Kate & Allie

I thought Ari Meyers had potential to be in movies other TV shows.

There were two spin-offs of the show: "Roxie" and "Late Bloomer" - which was scrapped the day before it was supposed to air.

"Just when you think you're all by yourself, you're not."

Shit, R1. I had a helluva crush on her. All my crushes were on girls at that age. Funny that I turned out gay.

It disturbed me when Chip went from about 5'2" to 6'4" over a summer. It was like he had been stretched like Mike Teevee.

They filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theater before Late Show with David Letterman moved in.

Chip turned out to be a hot adult.

They used to run the reruns a couple years ago, but i can't find it anywhere now. Any idea if we can watch it anywhere?

I remember that awful episode where they pretended to be a lez couple.

We had one TV and my older sister had dibs on it when "Kate & Allie" was on. I tried to watch it a couple of times, but couldn't make it through a full episode. Maybe it was over my little head.

Loved the show, Jane was great!

I would pay a whole lot of money for Jane and Susan to play a lesbian couple on Grace and Frankie.

r11, Jane Jackson?

I had nothing in common with a guy I went to high school with except talking about this show.

I was 6 or 7 and home sick from school once when the episode where the daughter becomes a singer was on. I remember distinctly thinking for a long time that the song she sang, “Goodbye to You” was written by her for the show.

I also had no idea the show was set in nyc but they mainly only showed the inside of their house.

Wasn't there something weird about the house? A strange view from the kitchen window? Was the kitchen in the basement?

The first Lesbian mother family on tv.....girl, please

R8, I haven't seen the reruns anywhere for several years now. I think the last time I ran across it was probably 7 or 8 years ago when it played for a short while on WE (the women's channel). Other than that, it's pretty much disappeared, which is a shame because it was one of my favorite shows from the '80s.

It was a basement apartment. Not that uncommon in the Village.

I used to like this show as a kid. I saw Chip in Target a few years ago. (it was sort of traumatizing to see him frontally nude in Oz!)

Ari Meyers must have been a compulsive exerciser. In the 90s I worked in a gym and you always had to check when closing to see if she had left. She was always the last one out. Sometimes I'd have to tell her two or three times that we were closed.

Paaauuullll Neeewwwmannn!!!

Ari Meyers also played one of Al Pacino's kids in Author Author.

The interior of Kate and Allie's apartment always reminded me of Mork and Mindy's apartment.

Kate was a Carrie and Allie was a Miranda.

"Under pressure from higher-ups at CBS to quash the suggestion that Kate and Allie were lesbians, the producers were instructed to show Kate and Allie entering separate bedrooms to sleep at the end of each episode. That pressure may have been the impetus for an episode showing Kate and Allie pretending to be lesbians when they were faced with a large increase in rent."

I found it on Youtube and have fallen in love with it.

The kids felt natural for 80s kid actors.

Allison Smith was an Annie on Broadway. She was the youngest kid to have the role. There's stuff on youtube about it.

The guy who played Chip was never hot as an adult. Not even for one day.

Remember the episode where people thought Allie was a homeless person?

I like the episode where Andrea Martin plays a public access TV personality and Allie has the daughter on TV to sing. They start discussing how the kid feels pushed into doing it. Then people call into the show asking how would Allie like it if they made her sing.

The funny part is Chip is at home and calls in muffling his voice and saying "make the mother sing"

Allie then does a really off key version of Tomorrow.

I loved this show too. I thought Ari would go onto a bigger career after the show; she was so pretty.

The actor who plays Chip has gone onto play lots of oddballs and psychos.

[quote]I saw Chip in Target a few years ago.

I saw him there too! Do you live in West Hollywood?

r2, that's so weird I've never heard of Roxie before now. Those episodes with Andrea Martin stand out because my dad was an SCTV fan and said he wished they'd get rid of Susan Saint James and make Martin a regular instead. I'm surprised he didn't tune in for the spinoff, although it looks like it only aired twice.

[quote] I saw Chip in Target a few years ago.

[quote] I saw him there too!

Was he wearing a red vest?

nice behind the scenes video

Chip is such a sweet little kid in this.

r31------------I saw him in a Target out in the Valley.

Chip works quite a bit. He even went to college and studied theater at Carnegie Mellon. He turned out ok for a child star.

