Production
After a long run at Paramount Television, which concluded with the end of Happy Days in 1984, producers Tom Miller and Bob Boyett moved to a new home at Lorimar Productions, a partnership between the two and the studio which commenced on October 1 of that year. Miller and Boyett had ideas about venturing into hour-long comedy/dramas with Lorimar, at a time where a decline in the popularity of half-hour situation comedies was perceived. However, by the time they began at Lorimar, NBC had struck ratings gold with The Cosby Show, and sitcoms were in vogue once again. The pair, who were launching their new Miller/Boyett Productions nameplate sans long-time partner Eddie Milkis, re-shifted their focus to sitcoms.
For their first Lorimar project, Miller/Boyett had Valerie Harper in mind for a starring vehicle. Harper quickly struck a deal with the producers and announced her return to series television, the first time since the conclusion of Rhoda in December 1978. Developed during the 1984–85 season and picked up by NBC, the series was known from conception as Close to Home. It had the same format as what made it to the air, that of a modern mother juggling many responsibilities while her husband was often away. For the latter role in particular, NBC still wanted someone with visual and personal appeal despite the limited scenes, and tapped Days of our Lives star Josh Taylor to play Harper's airline pilot husband. Taylor's part-time status on the sitcom enabled him to continue his role as Chris Kositchek on Days.
Additionally, popular teen star Jason Bateman, suddenly available after the cancellation of his NBC series It's Your Move, and Danny Ponce, who had been playing Jason Avery on Knots Landing for the previous two seasons, were added as two of Harper's kids. Newcomer Jeremy Licht rounded out the brood. Broadway actress Christine Ebersole was cast as Harper's best friend, a strong enough presence that the star could play off of. The series was to feature a more genuine sense of realism, which Tom and Bob had in mind for their dramedy concepts. However, this was combined with the smart, character-driven humor that Harper was aiming for, as she and then-boyfriend (later husband) Tony Cacciotti were given ample creative control on her new series.
The pilot for Close to Home was shot in the summer of 1985, and aside from a few changes called for during testing, was given the green light by NBC for a backup premiere that fall (to immediately replace a new September half-hour entry that could have failed). Subsequent episodes were slated to shoot when Jeremy Licht came down with chicken pox, derailing the shooting and ultimately, the premiere. This gave the creative team extra time to tweak the format, and when Licht was well again, production resumed with changes NBC approved of. As the initial season of episodes progressed shooting, NBC and Harper gave into a common temptation of star power, and retitled the series Valerie, which it debuted as on March 1, 1986.
Valerie was the first series Miller/Boyett created without the aid of Eddie Milkis. The show was produced by Miller/Boyett and Tal Productions, Inc. (which stood for Tony and Val) in association with Lorimar Television (as Lorimar Productions for season 1 and Lorimar-Telepictures for season 2).
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Famous quotes containing the word production:
“An art whose limits depend on a moving image, mass audience, and industrial production is bound to differ from an art whose limits depend on language, a limited audience, and individual creation. In short, the filmed novel, in spite of certain resemblances, will inevitably become a different artistic entity from the novel on which it is based.”
—George Bluestone, U.S. educator, critic. “The Limits of the Novel and the Limits of the Film,” Novels Into Film, Johns Hopkins Press (1957)
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