''Tattingers'' (later ''Tattinger's'') is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series that aired by the NBC

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

from October 26, 1988, to April 26, 1989, as part of its 1988 fall lineup. After failing in the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

as an hour-long program, the plot and characters were briefly revived in the spring of 1989 as the half-hour

sitcom 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 character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

''Nick & Hillary''. An unaired episode, "Screwball," aired on

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite programing block consisting e ...

on April 4, 1999.

Synopsis

''Tattingers'' is the story of a divorced couple, Nick and Hillary Tattinger ( Stephen Collins and

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Best Supporting Actress in a Dra ...

), along with their 2 daughters: Nina and Winnifred. They had remained co-owner partners in a posh

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

restaurant until Nick was shot by a drug dealer, which prompted them to sell the restaurant and move to Paris. Their successors, however, proved incapable of properly running the restaurant, so Nick reclaimed the restaurant from them to give it another go. Real-life Manhattan celebrities often appeared in cameo roles as themselves as Nick's exclusive clientele.

Cast

* Stephen Collins as Nick Tattinger *

as Hillary Tattinger * Jerry Stiller as Sid Wilbur *

Roderick Cook Roderick Cook (9 February 1932 – 17 August 1990) was an English playwright, writer, theatre director and actor of stage, television and film. Cook is known for creating, directing and starring in the musical review '' Oh, Coward!'' and portr ...

as Louis Chatham * Zach Grenier as Sonny Franks (Tattingers) *Patrice Colihan as Nina Tattinger *Chay Lentin as Winnifred Tattinger *Thomas Quinn as O'Malley (Tattingers) * Mary Beth Hurt as Sheila Bradley * Chris Elliott as Spin (Nick & Hillary)

Episodes

Reception

This program was a ratings failure and was cancelled in January 1989. However, NBC was apparently unwilling to give up totally on the characters or the concept, and the program was revamped into a half-hour sitcom, ''Nick & Hillary''. This new series premiered on April 20, 1989, but proved even less successful than its predecessor and was cancelled after only two episodes.

References

General *Brooks, Tim, and Marsh, Earle, '' The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present'' {{MTM Enterprises NBC comedy-dramas 1980s American comedy-drama television series 1988 American television series debuts 1989 American television series endings American English-language television shows Television series by MTM Enterprises Television series created by Tom Fontana Television series set in restaurants Television shows set in New York City