''I Married Dora'' 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 ne ...

that aired on

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 ...

from September 22, 1987 to January 8, 1988. It was created by Michael J. Leeson.

Synopsis

Los Angeles architect and single father Peter Farrell (

Daniel Hugh Kelly Daniel Hugh Kelly (born August 10, 1952) is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role on the 1980s ABC TV series ''Hardcastle and McCormick'' (1983–86) as the ex-con Mark "Skid" McCormick, co-starring with acto ...

) was dependent upon his housekeeper Dora Calderon (

Elizabeth Peña Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, writer and musician. Her work in films included ''Nothing like the Holidays'', ''Batteries Not Included'', '' La Bamba'', '' Down and Out in Beverly ...

). However, she was an undocumented immigrant from

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and the United States government's

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...

was about to

deport Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportatio ...

her. To prevent her from being arrested upon her return home, and to be able to continue to employ her services as a housekeeper, the two married. As marriages under false pretenses were (and still are) violations of federal law, the first episode included a disclaimer notifying viewers of this fact and adding, "You should not try this in your own home." Two important aspects of the stories were the threat of their sham marriage: being discovered by authorities and the possibility that they might fall in love, normalizing and legitimizing their marriage. Farrell's children were 13-year-old Kate (

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

) and 11-year-old Will (Jason Horst). The opening titles and closing credits were filmed, but the episodes themselves were shot on videotape.

Series finale

The show had low ratings and was canceled halfway into its only season. The final episode ended with a scene, known as "breaking 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 ...

", that ranked number 49 on

TVLand 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 cl ...

's list of ''The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments.'' Peter received a two-year job offer in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and the final scene featured him boarding a plane headed overseas, leaving Dora and his children behind despite their pleas. A few moments later, Peter reappeared:

Peter: Hold on, hold on. Calm down here.
Dora (surprised): Mr. Peter?
Peter (looking at the airline ticket in his hand): It's been canceled.
Dora: The flight?
Peter (throwing the ticket over his shoulder): No, our series!

The cameras pulled back to show the entire stage as the cast and crew waved goodbye and performed curtain calls.

Cast

.....Peter Farrell *

.....Dora Calderon *

.....Kate Farrell * Jason Horst.....Will Farrell * Sanford Jensen.....Dolf Menninger *

Evelyn Guerrero Evelyn Guerrero is an American retired actress who starred in various movies and television series from 1969 to 1999. She is best known for portraying "Donna" in three ''Cheech and Chong'' movies. In 1980, Guerrero became the first Latina to p ...

.....Marisol Calderon * Henry Jones.....Hughes Whitney Lennox

Episode list

Award nominations

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0092377 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Los Angeles