(hard to believe he is 43!!! )

I didn't know they had a Target in West Hollywood. I see it is by the Beverly Center. Is it a full size one or one of those mini-stores?

You can shoot it early when hardly anyone is around, yes even in NYC that happens.

Or you can clear the street. I've seen them do that too. NYC has a shitload of movies/tv shot there so it wouldn't be hard to arrange or even piggyback other movies and share the cost.

Yes, the cities CHARGE the companies to do that. I work two doors down from a house they use on TV and once a year they clear the street and shoot a day and a half or so.

I love how the movies hire thugs to scare people off. "You're not allowed to be here." I'm like, I work there, wanna call a cop?

Loved this show when I was a kid, and I also had a crush on Ari Meyers and then wound up gay. Watch it on YT occasionally now and I have to say that Curtin is terrific and it's great that she had such a vehicle for her talents (and won a couple of Emmys in the process).

Saint James is cute on the show, but is clearly overshadowed by Curtin, I understand that caused a bit of tension back in the day.

Smith was B'way's longest running Annie.

Koehler was in one of my fave movies from the '80s, Mr Mom.

I wonder if Susan and Jane still speak to each other.

I'm visiting NYC this week and for some reason found myself asking how they filmed those outside scenes, too. I remember the episode where a boy at school was obsessed with one of the daughters and took over the school's p.a. system to sing Careless Whisper to her. Who played their ex's?

r37, there's a smaller City Target by the Beverly Center but also a full size target on the eastern border of West Hollywood at Santa Monica and La Brea. The bigger one is where I saw Fred Koehler.

R41, I remember that episode with the guy obsessed with Ari Meyers' character, I believe he was played by soap actor Ricky Paul Goldin. Martha Byrne (Lily, As the World Turns) also guest-starred as a bad girl friend of Allison Smith's character in an episode.

You can see the exterior of their apartment on Bank Street

just when you thought you were all alone, you're not.

Jane was a comedy goddess. Absolutely hilarious. She competed against Shelley Long in Emmy races and they both won, of course, in different years.

Count me as another gay who had a crush on Ari.

An image from Fred’s nude scene in Oz is below.

[QUOTE] I thought Ari Meyers had potential to be in movies other TV shows.

I think she wanted to pursue other interests besides acting, I seem to remember she went to Harvard.

A few points:

* I remember late, great theater legend Marian Seldes played Kate's mother in at least one episode.

* I always wondered what made them scrap the "Late Bloomer" spinoff with Lindsay Wagner the way they did -- did something happen behind the scenes or did they just think the show wasn't as good as they had hoped?

* Allison Smith did another series, a spy drama on (I think) ABC. Can't remember the name of it (and don't feel like googling) but it was more or less an updated version of "The Avengers" she was the Emma Peel character. It didn't last long.

No one is better at being uptight than Jane Curtin.

Jane Curtin looks just like my mother, and Allie acted just like my mother, so I find watching the show to be comforting (I live in Europe, my mother lives in the U.S.)

You'd think with all the shows being rebooted, there would be a modern version of this one.

Hard to believe Ari is almost 50, much older than both K&A when the show started.

I remember thinking that Emma was an old lady name. Now old lady names are back.

We used to watch Kate & Allie together as a family. I was around 11 when it aired. I always thought it was a cute show and I remember some of the episodes were so funny. I thought Jane Curtain got the funniest lines. I watch some episodes from time to time on youtube. But every time I do it makes me feel nostalgic because it brings back the memories of a happy, carefree time in my life that is long gone.

At the time this was on, I was insanely jealous of Allison Smith because she was dating that hunky Brian Bloom.

They should reboot this with them as an old lesbian couple played by Curtain and St. James.

Awwww

Ari always had good hair.

Saint James was upset with Curtin's Emmy speech. Curtin said "and thanks to Susan Saint James because you can't do it with a trained poodle." Saint James said in some interview that if she had won she'd have said something like they were a team and the show is one word "kateandallie" meaning it is the two of them that made it work.

Curtin won again the next year but wasn't at the ceremony to pick up the emmy.

Seinfeld and Friends are referenced as if they started the sitcom standard, but Kate & Allie had a similar setting and actually filmed in Manhattan, not California. Shows have copied the style ever since.

Loved Jane In 3rd Rock from the Sun too.

