Baby, I'm Back
| Baby, I'm Back! | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by |
Lila Garrett Mort Lachman |
| Written by | Chet Dowling David Garber Lila Garrett George Geiger Kevin Hartigan April Kelly Sandy Krinski Mort Lachman Martin Rips Joseph Staretski |
| Directed by | Dick Harwood Nick Havinga Mark Warren |
| Starring |
Demond Wilson Denise Nicholas Helen Martin Kim Fields Tony Holmes Ed Hall |
| Narrated by | Demond Wilson |
| Theme music composer | Jeff Barry |
| Composer(s) | Jeff Barry |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Charles Fries |
| Producer(s) | Chet Dowling |
| Cinematography | Jim Kilgore |
| Editor(s) | Jim McElroy |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Charles Fries Productions |
| Distributor | Charles Fries Productions MGM Television (current) |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | January 30 – April 24, 1978 |
Baby, I'm Back is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from January to April 1978. The series stars Demond Wilson, Denise Nicholas, Helen Martin and Kim Fields.
Raymond Ellis (Wilson) is a compulsive gambler and abandoned his family (Olivia Ellis (Nichols), son Jordan, and daughter Angie (Fields)) and heads to California. 7 years later, while in California, Ray finds out that his wife plans to remarry to Colonel Wallace Dickey, and that he has been declared legally dead. This prompts him to move back to Washington, D.C., where he tries to win back Olivia by proving he is a better husband, and a better father to his kids, and to prove that he is still alive. However, he now has to contend with his mother-in-law Luzelle (Helen Martin) and Olivia's soon to be husband Colonel Dickey.
The pilot was video taped in September 1977. CBS picked the pilot up as a mid season replacement, going into production at the CBS Studio Center lot in November 1977, for airing from January to April 1978.
In the book "Funny You Should Ask: Oral Histories of Classic Sitcom Storytellers by Scott Lewellen, Garrett created the show to address the social issue of the time of black males not being able to get jobs to provide for their families. Many had abandoned their families because of it and in this case, the lead character did abandoned but once he found work and got his act together, he came back, hence the name of the show. In the show, the mother had a great government job at the Pentagon and lived in a nice apartment. With the casting as Wilson just completed Sanford and Son and Nicholas was a hot commodity, Garrett saw the chemistry. Nicholas said in a summer 1978 edition of Jet Magazine that she was surprised at the cancellation of the series despite decent ratings.
Garrett stated the show was cancelled due to Norman Lear wanting Good Times to come back for another season and told CBS, he'll create them another show in exchange for it.
Due to its episode amount, the series was never syndicated to local stations, though it aired on Black Entertainment Television in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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