''Buffalo Bill'' is an American

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 ...

television series that featured the misadventures of an egotistical

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

host, played by

Dabney Coleman Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. Coleman's best known films include ''9 to 5'' (1980), '' On Golden Pond'' (1981), ''Tootsie'' (1982), '' WarGames'' (1983), '' Cloak & Dagger'' (1984), ''The Beverly Hillbillies ...

, and his staff (including

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor

and

Joanna Cassidy Joanna Cassidy (born Joanna Virginia Caskey, August 2, 1945 Brady, James"In Step With: Joanna Cassidy" ''Miami Herald'', November 25, 1990. Accessed March 14, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Born: Aug.2, 1944, in Camden, N.J.") is an American actress. ...

) at WBFL-TV, a small TV station in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. It premiered June 1, 1983, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and ran for two seasons (1983–84). It was also shown on the then-new UK fourth TV channel

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Characters

as "Buffalo" Bill Bittinger *

as Joanna "Jo-Jo" White, no-nonsense producer of the talk show *

Max Wright George Edward Maxwell Wright (August 2, 1943 – June 26, 2019) was an American actor, known for his role as Willie Tanner on the sitcom '' ALF'' (1986–1990). Early life Wright was born August 2, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan. He moved to th ...

as Karl Shub, WBFL's station manager *

John Fiedler John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

as Woodrow "Woody" Deschler *

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor

as Wendy Killian, production assistant * Charlie Robinson as Newdell Springs *

Meshach Taylor Meshach Taylor (; April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom ''Designing Women'' (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstan ...

as Tony * Claude Earl Jones as Stan (recurring) * Pippa Pearthree as Melanie Bittinger, Bill's (estranged) daughter

Synopsis

Most of the humor came from Bill's completely unredeemable qualities and from the staff's frustration at dealing with him.

US television ratings

Episodes

In 2005,

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

released the entire series on Region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

Season 1: 1983

Season 2: 1983–84

Reception

The series received 11 Emmy Award nominations (including two for Outstanding Comedy Series). Joanna Cassidy also won a Golden Globe Award in 1984. In 1999, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

''ranked Bill Bittinger number 42 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list. Former

President

Brandon Tartikoff Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...

wrote in his memoirs that his biggest professional regret was canceling the show.

References

External links

* * {{epguides, BuffaloBill, Buffalo Bill
''Buffalo Bill''
at Jumptheshark.com 1983 American television series debuts 1984 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American workplace comedy television series NBC original programming Television shows set in Buffalo, New York Television series about television English-language television shows