''The Associates'' 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 aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from September 23, 1979 to April 17, 1980. Based on the novel of the same name by

John Jay Osborn Jr. John Jay Osborn Jr. (August 5, 1945 – October 19, 2022) was an American author, lawyer and legal academic. He is best known for his bestselling novel '' The Paper Chase'' published in 1971. Early life Osborn was born in Boston on August 5, 1 ...

, the series stars

Wilfrid Hyde-White Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964). Ear ...

, Martin Short,

Alley Mills Allison Mills (born May 9, 1951), also known as Alley Bean, is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series ''The Wonder Years'', her role as Pamela Douglas, the sister of the late Forreste ...

Joe Regalbuto Joe Regalbuto (born August 24, 1949) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Frank Fontana on the CBS television sitcom ''Murphy Brown'', which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1989. Early life Regalbuto grad ...

, Shelley Smith, and

Tim Thomerson Joseph Timothy "Tim" Thomerson (born April 8, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Jack Deth in the ''Trancers'' film series and for his work in numerous low-budget features and for his comedic television r ...

. Despite being cancelled after nine of its thirteen episodes aired, it was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''The Associates'', from the producers of ''Taxi'', was critically acclaimed in the fall of 1979. But, ABC-TV fell from its ratings perch that fall when they moved their schedule around. ''

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 ...

'' was moved to Sunday night to challenge CBS's most established night of the week. ''The Associates'' was scheduled to follow ''Mork'' as a promising new comedy series. ''Mork'', however, was crushed by CBS's '' Archie Bunker's Place''. ABC moved ''Mork'' back to Thursday, but it would never recover its ratings glory. '' One Day at a Time'' was the direct competition to ''The Associates''. Meanwhile, ''The Associates'' was not given another chance and was canned by the network. The press heavily criticized ABC for not giving the show a chance in another time slot.

Synopsis

The show was the first bonafide starring vehicle for Short and centered on a small group of young novice lawyers who worked at a Wall Street law firm. One of the creators of the series was John Jay Osborn, Jr., author of '' The Paper Chase''. Episode seven featured guest star John Houseman reprising his role as Professor Kingsfield.

Cast

* Martin Short as Tucker Kerwin *

as Eliot Streeter *

as Johnny Danko *

as Leslie Dunn * Shelley Smith as Sara James *

as Emerson Marshall

Episodes

Syndication

The series had a complete run on BBC Two in the UK in 1982. The series was rerun on A&E in 1988, followed by runs on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

and

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

in the 1990s. In Italy, the series aired on Rete 4 as '' I novellini'' (''Newbies'') in 1982.

Award nominations

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Associates, The 1979 American television series debuts 1980 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms 1980s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming 1970s American legal television series 1970s American workplace comedy television series 1980s American legal television series 1980s American workplace comedy television series English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New York City