''Teen Angel'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

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 ...

that aired as part of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's TGIF Friday night lineup from September 26, 1997, to February 13, 1998. It stars

Corbin Allred Corbin Michael Allred (born May 25, 1979) is an American actor. He starred in the 2003 award-winning motion picture '' Saints and Soldiers'' and the 1997–1998 television series '' Teen Angel''. Career Allred's acting career began when he was ...

as a high school student whose recently deceased best friend, played by

Mike Damus Michael Paul Damus (born September 30, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Marty DePolo on the ABC sitcom '' Teen Angel'' and co-starring in the film ''Lost in Yonkers''. In addition, Damus also co-starred in ''M ...

, returns to earth as his guardian angel. The series was created by ''

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson ...

'' alumni

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

and

Mike Reiss Michael L. Reiss ( '; born September 15, 1959) is an American television comedy writer. He served as a showrunner, writer, and producer for the animated series ''The Simpsons'' and co-created the animated series ''The Critic''. He created and ...

Synopsis

''Teen Angel'' follows a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

boy, Steve Beauchamp (Corbin Allred), and his recently deceased best friend, Marty DePolo (Mike Damus), who dies from a

foodborne illness Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

after eating a six-month-old

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

from under Steve's bed on a dare and is then sent back to Earth as Steve's

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary deity, tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played ...

. Marty's guide is a large disembodied head named Rod (

Ron Glass Ronald Earle Glass (July 10, 1945 – November 25, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as literary Det. Ron Harris in the television sitcom ''Barney Miller'' (1975–1982), and as the spiritual shepherd, Shepherd Book, in th ...

), who identifies himself as

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

's cousin – a running gag throughout the series is that Rod is mistaken for God himself. Marty, as a supernatural being, would frequently break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

. For instance, prior to the opening credits of the episode "Grumpy Young Men", Marty explains the absence of Steve's mother and the return of his father to the viewers.

Reception and cancellation

The series was created and placed in the ''TGIF'' lineup by ABC in an attempt to capitalize on the success of another ABC supernatural series, ''

Sabrina the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''. Along with ''Sabrina'' and the also-new '' You Wish'', ''Teen Angel'' was one of three supernatural-themed sitcoms on the ''TGIF'' block that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. At the time of the series airing, ''TGIF'' had already begun to decline (as a result of direct competition against the

CBS Block Party ''CBS Block Party'' (referred to on-air as the ''CBS Friday Night Block Party'') was a programming block that aired on the CBS television network during the 1997–1998 television season. The block was similar to, and was intended as direct compe ...

during that season and the new Disney ownership). ''You Wish'' was canceled after only 13 episodes, and while ''Teen Angel'' lasted more or less a full season, it was also canceled after 17 episodes.

Cast

as Marty DePolo *

as Steve Beauchamp *

as Rod, God's Cousin *

Maureen McCormick Maureen Denise McCormick (born August 5, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her role as Characters of The Brady Bunch#Marcia Brady, Marcia Brady on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'' (1969–1 ...

as Judy Beauchamp (episodes 1-11) * Tommy Hinkley as Casey Beauchamp (episodes 12-17) *

Katie Volding Katie Stiehler (née Volding)https://pastfootforward.com/2024/06/26/25-years-of-smart-house-with-katie-stiehler/ is a former American actress. In 2000, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category "Best Performance in a TV Movie or ...

as Katie Beauchamp *

Jordan Brower Jordan Brower (born October 14, 1981) is a former American movie actor. Biography Jordan was born in Lompoc, California but moved to Texas at an early age. It is there where he got his first break into acting when a film crew from '' The Big ...

as Jorden Lubell *

Conchata Ferrell Conchata Galen Ferrell (March 28, 1943 – October 12, 2020) was an American actress. She played Berta the housekeeper on the sitcom ''Two and a Half Men'' from 2003 to 2015, and she received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

as Aunt Pam *

Jerry Van Dyke Jerry McCord Van Dyke (July 27, 1931 – January 5, 2018) was an American actor and comedian. He was the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke had a long and successful career mostly as a character actor in supporting and guest roles on pop ...

as Grandpa Jerry Beauchamp (episodes 12-17)

Episodes

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{TGIF (ABC) 1990s American multi-camera sitcoms 1990s American high school television series 1990s American teen sitcoms 1997 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings American fantasy comedy television series American English-language television shows Television series about angels Television series by ABC Studios TGIF (TV programming block) Angels in television American television series about teenagers Television shows set in Detroit American Broadcasting Company sitcoms