#carlene watkins

[kwebtv]

It’s Not Easy - ABC - September 29, 1983 - October, 27, 1983

Sitcom (10 episodes - 5 unaired)

Running Time:  30 minutes

Stars:

Ken Howard as Jack Long

Bert Convy as Neal Townsend

Carlene Watkins as Sharon Townsend

Jayne Meadows as Ruth Long

Billy Jayne (Jacoby) as Matthew Townsend

Evan Cohen as Johnny Long

Rachel Jacobs as Carol Long

[pasttenselibrarian]

Unlike Jose Ferrer and Mel Ferrer, Audrey Meadows and Jayne Meadows were related — Audrey, best known for her role as Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955-’56), was Jayne’s younger sister.

Both made appearances on network series in the ’70s and ’80s, including guest-star-filled shows like The Love Boat and Hotel, but Jayne Meadows was also a regular on the short-lived sitcom It’s Not Easy, which ABC canceled after five episodes in the fall of ’83. The series centered on divorced parents, Jack (Ken Howard) and Sharon (Carlene Watkins), who live across the street from each other in order to easily share custody of their two children. The kids reside with Jack and his mother, played by Meadows, while Sharon lives with her new husband, Neal (Bert Convy), and his son from his previous marriage.

Two Marriages debuted on ABC as a summer series a month prior to It’s Not Easy, but the trials and tribulations of its neighboring families — one nuclear (Michael Murphy and Janet Eilber played the parents), one blended (led by Tom Mason and Karen Carlson) — weren’t accompanied by a laugh track. After ten episodes it too was canceled, although teen heartthrob C. Thomas Howell and teen heartthrob in training Kirk Cameron wouldn’t be collecting unemployment checks for long.

One month after Two Marriages aired its final episode, ABC decided to give its “two neighboring families intertwine comedically and/or dramatically” concept one more try with the TV movie Love Thy Neighbor. Turner Classic Movies’s website explains the setup like this: “A serio-comedy casting John Ritter and Penny Marshall as next door suburbanites who overcome their mutual dislike for one another and are drawn into an unlikely affair when his wife runs off with her husband, leaving them to cope with their children and their houses.”

Bert Convy played Marshall’s husband in the film, and one of their sons was played by Bobby Jacoby, the younger brother of Billy Jacoby, Convy’s son on It’s Not Easy. “Jacoby” was a stage name, however; the former child actors have since reverted to using their birth surname, Jayne.

[retropunch]

Best of the West (1981) - intro

The Wild West misadventures of a mild-mannered store owner turned town Marshal.