''The Fanelli Boys'' 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 that aired on

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from September 8, 1990 to February 16, 1991, as part of its 1990–91 prime time schedule. The series was created by the team of Barry Fanaro,

Mort Nathan Mort Nathan is an American television producer, screenwriter and film director. He was one of the co-producers and head writers of the comedy show ''The Golden Girls''. Nathan won two Emmy awards, two Golden Globes, and a Writers Guild of America ...

, Kathy Speer, and Terry Grossman, all of whom previously worked on '' The Golden Girls''.

Synopsis

Following the death of her husband, Theresa Fanelli (

Ann Morgan Guilbert Ann Morgan Guilbert (October 16, 1928 – June 14, 2016), sometimes credited as Ann Guilbert, was an American television and film actress and comedian who portrayed a number of roles from the 1950s on, most notably as Millie Helper in 61 episode ...

) is prepared to sell the

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral. Services ...

) to her son Anthony (

Ned Eisenberg Ned Eisenberg (January 13, 1957 – February 27, 2022) was an American actor known for his recurring role on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' as Roger Kressler. Early life and education Eisenberg grew up in the Riverdale neighborhood of ...

) and move from

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. Thwarting her plans are the arrival of her younger sons Ronnie (Andy Hirsch), who had just dropped out of school, and Frankie ( Chris Meloni), whose engagement has just been broken. Another brother, the slightly disreputable Dom ( Joe Pantoliano), is between hustles. Anthony learns that the funeral home is about $25,000 in

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

, which he had not counted on. Soon, all of the boys are back at home with their mom, just like the old days. Advising the family, somewhat dubiously, are Theresa's brother, a Catholic priest known as "Father Angelo" ( Richard Libertini), and

fortune teller Fortune telling is the practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling ...

Philomena (Vera Lockwood). ''The Fanelli Boys'' showed fairly strong

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

ethnic

stereotyping In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

; there was even an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

flag in the program's

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. The series garnered low ratings and was cancelled in February 1991 after airing nineteen episodes.

Cast

* Joe Pantoliano.....Dom Fanelli *

.....Theresa Fanelli *

.....Anthony Fanelli *

Christopher Meloni Christopher Peter Meloni (; born April 2, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC legal drama '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' for its first 12 seasons and its spin-off ...

.....Frankie Fanelli *Andy Hirsch.....Ronnie Fanelli * Richard Libertini.....Father Angelo *Vera Lockwood.....Philomena

Title sequence

The show's original opening sequence was filmed footage of a dining room table (presumably the Fanellis') as it was set by its family, followed by them sitting down and serving pasta and

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, which culminated in everyone toasting. Only the family's hands were seen during the entire sequence. This was accompanied by an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

, old-world Italian tune. In January 1991, a month before ''The Fanelli Boys'' was cancelled, the opening changed to featuring videotaped scenes from the show with the cast, along with an in-house rendition of Billy Joel's "Why Should I Worry?" as the new lyrical theme.

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanelli Boys, The 1990 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about families Television series by ABC Studios Television shows set in New York City