''Out of the Blue'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

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 aired on ABC during the fall of 1979. It is chiefly notable as having featured a ''

Mork & Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

, and for the debate surrounding its status as a spin-off of ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

''.

Production

The series starred Jimmy Brogan as Random, an angel-in-training who is assigned to live with (and act as guardian angel for) a suburban Chicago family (led by a single mom played by

Dixie Carter Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom ''Designing Women'' (1986–1993) and as Randi King on the drama series ''Family Law'' (1999–2002). She was nomin ...

), as well as work as a high school teacher. The series debuted on September 9, 1979, but it got poor ratings against '' 60 Minutes'' 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 ...

(the #1 show on TV that year) and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

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 ...

. With only seven episodes aired, ABC pulled ''Blue'', as well as fellow freshman sitcom '' A New Kind of Family'', after their October 21 airings. Five more episodes were produced, but only one ever aired on ABC (on December 16) before ''Out of the Blue'' was canceled.

Spin-off debate

''Out of the Blue'' has engendered debate amongst some viewers concerning its precise relationship to ''Happy Days''. The controversy arises from the fact that the first episode of the series was broadcast a little over one week prior to an episode of ''Happy Days'' featuring Jimmy Brogan as the character Random. Television observer and owner of Sitcoms Online, Todd Fuller, maintains that because "Chachi Sells His Soul" aired on September 18, 1979, Random's appearance on this ''Happy Days'' episode was a crossover. He goes on to postulate: "The ''Happy Days'' episode was likely a promotional tool for ''Out of the Blue'' to make the character more known." Thom Holbrook, who has a website devoted to TV crossovers and spin-offs, sees the arguments against calling it a spin-off, but ultimately concludes: "Making it a crossover would be basing things all on an odd bit of scheduling decades ago. The intent was spin off. The tone of the ''Happy Days'' episode is that of a dry run on the character, that of a pilot episode." ''Out of the Blue'' at Thom Holbrook's Spin-Offs and Crossovers Pages
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Cast list

* Jimmy Brogan as Random *

as Aunt Marion * Clark Brandon as Chris Richards *

Olivia Barash Olivia Barash (born January 11, 1965) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in television series such as ''Little House on the Prairie'', '' Charlie's Angels'', and ''Soap''. She subsequently had a lead role on ...

as Laura Richards *

Tammy Lauren Tammy Lauren Vásquez (born November 16, 1968), known professionally as Tammy Lauren, is an American film and television actress. She starred in the 1997 horror film '' Wishmaster'', portraying Alexandra Amberson, a young woman who accidentally ...

as Stacey Richards * Jason Keller as Jason Richards * Shane Keller as Shane Richards * Hannah Dean as Gladys *

Eileen Heckart Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. The daughter of Esther (), ...

as The Boss Angel

Guest stars

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

as Mork from Ork *

Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the ...

as Wally Richards

Episodes

References

External links

*
Series intro at RetroJunk
* {{MillerBoyett 1979 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming American television spin-offs American fantasy television series English-language television shows Happy Days Television shows set in Chicago Television series by CBS Studios Religious comedy television series Angels in television