Love, American Style | |
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Starring | Different cast each week |
Theme music composer | Charles Fox, Arnold Margolin |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 108 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 42–44 minutes (1969–70 and 1971–74) 22–25 minutes (1970–71) |
Production company(s) | Parker-Margolin Productions Paramount Network Television |
Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | September 29, 1969 – January 11, 1974 |
Chronology | |
Related shows |
Love, American Style is a comedic television anthology, which was produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between 1969 and 1974. For the 1971 and 1972 seasons, it was a part of an ABC Friday prime-time lineup that also included The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple.
Each week, the show featured unrelated stories of romance, usually with a comedic spin. Episodes featured different characters, stories, and locations. The show often featured the same actors playing different characters in many episodes. In addition, a large, ornate brass bed was a recurring prop in many episodes. Charles Fox's delicate yet hip music score, featuring flutes, harp, and flugelhorn set to a contemporary pop beat, provided the "love" ambiance which tied the stories together as a multifaceted romantic comedy each week. For its first season, the theme song was performed by The Cowsills. Beginning in the second season, the same theme song was sung by the Ron Hicklin Singers, featuring brothers John and Tom Bahler (billed as The Charles Fox Singers).
This second version of the theme was carried on for the remainder of the series, as well as on most episodes prepared for syndication. The title is loosely derived from a 1961 Italian comedy film called Divorzio all'italiana (Divorce, Italian Style), which received Academy Award nominations in 1962 for Best Director for Pietro Germi and for Best Actor for star Marcello Mastroianni. The film was later spoofed in 1967 by Divorce, American Style, starring Dick Van Dyke. The snowclone "(xxx), (nationality) Style" became a minor cultural catch-phrase as the 1960s progressed.