I wonder how Jane Curtin got into comedy. One of her if not her first jobs was as a replacement for Nurse Ratchet in the off-Broadway run of Cuckoo's Nest.

Jane Curtin, Susan Saint James and Jessica Lange starred in How to Beat the High Co$t of Living in 1980.

Broad City actually reminds me a lot of K&A at times. K&A used to open a lot of their episodes with the two walking someplace in NYC, conversing about something non consequential - BC uses the exact same setup.

R62, there was even an episode of Kate & Allie where they mention Jessica Lange.

what did they say r64?

I've seen interviews with them where they talk about Jessica Lange. They always say that she was so timid and shy seeming on the film that they used to think this business will eat her alive. They were telling her why don't you just go off with Barishnikov and raise your baby and the next thing they knew she was a double Oscar nominee.

Chip turning up on 'OZ' as Schillingers son was so shocking at the time, pretty sure he had a horrible OD death. Kate and Allie was soooo good

Allison Smith later had plastic surgery that really transformed her face, and not in a good way - nose job, cheek implants. I remember seeing her in a TV movie in the '90s and being amazed. It seemed so unnecessary - she was very pretty before.

Did someone mention moi?

Anyone?

you are forbidden r69

This was probably better in the pitch meeting but Martin Short does a great Kate Hepburn.

I always thought Ari Meyers and Chanel Westcoast (?) from that dumb MTV show looked alike. Wonder if they are related?

[quote]I wonder if Susan and Jane still speak to each other.

No.

Susan blames Jane for her husband's plane going down.

They had the worst special episode ever. The homeless episode. A whole episode of one of them having to make it home after losing her purse. It was all during the homeless craze. I mean for fuck sake Manhattan is what? Twelve miles long? It wasn't like she was at one end and had to go all the way to the other. The most she would have had to walk was probably about 3 miles. If that. It was so fucking bad.

Just when you thought you were all alone (while playing with yourself), you're not.

For a brief period of time in the late '80s/early '90s a local station in Chicago used to show reruns of 'It's a Living' and 'Kate and Allie'. Imagine my surprise some thirty years later when I find out both shows were connected by the everlasting love of Ms. Barry Youngfellow (how the hell did she get an 'and' credit?) and Allie's second husband, Mr. Sam Freed.

I can remember “Kate and Allie” as part of a good Monday-night lineup on CBS, which also included “Newhart”, “Murphy Brown” and “Designing Women”.

Omfg I know chip from an episode of Strangers with Candy!

R78, he played the son Jerri gave up for adoption who she then tried to sleep with until she found out he was her son...and then she just tried to make out with him

Kate and Allie would be perfect for Logo's sitcom-a-thons

R80, or for a Lego movie.

R68 I don't know if she's had as much work as you say, but I think she looks fantastic in that picture.

I wonder if Barry Youngfellow's parents were hoping for a boy.

Just when you thought you could play with your pussy (alone), you're not.

Jane definitely hit the jackpot with 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Used to watch it for a few years when I was in junior high/high school with the other CBS comedies, Newhart, Murphy Brown, Designing Women. I remember watching with my mother, which makes me wonder where my father was on Monday nights, because he usually controlled the tv. He had a second job bartending Friday nights, so maybe he did Monday night too? I didn't pay much attention, because at that age it was all about ME.

But I have no recollection of the later seasons, so I probably only watched through '85 or '86. In fact, I don't remember many details or plots about the show. The one scene that sticks in my memory is from an episode where one of the kids has taken up playing an instrument. The Jane Curtain character (Allie?) is in the kitchen with a huge bowl of cookie dough batter, talking about how she's going to make the best batch of itty-bitty cookies. Then in the background you hear the tones of the kid starting to practice their instrument, and Curtain sighs, takes the whole batch of cookie dough, plunks it down in one giant blob on the cookie sheet, and slams it in the oven door. That scene had me in stitches, and is about the only thing I remember clearly from the show.

Add me too the list of young men who had a crush on Ari. I always thought she was the more attractive and couldn't understand how Allison Smith scored that hot piece of ass, Brian Bloom. Maybe there was something "butch"/masculine about Ari that drew us all in?

Can't believe that recent pic of Allison. She looks nothing like herself.

I wonder if Fred Koehler is openly gay?

