''Comedy Theater'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television series that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in the summer of 1981. The 30-minute episodes consisted of unsold

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

s for

situation comedies A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home ...

Background

The practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired. Packaging these unsold pilots in

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

and airing them during the summer provided television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them. ''Comedy Theater'' was one of these series, aired by

in the summer of 1981, and it consisted of unsold pilots for

. Stars appearing in the series included

Ted Danson Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe A ...

Tony Lo Bianco Anthony LoBianco (October 19, 1936 – June 11, 2024) was an American actor. Born to first-generation Italian American parents in New York City, Lo Bianco began his career in theater, appearing in several Broadway productions throughout the 1 ...

, and

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

Broadcast history

''Comedy Theater'' ran for seven episodes over the course of seven consecutive weeks in the summer of 1981, airing on NBC from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.

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on Friday evenings. It premiered on July 17, and its last episode aired on August 28.

Episodes

SOURCES

References

{{Reflist 1980s American anthology television series 1981 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings NBC original programming Television pilots not picked up as a series American English-language television shows