''You Can't Take It with You'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series produced for syndication in 1986.Vincent Terrace, ''Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937-2012'' (2014), p. 332.Tim Brooks, Earle F. Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present'' (2009), p. 1554. It was based on the 1938 film adaptation of the 1937 play by the same name. Set in a contemporaneous home in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, the show starred

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both '' December Bride'' (1954–1959) and '' Pet ...

as the eccentric elderly family patriarch Martin Vanderhof, and

Lois Nettleton Lois June Nettleton (August 16, 1927 – January 18, 2008) was an American film, stage, radio and television actress. She received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Daytime Emmy Awards. Early life Lois Nettleton was born on Aug ...

as his daughter, Penny. The cast also included Richard Sanders as Penny's inventor-husband Paul, Lisa Aliff as Penny's older daughter, Alice, and Heather Blodgett (Elizabeth Townsend in the pilot) as Penny's younger daughter, Essie. Theodore Wilson appeared as neighbor Durwood Pinner. some episodes are available to watch on various content streaming services. One review of the show noted that the play from which the material for the show was originally adapted "will be remembered long after this routine comedy is not".

Cast

as Martin Vanderhof * Lisa Aliff as Alice Sycamore * Richard Sanders as Paul Sycamore *

as Penny Vanderhof Sycamore *Heather Blodgett as Essie Sycamore * Theodore Wilson as Darwood Pinner

Episodes

Syndication

''You Can't Take It with You'' was a part of a syndication package that was conceived by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

for its owned-and-operated stations. Five sitcoms each aired once a week under the brand "Prime Time Begins at 7:30", and were produced by various production companies contracted by NBC. Besides '' You Can't Take It With You'', which aired on Wednesdays, the series included '' Marblehead Manor'' (from

Paramount Television The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006. History Desilu Pro ...

, airing Mondays), centering on a mansion owner and the people who live with him; '' She's the Sheriff'' (from

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...

and airing Tuesdays), a comeback vehicle for

Suzanne Somers Suzanne Marie Somers (; October 16, 1946 – October 15, 2023) was an American actress, author, and businesswoman. She played the television roles of Chrissy Snow on ''Three's Company'' (1977–1981) and Carol Foster Lambert on '' Step by Step' ...

which cast her as a widowed county sheriff; '' Out of This World'' (from MCA Television and airing Thursdays), which starred

Maureen Flannigan Maureen Flannigan (born December 30, 1972) is an American documentary filmmaker and former child actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as teenager Evie Ethel Garland on the fantasy sitcom ''Out of This World (American TV series), Out ...

as a teenager born to an alien father and human mother that develops supernatural abilities on her 13th birthday; and a revival of the short-lived 1983 NBC series '' We Got It Made'' (produced by

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

for

MGM Television Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, formerly known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of the American film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television sh ...

and closing out the week on Fridays), as part of an ongoing trend at the time in which former network series were revived in first-run syndication. The package was aimed at attracting viewers to NBC stations in the half-hour preceding prime time (8:00 p.m. in the

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

s, 7:00 p.m. elsewhere), and was conceived as a result of the FCC's loosening of the

Prime Time Access Rule The Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) was an American television broadcasting regulation enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from September 13, 1971, to August 30, 1996. It was instituted under concerns that television networks c ...

, legislation passed in 1971 that required networks to turn over the 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) time slot to local stations to program local or syndicated content; and the relaxation of the

Financial Interest and Syndication Rules The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of United States rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1970 on the television industry. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three ...

, which had prevented networks from producing content from their own syndication units to fill the void. The shows that were part of the package were regularly outrated in many markets by such syndicated game shows as '' Wheel of Fortune'', ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

'' and ''

Hollywood Squares ''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...

''. ''Marblehead Manor'', ''We Got It Made'' and ''You Can't Take It With You'' were cancelled at the end of the 1987–88 season, with ''She's the Sheriff'' lasting one more season in weekend syndication before its cancellation. ''Out of This World'' ran for three additional seasons, airing mainly on weekends, and was the most successful of the five series.

References

External links

* {{NBC's "Prime Time Begins at 7:30" 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms American English-language television shows Television series based on plays First-run syndicated sitcoms Television shows set in New York (state)