Saturday, November 26, 2011

Dan Hedaya & Jean Kasem in The Tortellis (1987)

This spin-off of Cheers (1982) featured Carla's (Rhea Pearlman) ex-husband Nick (Hedaya) and his new blonde bombshell wife Loretta (Kasem) and the ins and outs of their marriage. The series begins with Loretta leaving Nick and moving to Las Vegas. He follows her in hopes of reconciling and is subsequently followed by his (and Carla's) son and daughter-in-law. They all live with Loretta's sister Charlotte and her husband Mark. The conflict sprung from the culture class between the Tortellis and the Watkins and Nick's selfish, cheating ways. The series never had high ratings and lasted a season. After it was cancelled, Nick and Loretta resumed making occasional appearances on Cheers.

The show has never made it to DVD, but you can find several episodes on YouTube. Above is part one of the pilot, uploaded by 56thAlbanyProd.

Obscurity Factor: 6 (not on DVD, available on YouTube, somewhat remembered because of Cheers)

3 comments:

  1. I loved the way Nick would say his wife's name as "Loret-ta."

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  2. I'd say it was slightly more obscure than that, i've only been able to find the first episode.

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  3. You may be right... it's pretty obscure.

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