''The Super'' 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 ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

starring

Richard S. Castellano Richard Salvatore Castellano (September 4, 1933 – December 10, 1988) was an American actor who is best remembered for his role in ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' and his subsequent role as Peter Clemenza in ''The Godfather''. Early life Castella ...

which centers on the

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of an

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The show 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 June 21, 1972 to August 23, 1972.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Sixth Edition'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 997.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 801.

Cast

as Joe Girelli * Ardell Sheridan as Francesca Girelli *

Margaret Castellano Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Indo-Iranian languages, Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and r ...

as Joanne Girelli *

Bruno Kirby Bruno Kirby (born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu Jr.; April 28, 1949 – August 14, 2006) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in ''City Slickers'', '' When Harry Met Sally...'', ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', ''The Godfather Part II'', and ' ...

as Anthony Girelli *

Phil Mishkin Phil Mishkin (died 1995) was a state legislator in Florida. A Democrat, he represented Pasco County in the Florida House of Representatives. He advocated for universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, ...

as Frankie Girelli *

Ed Peck Ed Peck (March 26, 1917 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. He is best known as Officer Kirk in ''Happy Days'' (1975–1983). Early life Peck was born in New York City on March 26, 1917. Career Peck played a captain in the Broad ...

as Officer Clark *

Virginia Vincent Virginia Vincent (May 3, 1918 – October 3, 2013) was an American film, television and theatre actress. She was known for playing the role of "Jennie Blake" in the 1958 film ''The Return of Dracula''. Vincent died in October 2013, at the ...

as Dottie Clark *

Janet Brandt Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

as Mrs. Stein * Louis Basile as Louis

Synopsis

Joe Girelli, the

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, w ...

(or "super") of an

in a

lower-middle-class In developed nations around the world, the lower middle class is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the upper middle ...

section of New York City, is a big man (260 pounds; 118 kg) who prefers to be left alone so that he can drink

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

while watching television. However, he rarely gets left alone. His family – wife Francesca, daughter Joanne, son Anthony, and brother Frankie, a big-shot lawyer – continually bothers him, the buildings tenants are constantly banging on the pipes and complaining about him and one another, and city officials always are trying to condemn his building. His children are disrespectful toward him, and an endless series of ethnic and cultural disputes break out among the tenants, which include political revolutionaries,

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

s, and

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s, and Italian Americans,

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

Jewish American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s, and

Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...

Production notes

After

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

s ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series '' Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'' debuted in 1971, both

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 ...

and

tried to emulate its success with

situation comedies 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 new ...

similarly centered on

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

families. NBCs show, ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the United ...

'', premiered in January 1972 and became a major hit. For ABC, meanwhile,

Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...

, and Gerry Isenberg created ''The Super'', which premiered in June 1972. Reiner and Mishkin wrote the shows first episode. Mishkin appeared in ''The Super'' as Frankie Girelli, while Richard Castellanos real-life daughter Margaret played Joe Girellis daughter Joanne. Coincidentally, Richard Castellano and

, who played Joe Girellis son Anthony in ''The Super'', both portrayed Pete Clemenza in the ''Godfather'' movies, Castellano in ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'' in 1972 and Kirby as Clemenza as a younger man in ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...

'' in 1974.

Broadcast history and cancellation

''The Super'' aired on ABC at 8:00 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

on Wednesday throughout its brief run. It never gained the audience that ''All in the Family'' and ''Sanford and Son'' did, and was cancelled after only 10 episodes had aired; its eleventh and twelfth episodes, preempted by television coverage of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games on August 30 and September 6, 1972, respectively, were never broadcast.

Episodes

References

External links

''The Super'' opening credits on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super American Broadcasting Company original programming 1972 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms English-language television shows Television series by Metromedia Television shows set in New York City