Baby Talk (TV Series) - Synposis and Changing Formats

Synposis and Changing Formats

Baby Talk featured the adventures of Baby Mickey (played by Paul & Ryan Jessup, voiced by Tony Danza), as he commented to the audience on the misgivings and new wonders of his world. Danza made an appearance in one episode as Mickey's father. Mickey's mother, Maggie Campbell, was played by two different actresses -- Julia Duffy during the spring 1991 run, and Mary Page Keller for the show's only full season—at different points during the series' short existence.

Connie Sellecca was the first actor cast in the role of Maggie, but, dissatisfied with the role, she quit after a few episodes had been taped. This caused Baby Talk to be delayed from its intended September 1990 premiere to March 1991 (by then, enough episodes had been reshot with Duffy). Rare footage of the mostly unseen Sellecca version was featured in the 1990 ABC Fall Preview Show. In fact, the series first went into development titled Look Who's Talking, but by the summer of 1990, with the movie sequel Look Who's Talking Too hitting theaters in December of that year, Ed. Weinberger and Amy Heckerling thought it would be best to avoid causing confusion among viewers. With the TV series and movie likely to run concurrently, they decided to rename the series Baby Talk before fall promotions began.