To Rome with Love (TV series)

*To Rome with Love*
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 –; September 1, 1971

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

Synopsis

To Rome with Love is the story of a 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 purposes of dissuading them from living there and to cajole 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.

Reception

Originally airing on Sunday nights, the show never garnered the ratings CBS had hoped for. Also, Kay Medford as Aunt Harriet did not catch on with viewers and as a result, she was phased out of the series shortly after the 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.

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

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