''The Tortellis'' 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 ...

television series and the first spin-off of '' Cheers'', starring

Dan Hedaya Daniel G. Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American actor. He established himself as a supporting actor, often playing sleazy villains or wisecracking supporting characters. He has had supporting roles in films such as '' True Confessions'' (198 ...

and

Jean Kasem Jean Thompson Kasem (born May 21, 1954) is a former American actress. She is the widow of radio personality and actor Casey Kasem. Early life Jean Thompson was one of five children born to Irene Celia Thompson and Herbert Owens Thompson Sr. (d ...

. It aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from January 22 to May 12, 1987.

Synopsis

Hedaya and Kasem had appeared on ''Cheers'' on several occasions as

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

and Loretta Tortelli, who were (respectively) Carla Tortelli's loutish ex-husband and his cheerful, bubble-headed new

trophy wife A trophy wife is a wife who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband. The term is often used in a derogatory or disparaging way, implying that the wife in question has little personal merit besides her physical attractiveness, requires sub ...

. The series co-stars Timothy Williams as Anthony Tortelli, Nick and Carla's teenage son, and Mandy Ingber as Annie Tortelli, Anthony's young bride, reprising their roles from ''Cheers''. At the beginning of the series, Loretta leaves Nick and moves to Las Vegas to live with her sensible, divorced sister Charlotte (played by Carlene Watkins), and Charlotte's young son Mark (Aaron Moffat). The series follows Nick as he moves to Las Vegas to try to reconcile with Loretta, vowing to change his sleazy, conniving ways in the process. Nick and Loretta tentatively get back together, and Nick sets up a TV repair business and tries to reform—not always successfully. Anthony and Annie follow Nick to Las Vegas, and all six characters live in the same house. After the series was canceled, all four Tortelli characters returned to ''Cheers'', where it was revealed that Nick's TV repair business in Las Vegas went under, but also that Nick and Loretta were still together (albeit somewhat shakily) and had presumably moved back to Boston after the closing of his business. The characters of Charlotte and Mark Cooper were never seen or even referred to on any episode of ''Cheers'', either before or after ''The Tortellis'' run.

Cast

as Nick Tortelli (ex-husband of Carla Tortelli on ''Cheers'') *

as Loretta Tortelli * Timothy Williams as Anthony Tortelli * Mandy Ingber as Annie Tortelli * Carlene Watkins as Charlotte Cooper * Aaron Moffatt as Mark Cooper

Guest stars

Rhea Perlman Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress. She played head-waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom '' Cheers'' (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting ...

appeared as her ''Cheers'' character Carla in the pilot, in a dream sequence. *

George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the television sitcom '' Cheers'' (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...

(

Norm Peterson Hilary Norman Peterson is a regular fictional character on the American television show ''Cheers''. The character was portrayed by actor George Wendt and is named Hilary after his paternal grandfather. Norm appeared in all 275 episodes of '' ...

) and

John Ratzenberger John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)About John
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...

(

Cliff Clavin Clifford C. Clavin, Jr. (born 1947 or 1949) is a fictional character on the American television show '' Cheers'' played by John Ratzenberger. A postal worker, he is the bar's know-it-all and was a contestant on the game show ''Jeopardy!'' Cliff ...

) appeared in episode 3, paying a visit to Las Vegas and meeting up with Nick. * Mitchell Laurance was seen in a recurring role as Pete Bruno, Charlotte's untrustworthy boyfriend.

Reception and cancellation

''The Tortellis'' drew sharp criticism for its stereotypical depiction of Italian Americans. Television writer Bill Kelley wrote: "The Italian-American Anti-Defamation League should be about as enchanted with Nick Tortelli as it was with ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

''." The series drew low ratings, ranking 50th out of 79 series with an average rating/share of 13.3/20. As a result, NBC canceled ''The Tortellis'' after 13 episodes. The next attempt at a ''Cheers'' spin-off, ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...

'', was considerably more successful, running for 11 seasons.

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tortellis, The 1987 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms American television spin-offs Cheers English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in the Las Vegas Valley