The Baxters
| The Baxters | |
|---|---|
Season 1 title card
|
|
| Created by | Hubert Jessup |
| Developed by | Norman Lear |
| Starring |
Season 1: Larry Keith Anita Gillette Derin Altay Chris Petersen Terri Lynn Wood Season 2: Sean McCann Terry Tweed Marianne McIsaac Sammy Snyders Megan Follows |
| Theme music composer | Marvin Laird |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Season 1: Norman Lear Season 2: Chet Collier |
| Producer(s) |
Season 1: Fern Field (producer) Richard J. Clayman (associate producer) Season 2: Wendell Wilkes (producer) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
T.A.T. Communications Company Wilks and Close Productions |
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndicated |
| Original release | September 1979 – August 1981 |
The Baxters is an American-Canadian sitcom that aired as a syndicated series from September 1979 to August 1981. The original American incarnation of the series aired locally from 1977 to 1979 on the Boston station WCVB; in 1979, Norman Lear took over production, and a recast version aired nationally in the 1979-80 television season. Facing cancellation, the series was then acquired by a Canadian firm who moved the production to Toronto and recast it again, and lasted one more season as a Canadian series before ending its run in 1981.
The series was the first "interactive" sitcom, depicting a middle-class St. Louis family. Each 30-minute episode was split into two parts; the first half was a vignette dramatizing the events in the lives of the Baxter family, and the second was a live studio audience "talk show" segment where audiences were given the opportunity to participate and voice their opinions about the issues raised in that week's episode.
The Baxters were an "average" middle-class family living in a suburb of St. Louis. Fred Baxter (Larry Keith) was an insurance salesman and Nancy (Anita Gillette) a housewife and mother. Naomi (Derin Altay), was their adopted 19-year-old daughter, Jonah (Chris Petersen) was their 14-year-old son, and their youngest, Rachel (Terri Lynn Wood) was their 10-year-old daughter. The series followed the Baxter family as they dealt with various important and, in some cases, controversial, issues of the day. In one episode they were faced with whether to commit Mother Baxter to a nursing home; in another, whether the fact that Jonah's teacher was a homosexual would harm their son; and in another, Fred faced a dilemma over whether to turn a small, money-losing apartment house he owned into condominiums, thus forcing out some of the tenants.
The second season featured an all new cast as another Baxter family; Jim Baxter (Sean McCann) became a schoolteacher and his wife Susan Baxter (Terry Tweed) returned to work. Their kids were now 19-year-old Allison (Marianne McIsaac), 14-year-old Greg (Sammy Snyders) and 10-year-old Lucy (Megan Follows). The format, however, was essentially the same.
...
Wikipedia