Hello, Larry
| Hello, Larry | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Dick Bensfield Perry Grant |
| Written by | Dick Bensfield Perry Grant George Tibbles |
| Directed by | Doug Rogers |
| Starring |
McLean Stevenson Donna Wilkes Krista Errickson Kim Richards Joanna Gleason George Memmoli Ruth Brown Meadowlark Lemon John Femia Fred Stuthman |
| Composer(s) | John LaSalle Tom Smith |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 38 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dick Bensfield Perry Grant George Tibbles |
| Producer(s) | Rita Dillon Woody Kling Patricia Fass Palmer George Tibbles |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | T.A.T. Communications Company |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | January 26, 1979 – April 29, 1980 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Diff'rent Strokes |
Hello, Larry is an American sitcom starring McLean Stevenson that aired on NBC from January 26, 1979, to April 30, 1980.
Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) is a radio talk show host who left Los Angeles after being divorced and moved to Portland, Oregon, with his two teenage daughters, Diane (played in the first season by Donna Wilkes and in the second season by Krista Errickson) and Ruthie (played by Kim Richards). In the first season, episodes centered on Larry at the radio station and his smart remarks to callers. The supporting cast consisted of producer Morgan (Joanna Gleason) and engineer Earl (George Memmoli).
In an effort to make the character (and the series) more likeable, the episodes were based almost entirely around the home life of Larry and the girls, with Morgan and Earl being seen less frequently. In addition, various supporting characters were added in the apartment building where Larry and the girls lived; these included a black neighbor, Leona (Ruth Brown), who usually did not approve of Larry's parenting; Tommy (John Femia), a purportedly worldly wise teenage boy who became a love interest of Ruthie's; former Harlem Globetrotters player Meadowlark Lemon as himself, running a local sporting goods store in the series; and Larry's father (Fred Stuthman), who moved in with the younger Alders. None of these people, nor a two-part episode in which Larry's ex-wife Marian (Shelley Fabares) tried to reconcile with him, were enough to save the show, and it was canceled in the spring of 1980.
The shift to more family-related stories in the second season was represented by a change in the line of the show's opening theme lyrics; the line that went "...the calls are comin' in, you'd better start to grin..." in reference to Larry's radio career gave way to "...you're raising them just fine, but keep an open mind..." when the stories became more focused on the Alder household. In both seasons, the lyrical line always ended with "'cause you never know just what they're gonna say."
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