To Rome with Love (TV series)

To Rome with Love
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Joan O'Brien
Directed by	Earl Bellamy Frederick de Cordova James Sheldon
Starring	John Forsythe Kay Medford Peggy Mondo Vito Scotti Walter Brennan
Composer	Frank De Vol
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	48
Production
Executive producer	Don Fedderson
Producer	Edmund L. Hartmann
Running time	25 minutes
Production company	Don Fedderson Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 28, 1969 (1969-09-28) – February 24, 1971 (1971-02-24)

To Rome with Love is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 28, 1969, to February 24, 1971.

Synopsis

To Rome with Love is the story of widowed college professor Michael Endicott, who decided to leave his native Iowa following the death of his wife and accept a new position as an instructor at the American Overseas School of Rome. The culture shock of his children in reacting to their new environment, and to an extent, his own, provided the main humor in the series. Family situations provided most of the rest. Early on, much of this came from Endicott's single sister, Harriet, who followed them to Rome, apparently for the sole purpose of dissuading them from living there and cajoling them into returning to Iowa. Harriet soon departed, but her place was taken shortly afterward by Andy Pruitt, Endicott's father-in-law and the children's grandfather. He came to Rome for a brief visit, but wound up staying indefinitely.

Broadcast history

Season	Time slot (ET)
1969–70	Sunday at 7:30 pm
1970–71	Tuesday at 9:30 pm (Episodes 1–15) Wednesday at 8:30 pm (Episodes 16–22)

Episode list

Season 1: 1969–70

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Pilot"	Fred de Cordova	Edmund Hartmann	September 28, 1969 (1969-09-28)
2	2	"Hello, Aunt Harriet"	Unknown	Unknown	October 5, 1969 (1969-10-05)
3	3	"The Roman from Iowa"	Unknown	Unknown	October 12, 1969 (1969-10-12)
4	4	"Goodbye Aunt Harriet"	Unknown	Unknown	October 19, 1969 (1969-10-19)
5	5	"The Telephone"	Unknown	Unknown	November 2, 1969 (1969-11-02)
6	6	"We Want to Go Home"	Unknown	Unknown	November 9, 1969 (1969-11-09)
7	7	"A Palazzo Is Not a Home"	Unknown	Unknown	November 16, 1969 (1969-11-16)
8	8	"The Long Road Home"	Unknown	Unknown	November 23, 1969 (1969-11-23)
9	9	"A Secret Day"	Unknown	Unknown	November 30, 1969 (1969-11-30)
10	10	"An Affair of Honor"	Unknown	Unknown	December 14, 1969 (1969-12-14)
11	11	"And One More Spring"	Unknown	Unknown	December 28, 1969 (1969-12-28)
12	12	"Anything Can Happen in Rome"	Unknown	Unknown	January 4, 1970 (1970-01-04)
13	13	"A Gown for Alison"	James Sheldon	Elick Moll	January 11, 1970 (1970-01-11)
14	14	"One Coin in the Fountain"	James Sheldon	Philip Rapp	January 18, 1970 (1970-01-18)
15	15	"To Go Home Again"	Unknown	Unknown	January 25, 1970 (1970-01-25)
16	16	"The Pied Piper of Rome"	Charles Barton	Blanche Hanalis	February 1, 1970 (1970-02-01)
17	17	"My Daughter Penny"	Charles Barton	Blanche Hanalis	February 8, 1970 (1970-02-08)
18	18	"Beautiful People"	Charles Barton	John McGreevey	March 1, 1970 (1970-03-01)
19	19	"Birds, Bees and Romans"	Unknown	Unknown	March 8, 1970 (1970-03-08)
20	20	"The Pretty Little Girl"	Unknown	Unknown	March 15, 1970 (1970-03-15)
21	21	"Father's Choice"	Unknown	Unknown	March 29, 1970 (1970-03-29)
22	22	"A Friend for Penny"	Unknown	Unknown	April 5, 1970 (1970-04-05)
23	23	"Spring Vacation"	Unknown	Unknown	April 26, 1970 (1970-04-26)
24	24	"West of Rome"	Unknown	Unknown	May 3, 1970 (1970-05-03)
25	25	"Our Friend Gino"	Unknown	Unknown	May 10, 1970 (1970-05-10)
26	26	"We Remember Mama"	Unknown	Unknown	May 17, 1970 (1970-05-17)

