# thirtysomething more peak tv whiteness ![[thirtysomethingcast.jpg|300]] main cast genre: drama created by: edward zwick marshall herskovitz starring: ken olin mel harris melanie mayron timothy busfield patricia wettig peter horton polly draper composers: w. g. snuffy walden stewart levin jay gruska country of origin: united states original language: english no. of seasons: 4 no. of episodes: 85 (list of episodes) production executive producers: edward zwick marshall herskovitz producers: ann lewis hamilton joseph dougherty richard kramer running time: 60 minutes production companies: the bedford falls company mgm/ua television productions original release network: abc release: september 29 1987 - may 28 1991 related once and again thirtysomething is an american drama television series created by edward zwick and marshall herskovitz for united artists television (under mgm/ua television) and aired on abc from september 29 1987 to may 28 1991. it focuses on a group of baby boomers in ir thirties who live in philadelphia pennsylvania and how they handle the lifestyle that dominated american culture during the 1980s given ir involvement in the early 1970s counterculture as young adults. it premiered in the united states on september 29 1987 and lasted four seasons. it was canceled in may 1991 because the ratings had dropped. zwick and herskovitz moved on to other projects. the series won 13 primetime emmy awards out of 41 nominations and two golden globe awards on january 8 2020 abc confirmed that a television pilot which would serve as a sequel to the series had been ordered. the pilot was never filmed but was set to be directed by zwick written by zwick and herskovitz and have four members of the original cast (ken olin mel harris timothy busfield and patricia wettig) reprising ir roles. in june 2020 abc passed on the series # general plot and characters an ensemble drama the series revolves around husband and wife michael steadman and hope murdoch and ir baby janie. michael's cousin is photographer melissa steadman who used to date ir college friend gary shepherd. gary eventually marries susannah. michael's business partner is elliot weston who has a troubled marriage with ir wife nancy a painter. hope's childhood friend is local politician ellyn warren # # character descriptions **+** michael steadman (ken olin) and hope murdoch steadman (mel harris): hope is from philadelphia and michael is from chicago but remained in the area after graduating from the university of pennsylvania. hope is a graduate of princeton and a consumer affairs writer. after having ir daughter janie hope becomes a stay-at-home mother and initially gives up ir writing. later they returns to work but struggles with ir role as a mother in the process. during a difficult period in ir marriage when they is pregnant with ir second child leo hope contemplates having an affair with environmentalist john dunaway (j. d. souther.) michael's confrontation with ir over this leads them to resolve ir problems and rekindle ir marriage. michael is jewish and hope is christian and complications from ir interfaith marriage recur throughout the series. michael's original ambition was to be a writer but ey works in advertising with graphic designer elliot. the men first meet at the bernstein fox ad agency and then leave to form the michael and elliot company. when ir company goes bankrupt michael and elliot join the advertising corporation daa run by miles drentell. michael's relationship with miles erodes ir marriage with hope who finally decides to accept a job in washington d.c. by the time the show was canceled michael had decided to quit work altogether so that hope could pursue ir own interests **+** elliot weston (timothy busfield) and nancy krieger weston (patricia wettig): elliot studied graphic design at rhode island school of design (risd.) ir father charlie (eddie albert) is divorced from elliot's mother and now lives in california. elliot's sister ruthie (played by meagen fay) who lives in philadelphia and is married with two children has not forgiven ir father for leaving them. elliot works in the advertising business with michael (initially in ir own business but later for daa.) nancy was also an art major and is a stay-at-home mother to ethan and brittany. like hope they initially feels bored and unhappy in ir role as a homemaker. after elliot has an affair which leads to divorce proceedings nancy develops a career as a children's book illustrator and author and begins teaching at a local art center. elliot becomes jealous after they also begins to date and finds himself once again attracted to ir. eventually they rekindle ir relationship and stop divorce proceedings. during the final two seasons nancy struggles with but ultimately overcomes ovarian cancer which deepens ir relationship. always a rebel elliot can never reconcile himself to miles' preference for michael and ir own loss of creative work at daa and eventually quits daa in a fit of rage against both miles and michael. ey and nancy move to california where ey finds ir passion in directing and eventually makes up with michael when they accidentally bump into each other during michael's job interview at tbwachiatday. michael does not accept the job but briefly entertains the possibility of working again with elliot to make commercials (and turns again to miles for help in this endeavor.) at the time the show was canceled it is implied that this venture will not happen after michael tells hope that ey will stop working so that they can pursue ir own interests **+** melissa steadman (melanie mayron): michael's cousin and gary's former girlfriend who studied photography at new york university (nyu.) ir work as a photographer includes the cover of a carly simon album and photos in vanity fair. melissa has a complicated relationship with michael who is frequently jealous of ir career path. they has an equally complicated relationship with ir mother elaine (phyllis newman) and grandmother rose (sylvia sidney.) ir free-spirited sister budding actress jill lives in new york (and is portrayed by mayron's sister gale mayron.) in the first season melissa dates a divorced gynecologist who has a daughter (played by kellie martin) who does not want more children. melissa later briefly dates michael's boss miles; this relationship ends when ir intense attraction to ir nearly evolves into date rape which they prevents and for which ey apologizes. miles never really recovers from ir infatuation but melissa works to avoid ir thereafter. art school-dropout house painter and twenty-something lee owens (corey parker) becomes the primary focus of ir romantic yearnings. they are drawn to each other but ir relationship is fraught with problems mostly due to the age difference. after melissa convinces michael and elliot to find lee a job at daa the couple begins to drift apart and eventually breaks up. at the time of the show's