''Teen Angel'' was an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

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 ...

that aired as part of ABC's TGIF Friday night lineup from September 26, 1997, to February 13, 1998. It stars Corbin Allred as a high school student whose recently deceased best friend, played by Mike Damus, returns to earth as his guardian angel. The series was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss.

Synopsis

''Teen Angel'' follows a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

boy, Steve Beauchamp (Corbin Allred), and his recently deceased best friend, Marty DePolo (Mike Damus), who dies from eating a six-month-old

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...

from under Steve's bed on a dare and is then sent back to Earth as Steve's

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...

. Marty's guide is a large disembodied head named Rod ( Ron Glass), who identifies himself as God's cousin (a running gag throughout the series is that Rod is mistaken for God himself). Maureen McCormick, who played Steve's mother, Judy, left the series halfway through its run. Marty, as a supernatural being, would frequently break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

. For instance, prior to the opening credits of the episode "Grumpy Young Men", Marty explained the absence of Steve's mother and the return of his father to the viewers.

Reception and cancellation

The series was created and placed in the ''TGIF'' lineup by ABC in an attempt to capitalize on the success of another ABC supernatural series, ''

Sabrina the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeare ...

''. Along with ''Sabrina'' and the also-new '' You Wish'', ''Teen Angel'' was one of three supernatural-themed sitcoms on the ''TGIF'' block that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

. At the time of the series airing, ''TGIF'' had already begun to decline (as a result of direct competition against the CBS Block Party during that season and the new Disney ownership). ''You Wish'' was canceled after only thirteen episodes, and while ''Teen Angel'' lasted more or less a full season, it was also canceled after 17 episodes.

Cast

* Mike Damus as Marty DePolo * Corbin Allred as Steve Beauchamp * Ron Glass as Rod, God's Cousin * Maureen McCormick as Judy Beauchamp *

Tommy Hinkley Hiram Thomas Hinkley (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in the comedy ''Back to the Beach'' (1987), and subsequently appeared in the Academy Award-winning short film ''Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall'' (al ...

as Casey Beauchamp *

Katie Volding Katie Louise Volding (born February 13, 1989) is a former American actress. In 2000, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot" for her performance in the Disney Channel Original Movie ...

as Katie Beauchamp *

Jordan Brower Jordan Brower (born October 14, 1981) is a former American movie actor. Biography Jordan was born in Lompoc, California but moved to Texas at an early age. It is there where he got his first break into acting when a film crew from ''The Big ...

as Jorden Lubell * Conchata Ferrell as Aunt Pam * Jerry Van Dyke as Grandpa Jerry Beauchamp

Episodes

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{TGIF (ABC) 1990s American high school television series 1990s American teen sitcoms 1997 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming American fantasy television series English-language television shows Television series about angels Television series by ABC Studios TGIF (TV programming block) Angels in television Television series about teenagers Television shows set in Detroit