Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (TV series)

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Main cast photo
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Paul Mazursky Larry Tucker
Written by	James S. Henerson Bernard M. Kahn
Directed by	Rick Edelstein Leo Penn
Starring	Robert Urich Anne Archer David Spielberg Anita Gillette
Composer(s)	Artie Butler
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12 (5 unaired)
Production
Producer(s)	James S. Henerson
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Frankovich Enterprises Screen Gems
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 26 (1973-09-26) – November 7, 1973 (1973-11-07)
Chronology
Related shows	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is an American sitcom broadcast in the United States by ABC as part of its 1973 fall lineup. It was based on the movie of the same title. It was produced by Screen Gems.

Synopsis

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was of necessity somewhat different from the R-rated 1969 movie upon which it was based. The film involved sexual liberation, and featured the (short-lived) desire of the two title couples to engage in extra-marital affairs, mate-swapping and group sex, all of which would have been obviously unacceptable on U.S. broadcast television in 1973. Instead, it made do with plots which were attempts at titillation by the broadcast standards of the time, but which stood a chance of surviving the censors at the network's Division of Standards and Practices.

These included skinny dipping, premarital sex, and unmarried couples cohabiting, which were still thought by many to be racy topics for network television at the time. As with the film, Ted and Alice Henderson were more conservative than the "liberated" Bob and Carol Sanders. No members of the original film cast reprised their roles in the series.

Reception

Scheduled opposite CBS's Top 10 hit The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and NBC's Top 30 hit Adam-12, the series earned very low Nielsen ratings, and was canceled less than two months after its premiere.

The show is perhaps best remembered for featuring a then eleven-year-old Jodie Foster as Ted and Alice's daughter. (This differed from the movie version, in which the characters had actually had a son, rather than a daughter.)

Cast

• Robert Urich as Bob Sanders
• Anne Archer as Carol Sanders
• David Spielberg as Ted Henderson
• Anita Gillette as Alice Henderson
• Brad Savage as Sean Sanders
• Jodie Foster as Elizabeth Henderson

Episode list

*These episodes finally appeared on USA Cable Network, with the rest of the series, in 1984.

References

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice at the Internet Movie Database