Barefoot in the Park (TV series)

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Barefoot In The Park
Genre	Sitcom
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Executive producer(s)	William P. D'Angelo
Starring	Scoey Mitchell Tracy Reed Thelma Carpenter Nipsey Russell Harry Holcombe Vito Scotti
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 24, 1970–December 17th, 1970
No. of episodes	12
IMDb profile

Barefoot in the Park was another attempt to bring a Neil Simon Broadway play to television in 1970 (The Odd Couple was the other one). However, the twist on the shift from the stage to the small screen was that the cast on the program were comprised of all black actors and actresses.

Barefoot in the Park had also been a successful 1967 film which starred Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.

On the television show, Scoey Mitchell played Paul Bratter, a newlywed black attorney for the law firm Kendricks, Keene & Klein who was living in lower Manhattan with his wife, Corie (played by Tracy Reed). The show was basically a slice of life situation comedy about surviving in New York City. Other regulars included Thelma Carpenter as Corie's mother, Mable Bates, Harry Holcombe played Mr. Kendricks, Vito Scotti played Mr. Velasquez and Nipsey Russell rounded out the cast as local pool hall owner, Honey Robinson.

The show premiered on Thursday, September 24, 1970, at 9:00 PM, on ABC-TV (It was the lead in show for another program that also debuted on September 24, The Odd Couple). It was produced by William P. D'Angelo and various episodes were written or directed by much of the same team that helped develop The Odd Couple (Jerry Paris, Harvey Miller, Bruce Bilson and Garry Marshall among others).

Only 12 episodes were produced. The show never really found an audience, and was one of the first casualties of the 1970-1971 TV season, being cancelled after the December 17, 1970 broadcast.

[edit] Trivia

Dead End Kids alumnus Huntz Hall and actor Jackie Coogan appeared on the 10th episode, aired December 3, 1970 and entitled Disorder in the Court (which gets its title from the 1936 Three Stooges short).
Susan Harris, who was to become the creator and writer of the situation comedies Soap and The Golden Girls, wrote the third episode, aired October 8, 1970 and entitled "You'll Never Walk Alone", a reference to the title of the closing song from the musical Carousel.
Barefoot in the Park was the first U.S. television situation comedy since Amos 'n' Andy to have an all black cast (save for Vito Scotti, who was the lone major Caucasian character).
Penny Marshall made one of her earliest television appearances on the fourth episode of the series, aired October 5, 1970 and entitled "In Sickness and in Health". As a side note, Marshall's later co-star of the mid 1970s television success Laverne and Shirley, Cindy Williams, appeared on the sixth episode, which aired on October 29, 1970 and was entitled "The Marriage Proposal".