''Hello, Larry'' 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 created by

Dick Bensfield Richard Edward Bensfield (June 18, 1926 – June 24, 2016) was an American producer and screenwriter. He is the creator of the American sitcom television series ''Hello, Larry'', which he created with his writing partner Perry Grant. Career ...

and

Perry Grant Perry Grant (January 26, 1924 – December 12, 2004) was an American producer and screenwriter. He was the co-creator of the American sitcom television series ''Hello, Larry'', which he created with his writing partner Dick Bensfield. Early ...

, starring

McLean Stevenson Edgar "Mac" McLean Stevenson Jr. (November 14, 1927 – February 15, 1996) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in the television series ''M*A*S*H'', which earned him a Golden Glob ...

. It 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 January 26, 1979, to April 30, 1980. Its broadcast run consisted of 38 episodes over two seasons. When ''Hello, Larry'' was created, Bensfield and Grant were veteran writers with résumés going back to ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

'' and ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The ...

.'' They had also worked on '' One Day at a Time'', a

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 ...

sitcom about a single woman raising two teenage daughters alone. The show was produced by

Woody Kling Woody Kling (April 14, 1925 – April 10, 1988) was an American television writer, producer, playwright, and composer. Biography Early life Born Heywood Fisher Kling in New York City, Kling was the son of Mayme and Ken Kling. Ken was a ...

and directed by Doug Rogers.

Synopsis

First season

Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) is a radio talk show host who left

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

after being

divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

and moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, with his two teenage daughters, Diane (played in the first season by

Donna Wilkes Donna Consuelo Wilkes (born 1958–1961) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor in commercials before making her feature film debut in ''Jaws 2'' (1978). She subsequently had a supporting role in ''Almost Summer'' (1978), ...

and in the second season by Krista Errickson) and Ruthie (played by

Kim Richards Kim Erica Richards (born September 19, 1964) is an American actress, socialite, and television personality. She began her career as a child actress, and rose to prominence from her roles in ''Nanny and the Professor'', ''Escape to Witch Mountai ...

). The supporting cast consisted of producer Morgan (

Joanna Gleason Joanna Gleason (née Hall; born June 2, 1950) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is a Tony Award–winning musical theatre actress and has also had a number of notable film and TV roles. She's known for originating the role of the Baker's Wife ...

) and engineer Earl (

George Memmoli George Memmoli (August 3, 1938 – May 20, 1985) was a founding member of the improv troupe Ace Trucking Company and an actor. He was known for his corpulent presence in his roles, weighing as much as 450 pounds. He was a friend and frequ ...

). In the first five episodes, shown at a later primetime slot, centered on Larry at the radio station and his smart-aleck remarks to callers. In these early episodes, Larry is described by

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

as "a buffoon, the cliché TV father". After that point, a "complete turnaround in the direction of the series" was made, concurrent with a move to an earlier time slot, to put the emphasis on the relationship between Larry and his daughters. In its new earlier timeslot, ''Hello, Larry'' aired immediately after NBC's hit ''

Diff'rent Strokes ''Diff'rent Strokes'' is an American television sitcom, which aired on NBC from November 3, 1978, to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985, to March 7, 1986. The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, r ...

''. In the hope of raising the popularity of ''Hello, Larry'', crossovers were created between the two series. By episode 10, "The Trip: Part 2", Larry Alder and Phillip Drummond were revealed to be old Army buddies (with Drummond's company becoming the new owners of Larry's radio station). Some contemporary articles have incorrectly stated that ''Hello, Larry'' was a spin-off of ''Diff'rent Strokes;'' the relationship between the two was the result of

retconning Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

in ''both'' series.

Second season

The trend to focus on Larry and his daughters continued into the second season, with Morgan and Earl being seen less frequently. The show's opening theme lyrics in the second season were changed; the line “the calls are comin' in, you'd better start to grin” in reference to Larry's radio career gave way to “you're raising them just fine, but keep an open mind” when the stories became more focused on the Alder household. In addition, various supporting characters were added in the apartment building where Larry and the girls lived; these included a neighbor, Leona (

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...

), who usually did not approve of Larry's parenting; Tommy (John Femia), a purportedly worldly wise teenage boy who became a love interest for Ruthie; Larry's widowed father (Fred Stuthman), who moved in with the younger Alders; and former

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

player

Meadowlark Lemon Meadow Lemon III (April 25, 1932 – December 27, 2015),"Meadowlark Lemo ...

as himself, running a local sporting-goods store in the series (believed to be an attempt to boost ratings with African-American audiences who had tuned in for ''Diff'rent Strokes''). None of these changes, nor a two-part episode in which Larry's ex-wife Marian (

Shelley Fabares Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares (; born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom ''The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitcom ...

) tried to reconcile with him, were enough to save the show.

Cast

as Larry Alder *

as Ruthie Alder *

as Morgan Winslow *

as Diane Alder (season 1) *

as Earl (season 1) * Krista Errickson as Diane Alder (season 2) *

as Leona Wilson (season 2) *Fred Stuthman as Henry Alder (season 2) *John Femia as Tommy (season 2) *

Meadowlark Lemon Meadow Lemon III (April 25, 1932 – December 27, 2015),"Meadowlark Lemo ...

as himself (season 2)

Broadcast history

Reception

''Hello, Larry'' was greeted by viewers who had high expectations based on series star McLean Stevenson's previous ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

'' association, and was launched the year after Fred Silverman, a man known to launch television hits, had just joined NBC as its president and CEO. By January 1978, Stevenson already had two unsuccessful sitcoms under his belt since leaving ''M*A*S*H''—''

The McLean Stevenson Show ''The McLean Stevenson Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC on Wednesday nights from December 1, 1976, to March 23, 1977. Premise The series centered on Mac Ferguson, the owner of a hardware store in Evanston, Illinois (McLean Stevenso ...

'', which also aired on NBC, in 1976–77, and '' In the Beginning'', which aired at the beginning of the 1978 season on

. The show immediately gained a reputation as a poorly written, unfunny sitcom. A month into its run, ''Hello Larry'' was being lampooned by Johnny Carson on the show's own network; and even after its early retooling toward the relationship with Larry and his daughters, the series was not gaining a strong ratings following. Television reviewers were baffled at ''Hello Larry'''s renewal for the 1979 season, citing its poor writing and a shallow supporting cast. ''Hello, Larr''y was described as a television series that (depending on the writing emphasis) tried either to be offensive or funny, and accomplished neither. It was negatively compared with ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio broadcasting, radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson (director), Hugh Wilson ...

'' for its angle in radio and the early emphasis on racy humor, and then with '' One Day at a Time'' as writing shifted to Larry bringing up his daughters as a single father. ''Hello, Larry'' was canceled in the Spring of 1980 after its second season, having aired 38 episodes. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' ranked the series No. 12 on their "50 Worst Shows of All Time" list in 2002. The show has been used as shorthand for badness. In one example,

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...

said that "

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

's return to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

will be the chilliest reception for a war hero since McLean Stevenson tried to talk his way back onto ''M*A*S*H'' after ''Hello, Larry'' tanked."

References

External links

* {{The Facts of Life 1979 American television series debuts 1980 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms 1980s American sitcoms American television spin-offs English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about families Television series about radio Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Oregon Television shows set in Portland, Oregon