''My Sister Sam'' 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

Pam Dawber Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in ''Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in ''My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988). Early life Dawber was bor ...

and

Rebecca Schaeffer Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model before moving on to acting. In 1986, she landed the role of Patricia "Patti" Russell in the CBS comedy ''My Sis ...

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 ...

from October 6, 1986, to April 12, 1988.

Synopsis

The sitcom follows the lives of a 29-year-old San Francisco freelance photographer named Samantha "Sam" Russell (

) and her 16-year-old sister Patti (

). Sam's life is turned upside down when Patti, who has been living with the sisters' Aunt Elsie and Uncle Bob in rural

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

after the death of the girls' parents, shows up on Sam's door step and announces that she is going to live with Sam. The supporting cast includes Sam's neurotic agent Jordan Dylan "J.D." Lucas (

Joel Brooks Joel Brooks (born December 17, 1949) is an American actor, known for his roles in '' Stir Crazy'', ''My Sister Sam'', '' Six Feet Under'', ''The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green'' and ''Phil of the Future''. Brooks also had a recurrin ...

), Sam's sarcastic assistant Dixie Randazzo (

Jenny O'Hara Patricia Joanne "Jenny" O'Hara (born February 24, 1942) is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for Dixie in ''My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988), Janet Heffernan in ''The King of Queens'' (2001–2007), and Nita in ''B ...

) and Jack Kincaid (

David Naughton David Walsh Naughton (born February 13, 1951) is an American actor and singer known for his starring roles in the horror film '' An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) and the Disney comedy '' Midnight Madness'' (1980), as well as for a long-run ...

), Sam's womanizing photojournalist neighbor who frequently stops by Sam's apartment.

Cast

as Samantha "Sam" Russell *

as Patricia "Patti" Russell *

as Jordan Dylan "J.D." Lucas *

as Dixie Randazzo *

as Jack Kincaid

Production

The series was created by Stephen Fischer and was developed by Pam Dawber's production company, Pony Productions (in association with

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

). Dawber and her Manager, Mimi Weber, spent three years searching for the most ideal television series project for their company to co-produce, but after screening several of them, Dawber had not found one that truly spoke to her. In the midst of this search, she and Weber produced a few TV movies under the Pony Productions nameplate, in which Dawber played lead roles. By late 1985, Stephen Fischer and Diane English submitted their screenplay to Dawber and Weber, one centering on the life and times of a young photographer on the fast track who takes in her teenage sister, titled ''Taking the Town'' (based on the phrase "taking the town by storm"). At last, Dawber found a fulfilling script, and the creative team (she, Weber, Fischer and English) had the pilot successfully pitched to CBS. The network gave it a berth on its successful Monday night sitcom lineup for its 1986-87 fall schedule, originally as ''Taking the Town'', with the title changing to ''My Sister Sam'' as summer pre-promotions ramped up. The series was initially intended to be a starring vehicle for Dawber, who found success on television opposite

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

sitcom ''

Mork & Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...

''. Dawber later said that she wanted the focus of the show to be on the cast as a whole, stating, "I am not a comedian. I'm a reactor to all the zany people who revolve around me." ''My Sister Sam'' was executive produced by

Diane English Diane English (born May 18, 1948) is an American screenwriter, producer and director, best known for creating the television show '' Murphy Brown'' and writing and directing the 2008 feature film '' The Women''. Early life English was born in Bu ...

and Mimi Weber and filmed at The Burbank Studio.

Theme song

The series' theme song, "Room Enough for Two", was written by Steve Dorff and

John Bettis John Gregory Bettis (born October 24, 1946) is an American lyricist. He was originally part of the band Spectrum, which also featured Richard and Karen Carpenter. He wrote the lyrics for " Top of the World", a hit for both Lynn Anderson and Th ...

and performed by

Kim Carnes Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a sess ...

. Dorff won a BMI TV Music Award in 1987 for his work on the series.

Episodes

Season 1 (1986–87)

Season 2 (1987–88)

Release

''My Sister Sam'' premiered on October 6, 1986, scheduled between ''

Kate & Allie ''Kate & Allie'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989, starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced women, both with children, who decide to live together in the same house. ...

'' and ''

Newhart ''Newhart'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from October 25, 1982, to May 21, 1990, with a total of 184 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series stars Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as an author and his wife, ...

'', both hit shows for CBS. The series earned solid ratings and was ranked #21 by the end of its first season. Due to its success, CBS renewed the series for a second season. CBS then moved ''My Sister Sam'' to Saturday nights opposite '' The Facts of Life'', which was a part of

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 ...

's successful Saturday night comedy lineup. By the end of October 1987, the show's audience had dwindled to one of the lowest on network TV ranking at #71. The series was put on hiatus in November 1987 but remained in production while the network decided its fate. CBS brought the series back to the air on March 15, 1988, due in part to letters from fans and the

1988 Writers Guild of America strike The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) against major United States television and film studios represented by the ...

which affected the production of other television series for CBS and the other two major television networks (

). CBS chose to move ''My Sister Sam'' yet again to Tuesday nights. By April, ratings had failed to improve and the series was again pulled from the lineup. CBS announced the series' cancellation in May 1988, leaving 12 episodes of the second season unaired.

Syndication

After the series was canceled by CBS, the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

picked up syndication rights and eventually aired all 44 episodes, including those never shown on CBS.

Home media

The show's pilot episode appeared on the bonus disc ''Warner Bros. 50 Years of TV Commemorative: Volume 2''. It was packaged with some releases of ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for ''FYI'', a ...

'' Season 1 DVD set

Reception

Awards and nominations

Rebecca Schaeffer's death

On July 18, 1989, more than a year after ''My Sister Sam'' had been canceled, series cast member Rebecca Schaeffer was fatally shot in the doorway of her Los Angeles apartment building by

Robert John Bardo Robert John Bardo (born January 2, 1970) is an American man serving life imprisonment without parole after being convicted in October 1991 for the July 18, 1989, murder of American actress and model Rebecca Schaeffer, whom he had stalked for t ...

, an obsessed fan from Tucson, Arizona who had been stalking her for three years. In August 1989, Pam Dawber, Joel Brooks, David Naughton and Jenny O'Hara reunited to film a

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence in Schaeffer's honor.

References

External links

* *{{epguides, id=MySisterSam 1980s American sitcoms 1986 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about sisters Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in San Francisco