Filthy Rich (1982 TV Series) - Production

Production

Series creator Linda Bloodworth began her television career by co-writing a script for an episode of M*A*S*H with Mary Kay Place, and when that script was nominated for an Emmy Award, she found herself in high demand. Bloodworth was offered staff positions on several television series, but she turned them down. "I just wanted to get my own shows on the air", she said. "I didn't want to die working those long hours for someone else's show. I didn't want to bleed unless it was for my own show." She formed her own production company, produced numerous pilot episodes and then, in 1980, she got the idea for Filthy Rich. "I just set out to write a comedy about Southerners — eccentric Southerners."

The hour-long pilot for Filthy Rich was filmed on February 27, 1981 as a candidate for inclusion on CBS's 1981-82 fall schedule. When the fall schedule was announced in May, Filthy Rich wasn't included, but the network optioned it as a potential midseason replacement. "Apparently, the network wasn't sure of its feelings", commented Dixie Carter. "Some executives liked the concept, others despised it." Meanwhile, Delta Burke was offered the role of Katherine Wentworth on Dallas, as well as a recurring role on the TV spin-off of Private Benjamin, but she was forced to turn both parts down because she was under contract for Filthy Rich. Similarly, Carter was asked to replace Tammy Grimes in the Broadway production of 42nd Street, but CBS prevented her from accepting. Instead, cast members were forced to take small roles in films and guest-star on various TV shows while awaiting word on the fate of Filthy Rich.

In March 1982, CBS ordered a second pilot episode, this time as a half-hour show. The network stipulated that they wanted the new pilot to be "less bizarre" than the original pilot had been, and though the material was toned down a bit, they still passed on including the show on the fall schedule.

In that era, it wasn't unusual for unsold pilots to be broadcast as filler during the summer - replacing low-rated reruns - as a means of recouping the money that was spent to produce them. The original hour-long pilot was split in two and re-edited, then packaged with the second pilot (titled "Town and Garden"), and the now-trio of episodes were billed as a "limited run" series which was broadcast on Monday nights following reruns of M*A*S*H in August 1982. Much to CBS's surprise, the show topped the weekly Nielsen ratings for three consecutive weeks. CBS Entertainment President Donald "Bud" Grant later commented, "I think we conned ourselves into thinking Filthy Rich was a hot show." The network scrambled to find a place on the fall schedule for the show, ultimately opting to bump the new series Mama Malone off the schedule altogether (Mama Malone eventually aired in 1984).

Although viewers initially tuned in, the series fared poorly with critics. "This is the most misunderstood show I've ever been associated with", said Bloodworth. Associated Press writer Fred Rothenberg commented in his widely-circulated review, "It's called Filthy Rich and the slant is more toward the former than the latter." Bloodworth retaliated, "I think because the Southern accents are thick and the first shows were very theatrical and broad, the critics tuned out." She went on to defend the show against the Southern critics who'd bashed the series as well. "There are a lot of liberal-minded critics who consider themselves the keepers of the Southern flame. We're not maligning the South, we're celebrating it."

While working on the show, Burke felt particularly pressured to maintain a slender figure. "That's when I discovered crystal meth, a powerful amphetamine that cut my hunger but made my heart race", she revealed in her autobiography. It had the side effect of paranoia and making her lapse into unconsciousness.

Adding further woes to the troubled series, actor Slim Pickens, who played Big Guy Beck in the original hour-long pilot episode, was rushed to San Francisco Medical Center several days before the series premiered, and he underwent five hours of surgery to remove a brain tumor the day after the show's TV debut. Pickens was released from the hospital before production resumed on the series, but he was unfit to appear. Most subsequent episodes played without Big Guy, though Pickens was quickly replaced by Forrest Tucker, who didn't play the role with the same broad, comic zeal.

Production soldiered on a little behind schedule. In the early weeks of September, scripts hadn't been completed for any episodes of the fall season, which began on September 26. "Every night I go home with notes on all the network suggestions and work on the scripts", Bloodworth said. "A messenger comes to pick up my rewrites at 1 a.m. I write in longhand and the scripts are typed and returned at 7 a.m. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm in some illegal business." Bloodworth quickly churned out some scripts, but she hired former Jimmy Carter speech writer E. Jack Kaplan to help pick up the slack.

Filthy Rich returned to the air on Wednesday, October 5. Nestled between Alice and Tucker's Witch and opposite the new series Family Ties, ratings quickly plummeted - by the end of October, Filthy Rich ranked #60 in the weekly TV ratings. In November, six weeks into the show's second season, all three series were yanked off the schedule and replaced with The CBS Wednesday Movie. Filthy Rich returned to the schedule - and Monday nights - in January 1983, sandwiched between Square Pegs and M*A*S*H. Ratings didn't improve. It aired for a month before being pulled from the schedule again. The remaining two episodes aired in June, after the series had officially been canceled.