''Arnie'' is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

that ran for two seasons (1970–72) on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. It starred

Herschel Bernardi Herschel Bernardi (October 30, 1923 – May 9, 1986) was an American actor and singer. He is best known for his supporting role in the drama television series ''Peter Gunn'' (1958–1961) and his leading role in the comedy television serie ...

, Sue Ane Langdon, and

Roger Bowen Roger Wendell Bowen (May 25, 1932 – February 16, 1996) was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film ''M*A*S*H''. Bowen considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an ...

. Bernardi played the title character, Arnie Nuvo, a longtime

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and power ...

employee at the fictitious Continental Flange Company, who overnight was promoted to an executive position. The story lines mainly focused on this fish-out-of-water situation, and on Arnie's sometimes-problematic relationship with his well-meaning but wealthy and eccentric boss, Hamilton Majors Jr. (Bowen). Because he still held his union card, Arnie could negotiate tricky management/labor situations that no one else could. Arnie's surname was presumably a pun on

nouveau riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...

(which his promotion effectively made him), and possibly also on

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. In addition to Bernardi, Bowen, and Langdon (as Arnie's wife Lilian), cast members included Del Russel and Stephanie Steele as Arnie's son and daughter, Richard and Andrea; Elaine Shore as Arnie's secretary, Felicia; Herb Voland as sour-tempered vice-president Neil Ogilvie, and

Tom Pedi Tom Pedi (September 14, 1913 – December 29, 1996) was an American actor whose work included roles on stage, television and film in a career spanning 50 years. He was particularly well-known for his portrayal of Rocky, the night barman, in '' Th ...

as Arnie's loading dock friend, Julius.

Olan Soule Olan Evart Soule (February 28, 1909 – February 1, 1994) was an American actor, who had professional credits in nearly 7,000 radio shows and commercials, appearances in 200 television series and television films, and in over 60 films. Soul ...

appeared occasionally as Fred Springer, another vice-president. In its first season, despite being the lead-in to ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moo ...

'' on Saturday nights and winning an Emmy nomination as best comedy series, ''Arnie'' received only fair Nielsen ratings. For its second season, in order to increase its viewership, CBS made a major cast change in the show's format.

Dick Van Patten Richard Vincent Van Patten (December 9, 1928 – June 23, 2015) was an American actor, comedian, businessman, and animal welfare advocate, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He was best known for his role as patriarch Tom Brad ...

was dropped as the Nuvos' next door neighbor, and

Charles Nelson Reilly Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

joined the cast as Randy Robinson, a TV

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

who called himself "The Giddyap Gourmet", apparently a reference to

The Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr (born 22 January 1934) is an English cooking personality who is best known for his television cooking show ''The Galloping Gourmet'' from December 30, 1968 to September 14, 1973. Early life Kerr was born in Brondesbury, London. H ...

. Also, the network decided to move the show to Monday nights at 10:00 P.M. followed at 10:30 P.M. by a new sitcom that had debuted in January, 1971 on Tuesday nights to mediocre ratings, ''

All In the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

''. At the last minute, a switch was made and ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chroni ...

'' left its comfortable Saturday night time slot and took over the 10:00 P.M. slot on Mondays with ''Arnie'' slotted at 10:30 P.M. Both shows sank in the ratings. ''All In the Family'' was moved to Saturday nights at 8:00 P.M. where it became the number one show for five consecutive years. At mid-season, ''My Three Sons'' was moved to Thursday nights and ''Arnie'' returned to the Saturday night prime-time schedule. The changes did not help. Both shows were canceled at the end of the 1971–1972 season.

Cast

as Arnie Nuvo *Stephanie Steele as Andrea Nuvo * Del Russel as Richard Nuvo * Sue Ane Langdon as Lilian Nuvo *

as Hamilton Majors, Jr.

Episodes

Season 1: 1970–71

Season 2: 1971–72

References

External links

* * {{epguides, Arnie, Arnie 1970 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms 1970s American workplace comedy television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about families Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Los Angeles