A Family for Joe
A Family for Joe is an American sitcom that starred Robert Mitchum in the title role. It started out as a television movie that aired NBC on February 25, 1990, before turning it into a series that lasted from March 24 until August 19, 1990.[2] Nine episodes of the series were filmed.[3]
| A Family for Joe | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Arnold Margolin |
| Written by | Philip Rosenthal [1] Oliver Goldstick [1] |
| Starring | Robert Mitchum Juliette Lewis Ben Savage Jessica Player David Lascher Barry Gordon |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Sonny Grosso Larry Jacobson |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Grosso-Jacobson Productions NBC Productions Feature Films For Families |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | March 24 – August 19, 1990 |
Plot
A Family for Joe is about the Bankston children, 15-year-old Holly (Juliette Lewis), 16-year-old Nick (David Lascher), 9-year-old Chris (Ben Savage), and 7-year-old Mary (Jessica Player) who have been recently orphaned. Rather than have themselves split up into foster care, they find a homeless man, Joe (Robert Mitchum), to live with them and act as their grandfather.
Cast
- Robert Mitchum as Joe Whitaker
- Juliette Lewis as Holly Bankston
- David Lascher as Nick Bankston
- Barry Gordon as Roger Hightower
- Ben Savage as Chris Bankston
- Jessica Player as Mary Bankston
Episodes
TV Movie
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "A Family for Joe" | Jeff Melman | Arnold Margolin | February 25, 1990 |
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Little Romance" | TBA | TBA | March 24, 1990 |
| 2 | "The Medium" | TBA | TBA | March 31, 1990 |
| 3 | "Nick's Heart" | TBA | TBA | April 7, 1990 |
| 4 | "An Earful" | Alan Rafkin | Oliver Goldstick & Phil Rosenthal | April 14, 1990 |
| 5 | "Life of the Party" | TBA | TBA | April 28, 1990 |
| 6 | "Law and Order" | TBA | TBA | May 5, 1990 |
| 7 | "Once a Bum" | TBA | TBA | August 5, 1990 |
| 8 | "Night School" | TBA | TBA | August 12, 1990 |
| 9 | "Having a Baby" | Alan Rafkin | Renee Phillips & Carrie Honigblum | August 19, 1990 |
Response
Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly rated the series a D, stating that "the kids are leering little creeps, the jokes are moronic, and Joe's homelessness is already absent from the show's current scripts".[4]
In the DVD series, "The Write Environment", writer Philip Rosenthal (who would go on to create Everybody Loves Raymond) talks about being a staff writer on the series.
References
- "'Raymond' creator pacts for $16 mil deal". Variety. July 30, 1997. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- "Capsules". Entertainment Weekly. March 23, 1990. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- Klein, Alvin (April 22, 1990). "Theater; A Scarsdale Student 'Ready For Prime Time'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- Tucker, Ken (April 13, 1990). "TV reviews for the week of April 13". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-04-01.