Season 2: 1970–71

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
27	1	"Here Comes Andy"	Earl Bellamy	Robert Pirosh	September 15, 1970 (1970-09-15)
28	2	"A Day in the Country"	Unknown	Unknown	September 22, 1970 (1970-09-22)
29	3	"Baby of the Family"	Unknown	Unknown	September 29, 1970 (1970-09-29)
30	4	"Roman Affair"	Unknown	Unknown	October 6, 1970 (1970-10-06)
31	5	"A Boy to Remember"	Unknown	Unknown	October 13, 1970 (1970-10-13)
32	6	"Rome Is Where You Find It"	Unknown	Unknown	October 20, 1970 (1970-10-20)
33	7	"Lire from Heaven"	Unknown	Unknown	October 27, 1970 (1970-10-27)
34	8	"Grandpa in Charge"	Unknown	Unknown	November 10, 1970 (1970-11-10)
35	9	"The Catnip Club"	Unknown	Unknown	November 17, 1970 (1970-11-17)
36	10	"The Rose Garden"	Earl Bellamy	Unknown	November 24, 1970 (1970-11-24)
37	11	"The Boy Next Door"	Unknown	Unknown	December 1, 1970 (1970-12-01)
38	12	"The Runaways"	Unknown	Unknown	December 8, 1970 (1970-12-08)
39	13	"Fly Away Home"	Unknown	Unknown	December 15, 1970 (1970-12-15)
40	14	"Doctor Andy"	Unknown	Unknown	December 29, 1970 (1970-12-29)
41	15	"Making the Scene"	Unknown	Unknown	January 5, 1971 (1971-01-05)
42	16	"Bonzai or Bonsai"	Unknown	Unknown	January 13, 1971 (1971-01-13)
43	17	"Beauty and the Judge"	Unknown	Unknown	January 20, 1971 (1971-01-20)
44	18	"Age of Life"	Unknown	Unknown	January 27, 1971 (1971-01-27)
45	19	"Mike and the Countess"	Unknown	Unknown	February 3, 1971 (1971-02-03)
46	20	"The Stray Cat"	Unknown	Unknown	February 10, 1971 (1971-02-10)
47	21	"Yankee Trader"	Earl Bellamy	Unknown	February 17, 1971 (1971-02-17)
48	22	"Boy Meets Penny"	Earl Bellamy	Unknown	February 24, 1971 (1971-02-24)

Reception

Originally airing on Sunday nights, the show went up against ABC's Land of the Giants and NBC's The Wonderful World of Disney and never garnered the ratings CBS had hoped for. Also, Kay Medford as Aunt Harriet did not catch on with viewers and, as a result, was phased out of the series shortly after its premiere. Nevertheless, the network agreed to renew the show for a second season. To Rome With Love was switched to Tuesdays at 9:30 in September, 1970.

In order to give Forsythe a strong co-star, Walter Brennan joined the cast as Michael Endicott's father-in-law, Andy Pruitt. However, the second season did even worse than the first. In January, 1971, in an attempt to salvage the series, CBS shifted the show to Wednesdays to make room for a new CBS sitcom: All In The Family. The move did not help, and the series was canceled in the spring of 1971.

Crossover episodes

"Roman Affair" (Season 2, Episode 4) features Anissa Jones and Johnnie Whitaker as their Family Affair characters Buffy and Jody, respectively. "Rome Is Where You Find It" (Season 2, Episode 6) features William Demarest, Don Grady and Tina Cole as Uncle Charley, Robbie Douglas and Katie Douglas respectively from My Three Sons.

Cast

• John Forsythe as Michael Endicott
• Kay Medford as Harriet Endicott (first season only)
• Walter Brennan as Andy Pruitt (second season only)
• Peggy Mondo as Mama Vitale
• Vito Scotti as Nico
• Joyce Menges as Alison Endicott
• Susan Neher as Penny Endicott
• Melanie Fullerton as Mary Jane "Pokey" Endicott

References

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• To Rome With Love at IMDb
• To Rome With Love opening credits on YouTube