''Tattingers'' (later ''Tattinger's'') 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 that aired by the

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 ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

from October 26, 1988, to April 26, 1989, as part of its 1988 fall lineup. After failing in the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

as an hour-long program, the plot and characters were briefly revived in the spring of 1989 as the half-hour

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 ...

''Nick & Hillary''. An unaired episode, "Screwball," aired on

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

on April 4, 1999.

Synopsis

''Tattingers'' is the story of a divorced couple, Nick and Hillary Tattinger (

Stephen Collins Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American former actor and writer. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the television series '' 7th Heaven'' from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC t ...

and

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on '' Huff'' (2004–2006), and a ...

), along with their 2 daughters: Nina and Winnifred. They had remained co-owner partners in a posh

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

restaurant until Nick was shot by a drug dealer, which prompted them to sell the restaurant and move to Paris. Their successors, however, proved incapable of properly running the restaurant, so Nick reclaimed the restaurant from them to give it another go. Real-life Manhattan celebrities often appeared in cameo roles as themselves as Nick's exclusive clientele.

Cast

as Nick Tattinger *

as Hillary Tattinger *

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015 ...

as Sid Wilbur *

Roderick Cook Roderick Cook (9 February 1932 – 17 August 1990) was an English playwright, writer, theatre director and actor of stage, television and film. Cook is known for creating, directing and starring in the musical review '' Oh, Coward!'' and portray ...

as Louis Chatham *

Zach Grenier Zach Grenier is an American character actor of film, television and stage. He is best known for his roles in films such as '' Fight Club'', ''Tommy Boy'', and '' Twister'' and for his roles in television such as David Lee in '' The Good Wife'' a ...

as Sonny Franks (Tattingers) *Patrice Colihan as Nina Tattinger *Chay Lentin as Winnifred Tattinger *Thomas Quinn as O'Malley (Tattingers) *

Mary Beth Hurt Mary Beth Hurt (''née'' Supringer; born September 25, 1946) is an American actress of stage and screen. She is a three-time Tony Award-nominated actress. Notable films in which Hurt has appeared include ''Interiors'' (1978), ''The World Accordi ...

as Sheila Bradley *

Chris Elliott Christopher Nash Elliott (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He appeared in comedic sketches on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series '' Get a Life'' (1990–1992) ...

as Spin (Nick & Hillary)

Episodes

Reception

This program was a ratings failure and was cancelled in January 1989. However, NBC was apparently unwilling to give up totally on the characters or the concept, and the program was revamped into a half-hour sitcom, ''Nick & Hillary''. This new series premiered on April 20, 1989, but proved even less successful than its predecessor and was cancelled after only two episodes.

References

General *Brooks, Tim, and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present'' is a trade paperback reference work by the American television researchers Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, first published by Ballantine Books in 1979. History Tha ...

'' {{MTM Enterprises NBC original programming 1980s American comedy-drama television series 1988 American television series debuts 1989 American television series endings English-language television shows Television series by MTM Enterprises Television series created by Tom Fontana Television series set in restaurants Television shows set in New York City