Jump to content

Delta House

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Theroomfan1 (talk | contribs) at 15:15, 20 June 2017. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Delta House
GenreSitcom
Written byJohn Hughes
Elias Davis
David Pollock
Michael Tolkin
Stephen Tolkin
Directed byHollingsworth Morse
Joshua White
Carl Gottlieb
StarringBrian Patrick Clarke
Gary Cookson
Susanna Dalton
Peter Fox
Stephen Furst
Wendy Goldman
Peter Kastner
Bruce McGill
Josh Mostel
Richard Seer
John Vernon
James Widdoes
Lee Wilkof
Theme music composerTony Hendra
Opening theme"Delta House" performed by Michael Simmons
ComposerDick DeBenedictis
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersIvan Reitman
Matty Simmons
ProducersElias Davis
David Pollock
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesMatty Simmons-Ivan Reitman Productions
Universal Television
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseJanuary 18 (1979-01-18) –
April 21, 1979 (1979-04-21)

Delta House is a an American sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House. The series aired from January 18 to April 21, 1979 on ABC.

Casting

Cast members reprising their roles from Animal House included John Vernon (Dean Wormer), Stephen Furst (Flounder), Bruce McGill (D-Day), and James Widdoes (Hoover). Priscilla Lauris, who played Dean Wormer's secretary in the movie, also returned to reprise her role, and her character was given a name (Miss Leonard). Josh Mostel was cast as Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky, brother of Bluto, the character played in the film by John Belushi. Despite Bluto's absence, the scriptwriters made running references to his character. In one episode, Blotto announced that he'd received a letter from his brother Bluto, prompting a Delta brother to respond "I didn't know Bluto could write!" and another Delta brother to riposte "I didn't know Blotto could read!"

Delta House also served as an early vehicle for Michelle Pfeiffer, who played 'The Bombshell'. Of the role, Pfeiffer reflected, 'It was a no-brainer, and I detested it. But it was exposure so I did the best I could with terrible scripts. I told myself: "There are so many unemployed actors around, you should be glad you're working at all."'[1]

Production and scheduling problems

Because of television Standards and Practices, the raunchy humor, drug references, and foul language featured in Animal House didn't survive the transition to TV. As a result, Delta House suffered in comparison. That it aired during the so-called "family hour" (8:00 PM on Saturday nights) led to even more watering down.

In addition, the other two broadcast networks rushed onto the airwaves their own sitcoms that were "inspired" by Animal House: NBC's Brothers and Sisters and CBS' Co-Ed Fever.

Delta House initially did well in the ratings. However, executive producers Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman's constant fights with ABC over content led the network to cancel the show after 13 episodes.

Theme song

The theme song was written by Jim Steinman to lyrics written by Lampoon editors Tony Hendra and Sean Kelly. Steinman later reworked the melody into the song "Dead Ringer for Love", made famous by Meat Loaf and Cher from the album Dead Ringer, and a portion of the lyrics into the song "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" from the movie Streets of Fire (incidentally, Meat Loaf had been an alternate choice for the role of Bluto in Animal House had John Belushi dropped out).

In the episode "Lady in Weighting", the song "Pizza Man" was performed during a beauty pageant talent showcase. It was taken from National Lampoon's Off-Broadway sketch revue Lemmings, a send-up of the Woodstock Festival where it was originally sung by actress Alice Playten.

Cast

Episodes

Main article: List of Delta House episodes

References

  1. ^ D. Thompson, Pfeiffer: Beyond the Age of Innocence, London, Warner Books, 1995, p. 40.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Delta_House&oldid=786619926"