Blogger's apology. I am so sorry! I thought I had found the worst TV sitcom in human history - Calucci's Department - but I was not even close. For some reason, when James Coco starred in anything, it only lasted eleven episodes. This one was so bad, episode #11 was destroyed before it had a chance to air.
The Dumplings - 1976
One Season - 11 Episodes
TV Historian's Blurb: This show aired before (PC) political correctness was popular. The show followed an overweight married couple that owned and operated a New York deli on the first floor of an office building. This one may have survived had it not been so fat joke "heavy."
Network: NBC
I have taken YouTube by the heels and shaken it, and I cannot find anything about this show. But I found the theme song, and it is putrid. The lyrics are:
Arms and legs
Ham and eggs
The great team of pipe and slippers
And there's the daily double
Good things come in pairs
Heart and soul
Rock and roll
An old fashioned horse and buggy
A song's got words and music
Good things come in pairs
You can bet Noah knew just what he was doing
When he began all the two-by-two-ing
He and she
You and me
A sweet blend of milk and honey
Always together
We'll go through life discovering
Good things come in pairs!
The Dumplings theme song
MORE INFO:
Aired: Wednesday nights at 9:30 pm Eastern U.S.
Premiered: January 28, 1976
Ended: March 24, 1976
Theme Song: Listen here The Dumplings Theme Song
Writer(s)/Creator(s):
Fred Lucky
Don Nicholl
Michael Ross
Bernie West
Developer: Norman Lear
Cast:
James Coco as Joe Dumpling
Geraldine Brooks as Angela Dumpling
Marcia Rodd as Stephanie
George Furth as Frederic Steele
Jane Connell as Bridget McKenna
George S. Irving (1) as Charles Sweetzer
Mort Marshall as Cully
Series Premise: Fat married couple, Joe and Angela, own a deli in New York.
1 - Pilot - Aired: January 28, 1976
2 - The Ultimatum - Aired: February 4, 1976
3 - To Drink or Not to Drink - Aired: February 11, 1976
4 - The Parting - Aired: February 18, 1976
5 - Gourmet's Delight - Aired: February 25, 1976
6 - Sweetzer's Image - Aired: March 3, 1976
7 - Cully's Sister - Aired: March 10, 1976
8 - The Other Woman - Aired: March 17, 1976
9 - The Foundling - Aired: March 24, 1976
10 - Joe Takes a Fall - Aired: March 31, 1976
11 - Joe Gets Jugged - Unaired.
Show canceled after episode 10.
And here are details about each episode. I am particularly intrigued by the suicide one. Hard to wring merriment out of someone wanting to die. The show lasted one more episode after that.
Title
|
Plot/Notes
|
Pilot
|
Joe and Angela try to celebrate the anniversary of their first
meeting. NBC rebroadcast this episode on
|
"The Ultimatum"
|
The Dumplings' landlord orders
them to move their luncheonette out of the building after Joe calls Mr.
Steele a thief.
|
"To Drink or Not to Drink"
|
The Dumplings inherit a $900 bottle of wine and must decide whether
or not to drink it.
|
"The Parting"
|
Joe and Angela must be apart for the first time in their 15-year
marriage.
|
"Gourmet's Delight"
|
A newspaper columnist praises Angela's soup.
|
"Sweetzer's Image"
|
Mr. Sweetzer seeks refuge with the Dumplings after a fight with
his wife.
|
"Cully's Sister"
|
Cully's twin sister makes a surprise visit – and reveals an even
bigger surprise.
|
"The Other Woman"
|
Stephanie becomes hysterical when she sees her boyfriend, Mr.
Steele, with another woman.
|
"The Foundling"
|
Angela talks a woman out of committing suicide.
|
"Joe Takes a Fall"
|
Joe is injured in a fall from a broken apartment step. Vernon Weddle guest-stars.
|
"Joe Gets Jugged"
|
Joe is arrested after he accidentally knocks out a policeman.
|
NEWS FLASH! A discerning reader sent me a YouTube video of The Dumplings theme song, so now you can SEE what I meant, not just hear it. Thanks, Brian!
And as a glorious (inglorious?) p. s., here is the intro to a truly clenchworthy show about zany priests. Didn't age well at all.
Call it rose-colored glasses memory if you will, but as an 11 year-old boy, I don't recall this as a stream of fat jokes. The episodes I saw left me with the impression of two people that were absolutely devoted to each other. I can add little defense to the aesthetic discernment of a 70's pre-teen, nor can I help with the suicide episode, but I do remember that in the pilot, their ritual was to re-enact how they met at the same time of day every year, on their anniversary.
ReplyDeleteThe newspaper critic extolling the soup meant that they could market the soup and it meant more money, but it also meant too much time away from each other, so Joe refuses the deal.
As for the "worst sitcom", I believe that exercise to be something of a mug's game, but I cannot say that this ranked below "Shasta McNasty" or "I Married Dora", a sitcom that not only used the delightfully imperialistic plot line of the Latina maid that marries her boss to stay in the USA and love ensues, but also announced its OWN CANCELLATION. I would also submit that "Public Morals" (a Steven Bochco sitcom) and "Daddy's Girls" with Dudley Moore were worse...and both aired only once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVR99yafr8
I don't know whether it's a live link or not, but I'll try it. I can't believe there is actually someone who remembers seeing The Dumplings! I thought the stills were rather sweet, and it was plain neither of them was "fat" by today's standards. Thank you for your comments - I love getting them on posts I did a while ago. More TV gold!
DeleteDo you remember HEIL, HONEY, I'M HOME?
DeleteAlso, here is the footage of the Dumplings' theme. The seventies were HORRIBLE for sitcom theme songs, but one of the lows is a 90's sitcom called, "The Boys" as sung by a guy with a Noo Yawk accent and a gruff voice:
ReplyDelete"Just one of the boys!
Guys who sell stocks,
Sittin' next to guys who sell shirts,
Just one of the boys..."
Couple that with the "Sweet Adeline"-styled music and you'll BEG for "Good Things Come in Pairs"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1AHfCLmHLk
There was a show called In The Beginning where McLean Stevenson (sp.?) played a priest, which needs no explanation and had a very cutesy theme written by WHOEVER wrote all the theme songs back then, and another one called Have Faith or something like that - just cringeworthy when you see all those jolly priests hanging around choirboys. It didn't age well.
DeleteDid you see Calucci's Department? It had the best theme song ever.
DeleteI can't send you a link to Have Faith, so I've tacked it on the end of this post. Truly cringeworthy!
Delete