The Byrds of Paradise | |
---|---|
Created by | Charles H Eglee Channing Gibson |
Starring |
Timothy Busfield Seth Green Jennifer Love Hewitt Ryan O'Donohue Arlo Guthrie Elizabeth Lindsey Bruce Weitz |
Opening theme | Mike Post |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 (1 unaired) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Steven Bochco Charles H Eglee |
Running time | 47 minutes |
Production company(s) | Steven Bochco Productions 20th Century Fox Television |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | March 3 – June 23, 1994 |
The Byrds of Paradise is a US television series that ran during the 1993-94 season on ABC. One of the few series executive produced by Steven Bochco that he did not help create, the hour-long drama centers on a father and his three children, abruptly relocated to Hawaii from New Haven after the sudden death of the children's mother. Much of the show dealt with the titular Byrd family adjusting to their lives in an entirely new environment as they recovered from their loss, similar to the premise of the later Everwood.
Filmed on location in the state of Hawaii, The Byrds of Paradise was unique in the inclusion of the local culture of Hawaii in the lives of the originally mainland Byrd family, rather than their maintaining a lifestyle nearly indistinguishable from that on the mainland with Hawaii's tropical scenery serving primarily as an attractive background.
Sam Byrd, the family's father, accepts a headmaster's position at a private school in Hawaii, which his children attend along with local students. All of the Byrds interact with local characters, some of whom speak pidgin (performed with varying degrees of authenticity) and reflect a far more realistic portrait of Hawaii's culture than is usually shown in film and television depictions of Hawaii. This tendency includes the romantic interests of the Byrds, who are local characters (played by local actors) rather than mainland transplants. Topics such as teenage pregnancy and underage drinking were featured, as are usually presented in a television show with teens as central characters.
One of the more distinctive aspects of The Byrds of Paradise was the role of Dr. Murray Rubinstein, an unpretentious beachside psychiatrist. Originally doctor to Franny, the temperamental middle child who is the most obviously traumatized by her mother's death, Murray eventually treats Sam, the children's father who is also suffering from the loss of his wife. A voice of reason who counsels his patients with an unconventional bedside manner, the doctor makes significant progress with Franny and Sam.