When I saw him in Target he was with what seemed like a girlfriend or wife.

Went to a taping, those clips were from the first season and the audience was downstairs in the orchestra. When I went we were relegated to the balcony and the seats were removed for sets downstairs. For the life of me I can't remember a thing about the episode but remember the cast . The outdoor opening was pre-taped and they showed it with the credits on monitors as if you were watching at home. Most shows show the credits to the audience before taping. Went to a taping of "The Golden Girls" and remember everything from parking to leaving.

The homeless episode featured snatch eater Geraldine Court of The Doctors and Guiding Light fame.

[quote] But I have no recollection of the later seasons, so I probably only watched through '85 or '86.

That would have been some feat since you said you watched it with Designing Women and Murphy Brown, neither of which were on at that time.

We used to call Mondays on CBS "Dyke Night" the year its lineup was "Kate & Allie," "My Sister Sam," and "Cagney & Lacey"

[quote]That would have been some feat since you said you watched it with Designing Women and Murphy Brown, neither of which were on at that time.

Yeah, checked my dates after I posted, I must have watched through '88. No recollection that Allie got married, Jennie moved out, etc. which all happened in the last season.

It's BARRIE Youngfellow....you fat whores!

[quote] I always wondered what made them scrap the "Late Bloomer" spinoff with Lindsay Wagner the way they did

I think CBS got new management and they cooled a lot on K&A and the spinoff. It already had most of season 4 in the can but as I remember SSJ was pregnant and S4 was shortened, and they were apart for S5, so it killed the show, essentially.

Like Designing Women, it had great early seasons and then something shifted and went off the rails.

One of the kids would definitely be gay if Kate and Allie is remade.

Doesn't Jane expose her double D bosoms in How to beat the High Co$t of Living?

Yeah, this isn't exactly a warm "I really loved working with her" kind of moment, for sure.

Jane, you ignorant slut!

Oh, come on, R99--she says that it was "ultimately such a great time." She's just trying to answer the question as honestly and informatively as she can, which I find pretty refreshing.

It was better than working with a poodle.

Though I certainly remember K&A on Monday nights (where it started), I also remember that it was eventually moved to Wednesday nights (which may have been where it finished). I remember mostly because it was then on the same night as one of my other favorite shows from the '80s, "The Equalizer."

I used to watch Kate and Allie and Cagney and Lacey in my dorm room. Nobody was surprised when I came out a few years later.

Most of the hot jocks in college would switch over from watching Monday Night Football to watch Kate and Allie for half an hour.

Some DL-centric trivia: Kate & Allie writer/producer Bob Randall wrote the novel The Fan which was adapted into the 1981 Lauren Bacall camp/crap fest. He died of AIDS complications in 1995.

Didn't Jane and Susan live next door to each other in Connecticut? I think that's how they ended up doing the series together.

I bought the complete series on DVD and re-watched them all a few years ago. They really should have ended it before that final season. Allie became really insufferable when she got remarried and it was awkward how they had to get Kate to move into Allie's new apartment to sort of maintain the show's concept. The poor actor playing Chip went through the world's most awkward puberty on TV for the world to see. And sorry, Barrie Youngfellow, but Sam Freed was a bland, annoying addition to the show.

FYI, the DVDs aren't the best representation of the show. Edited syndication episodes, fair to poor video and sound quality throughout. Surprisingly, the final season episodes look the worst. It's watchable but it would be great if Shout factory could get the rights and release an unedited, remastered collection with some extras.

[quote]Doesn't Jane expose her double D bosoms in How to beat the High Co$t of Living?

Stunt tits.

That was a million years ago. I can not remember those scenes.

[quote] it would be great if Shout factory could get the rights and release an unedited, remastered collection with some extras.

Doll, even if Shout Factory did acquire the rights, what makes you think they'd put out unedited or remastered episodes? Just watch WKRP, Rhoda, etc. They often will just throw anything out there and say that it was the best they could get.

I loved the episode when Allie finds a condom in Chip's jeans.

Coochie coma hoosbeen?

I had a friend in high school that was obsessed with Playboy Playmates, Heather Thomas, Samantha Fox and Teri Copley..

But he always said he wanted to marry someone like Ari Meyers, and had a small black and white picture of her from People magazine up on his wall.

[quote] I loved the episode when Allie finds a condom in Chip's jeans.

