast by CBS on April 28, 1979. It ranked 76th out of 114 shows that season, with an average 15.0/24 rating/share.https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/79-OCR/BC-1979-06-18-OCR-Page-0056.pdf#search=%22rounding%20up%20the%20ratings%22

Episode list

References

* *

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0078573, Billy 1979 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms American television series based on British television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows about death Television shows set in New York City