Apple Pie

Apple Pie is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on the ABC network from September 23, 1978 until September 30, 1978. It is based on the play Nourish the Beast, by Steve Tesich, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1979's Breaking Away. Apple Pie starred Rue McClanahan as lonely hairdresser Ginger-Nell Hollyhock, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri during the Depression year of 1933. "You can't pick your own relatives," goes the old saying, but that is exactly what Ginger-Nell does. Placing classified ads in the local newspapers, she recruits a con-man husband, "Fast Eddie" Murtaugh, played by Dabney Coleman; a tap-dancing daughter, Anna Marie Hollyhock, played by Caitlin O'Heaney; a son who wanted to fly like a bird, Junior Hollyhock, played by Derrel Maury; and a tottering old grandfather, Grandpa Hollyhock, played by Jack Gilford; all of whom come to live together—for the laughs. When the TV sitcom Maude ended in early 1978, producer Norman Lear created Apple Pie as a vehicle for Rue McClanahan, who had played Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude. The show, however, was not well received and was canceled after only two episodes, though eight had been filmed under the direction of Peter Bonerz.