I always pictured Chip rawdogging it

Were they stunt tits? When I saw that movie on HBO, I was shocked as a prudish little kid who always liked Jane Curtin. (My grandmother used to let me stay up late to watch SNL on Saturday nights.)

R113 well this is what his dream wife looks like now

[quote]Sam Freed was a bland, annoying addition to the show.

IIRC, his character wasn't really around that much during that last season, was he? Wasn't he always on the road or something? I ask because I seem to recall that was their "rationale" for moving Kate into the apartment (because Bob was always gone).

I agree, that last season never should have happened. The show probably should have ended the year before and gone out on a creative high note.

R112 -

I do. And they interpreted it as "Could you call my husband?" causing a huge issue as the lady was trying to have an affair or something like that.

We used to watch this show. I've seen every episode.

So many shows in the 1980s I used to watch as a teen/early 20-something.

Yes they were stunt boobs r115. You just see Curtin undressing and then a close up of just boobs, no face.

r110, Shout did a great job with the WKRP set. Yeah, they couldn't get all the music but they got like 80-85% of it and included the unedited broadcast episodes rather than the redubbed, syndicated versions whenever possible. Not perfect but Fox certainly didn't step up to try and do a better set.

It's interesting that they filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theater. I don't know that there would have been a lot of room for sets.

r121 someone up above said they used the first floor of the theater for sets and the audience just sat in the balcony

just when you thought you were alone fingering your pussy, you're not.

Laverne and Shirley was funnier.

[quote]Chip turned out to be a hot adult.

Really?

Yup. Really. 2nd photo.

[quote]Went to a taping of "The Golden Girls" and remember everything from parking to leaving.

Now THIS I want to hear ALL about. Seriously!

No, adult chip was, is and will always be a fuggo of the first degree.

R127 I would love to hear about it.....and just started a thread for it too!

Awesome! Thanks R129!

Jane always had such an undeniable smokers voice. I don’t think she ever quit either. She was great on the show but damn if she didn’t age rapidly after the first season or two (and even more thereafter).

Ari Meyers to me always looked like Carly Simon. Same overbite. She went to either Yale or Columbia I forget which one. Allison smith may have had one of the worst stage mothers of all time. She grew up in the same town in NJ as Martha Byrne and they were friends so that’s how she guest starred on that. I always thought she was very pretty. Smith most certainly was not but I think the plastic surgery greatly improved her looks - even if the nose job is on the obvious side it just looks so much better.

And that spy show she was on was called Spy Game. I think post plastic surgery her people tried to remarket her as a bit of a babe. Didn’t work.

I loved this show as a kid. Every episode is on YouTube. I’ve been re-watching them and I’m just realizing how smart and funny the writing is and how well the entire cast worked together. And Jane Curtin is hysterical.

Jane is a bit of a C U NEXT TUESDAY

^Do tell.

R133=Susan St. James

[quote] Were they stunt tits? When I saw that movie on HBO, I was shocked as a prudish little kid who always liked Jane Curtin. (My grandmother used to let me stay up late to watch SNL on Saturday nights.)—"She showed her boobies!"

No head = stunt tits

Count me in as someone who always predicted a big career for Ari Meyers. Maybe it was her poor choice of projects. Maybe she was just being offered poor choices. She did that fucking movie with the twin bodybuilders.

Watching Ari Meyers in Author Author! right now

I remember that movie with the twin bodybuilders. It was 1 of the stupidest movies I'd ever seen. I wonder where those guys are today? lol

Back on the topic of Kate & Allie I also loved this show when I was a kid. I remember some of the episodes being hilarious. Allie especially. She had some of the funniest lines.

Per Wikipedia (salt) Ari's mother Taro played a character named Melissa Needham on Another World, 81-82. I don't recall her.

yeah that bodybuilder movie was as dumb as fuck but you can bet I watched it.

I loved this show and I’m now going to dig around on YouTube. I remember thinking the dark haired kid was pretty and the blond one was ugly, and I was also jealous that they were best friends and got to live together. I also liked Jane Curtin better than SSJ, but thought SSJ was prettier.

I love the idea of them rebooting this!

I loved this show when it was first aired. The amusing yet heartwarming episodes always brought me a sense of comfort.

The working title was 'Cunt & Lezzie'

The Lindsay Wagner episode was as shitty as shitty TV gets. Thank god they killed it before it was born. I know she's supposed to be super talented but Barbara Barrie could kill anything.

At least Lindsay Wagner made SSJ the funny one for one episode.

There are only a few things I distinctly remember - the telling of how the two moved in together - I think both characters were pregnant at the time. I also remember Allie bringing a date home and coming up with some rhyme about somebody being in the cellar. And a clip show where Chip walks in and calls Allie mom, but Jane says it's a clip show so he can call her Allie that week (stupid).

I remember watching it when it was briefly rerun on We - one of their opening bits was a total rip off of the Judy Benjamin An Unmarried Woman bit (Allie not understanding why she didn’t marry the Alan Bates character).

Did that 80s dyke-tastic hairdo Wagner is sporting at r145 ever look good on anyone?

Markie Post and Olivia Newton John.

Best line: "I'm a New Yorker, Bob. The only thing I like about New Jersey is their view of Manhattan."

I think it must have been tough for St. James to be the 'fun' character within the context of the story, but not the funny character on the show.

Even now there are very few sitcoms filmed in New York City.

Just when you think you're all by yourself

You are.

R154 ha my sister and I used to joke and sing that too.

Maybe you are my sister.

Like a metaphor or...?

I'm shocked to learn Allison Smith was Mallory O'Brien on The West Wing. I watched most of K&A and ALL of TWW and the plastic surgery poster was right; she's unrecognizable.

Jane Curtin is one of a very small handful of (TV or film) actors who never treated what she did as anymore than “just a job,” whether it was this, SNL, or any of her later shows. Accordingly she kind of had a fairly nonchalant, non melodramatic attitude towards anything she did, which maybe to some seems cold, but it’s not, it’s just...different.

In one of her interviews (maybe the archive one), she basically says how a sitcom schedule is the easiest job in the world, especially as a parent: one full day of work (tape day), and the rest of the week you’re done at like 3:30. And you get paid a shitton of money and win awards, she was like, “why would I ever do anything else? It’s a great life.”

Betty White is the only other TV actress I recall talking about the “easy” sitcom schedule. She said something like “don’t listen to what Bea says, it’s not at all of a grind” (and yes she did reference Bea).

The DVD contains the deleted "The Scissoring Episode"

Did any of Jane’s old SNL co-stars make a guest appearance on K&A? Belushi?

Just when you think there's no one around who's caring, along comes a friend who offers a hand in sharing, and things start looking fine.

Sometimes tears and sorrow are all the things you've got and just when you think you're all by yourself, you're not.

Jane Curtin never had anything to do with the cast members of SNL. Everyone said, she was nice to them but as soon as the show was over, Jane would hop the train back to Connecticut to be with her husband while everyone else on the show would go out and get high and party.

She was always pretty frank about those days, I was watching her Emmy Legends interviews and she seems to be very realistic. She said, "Chevy Chase" was the breakout star, so it she didn't see why everyone on the show reacted so badly, as it was just the way the business works, you promote the popular one.

She said, she knew John Belushi very well before the show and she and her husband would go out with him socially. She said, after SNL, he got into drugs and was horrible to all the woman. She said, she guesses it was the drugs that did it, but she lost all respect for him, because he treated her and all the woman on the show horribly.

She said she felt bad for Lorraine Newman because she was so young and got swept in by the drugs and would reject any offer of help she gave.

And of course like pretty much everyone she loved Gilda and called her the most talented one on the show.

Whenever I can't sleep, Kate and Allie is my go-to. Like tonight.

It's interesting to see Curtin interviewed about her career, she really minimizes Kate and Allie in comparison to 3rd Rock from the Sun, which I find surprising since K&A was such a wonderful showcase for her talents, whereas she's in a much more supporting role on 3rd Rock. I've been watching K&A again, and it...well...Curtin really holds up, she's hysterical. It's no accident that she hasn't stopped working in 40 years (she's in the new Melissa McCarthy movie). She sort of flies under the radar, but really only Bill Murray has managed the same sort of consistency and longevity career-wise of all the early, much-hyped SNL cast.

Just when you think there’s no one around whose watching you flick your bean, you’re WRONG!

^Lol

That’s interesting, R165. K&A was a wonderful show.

^I meant R164.