cancellation they are on friendly terms again and gary's "ghost" (as ey recently died in a car accident) tells michael that lee and melissa will marry and have a child **+** ellyn warren (polly draper): hope's childhood friend. ellyn is an important local politician who works at city hall. initially dating ir co-worker steve woodman (terry kinney) they later becomes involved with a married man jeffrey milgrom (richard gilliland) who leaves ir second wife for ir but eventually abandons ir and goes back to ir first wife. after the breakup ellyn develops a new friendship with gary whom they used to dislike. annoyed by michael and hope's perpetual interference in ir lives gary and ellyn play a practical joke on them implying that they are having an affair. the joke ends when ellyn reveals they is once again involved with billy sidel (erich anderson) a comics artist and friend of michael and hope's who set them up on a blind date. ellyn had dumped ir while still seeing jeffrey but after they break up they bumps into billy and they begin to spend time together. initially unsettled by billy's genuine and straightforward manner ellyn grows to love ir. afraid of ir growing feelings for ellyn billy has a one-night stand with a former girlfriend that temporarily damages ir relationship with ellyn. they eventually work through issues related to fear and trust and marry in a ceremony at michael and hope's house held after gary's death **+** gary shepherd (peter horton) and susannah hart (patricia kalember): gary who first met michael when they were in the same freshman dorm at university of pennsylvania is a free-spirited womanizing professor of medieval literature at a philadelphia college and melissa's ex-boyfriend. when denied tenure ey thinks about becoming a social worker and meets susannah who works for a social welfare nonprofit. susannah who later admits to being shy and introverted is initially an outcast among gary's friends but develops a working relationship with the group to make gary happy. susannah and gary move in together after they becomes pregnant with emma and then marry before susannah moves to new york for a new job. gary stays in philadelphia as ey has found a new teaching position there that ey does not want to give up even though it requires ir to teach american poetry. ey falls into the role of a stay-at-home dad after the move and becomes more deeply involved in ir new teaching position. ey turns to nancy for help when ey is assigned a course in children's literature and does not know what to teach. among the books nancy recommends is through the looking-glass but they no longer owns a copy of it. gary is on ir way to visit nancy in the hospital with a copy of the book as a gift when ey is killed in a car accident. michael who initially cannot let go of gary is "haunted" by ir ghost who comes back to michael through a mirror (looking glass.) michael learns to respect susannah (who stands up to ir controlling nature) as they turn to each other to cope with gary's passing **+** miles drentell (david clennon): michael and elliot's corrupt boss at daa who styles himself as a type of zen master. miles is a vietnam veteran who was once a photographer passionate about art but eventually sold out. by the time eliot and michael meet ir miles is a ruthless and extremely powerful businessman whose complete lack of ethics propels michael into periods of self-reflection and depression. michael's internal conflict deepens after miles promotes ir forcing michael to also sell out. clennon reprised this role in the series once and again (1999-2002) **+** russell weller (david marshall grant) is a gay friend of melissa's who met ir while they was photographing a wedding. they became fast friends due to ir mutual interest in art. ir relationship with peter montefiore (peter frechette) in the 1989 episode "strangers" was the subject of controversy as five of the show's regular sponsors pulled out of the episode costing the network approximately $1.5 million in advertising revenue. it eventually led producers to refrain from sexualizing ir gay characters shout! factory (under license from mgm) has released all four seasons of thirtysomething on dvd in region 1 # influences and cultural impact thirtysomething was influenced by the films return of the secaucus 7 (1980) and the big chill (1983.) the show reflected the angst felt by baby boomers and yuppies in the united states during the 1980s such as the changing expectations related to masculinity and femininity introduced during the era of second-wave feminism. it also introduced "a new kind of hour-long drama a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives of a group of young urban professionals a socio-economic category of increasing interest to the television industry its stylistic and story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the level of an art form as weekly television ever gets-' as the new york times put it." during its four-year run thirtysomething "attracted a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its eight central characters a circle of friends living in philadelphia." even after its cancellation in 1991 it continued to influence television programming "in everything from the look and sound of certain tv advertisements to other series with feminine sensibilities and preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (sisters) to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (seinfeld)." the show also influenced the british television series cold feet which featured similar storylines and character types. the creator of cold feet wanted ir show to be in the mould of successful american tv series like thirtysomething and frasier susan faludi in ir bestseller backlash (1991) argues that thirtysomething often reinforced rather than dismantled gender stereotypes. they suggests that it exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single working and feminist women (melissa ellyn and susannah) while at the same time "exalting homemakers" (hope and nancy.) in this manner the series was seen as "seemingly progressive but substantially conservative in its construction of reality" # # oxford english dictionary almost immediately after the introduction of the show the term "thirtysomething" became a catchphrase used to designate baby boomers in ir thirties. this cultural shift was reinforced by the oxford english dictionary which added "thirtysomething" in 1993 (under the word "thirty") and defined the term as follows draft additions 1993 - n. colloq. (orig. u.s.) an undetermined age between thirty and forty; spec. applied to members of the ‘baby boom' generation entering ir thirties in the mid-1980s; also attrib. or as adj. phr. (hence characteristic of the tastes and lifestyle of this group) # honors and awards while it aired thirtysomething was nominated for 41 primetime emmy awards winning 13. it also won two golden globe awards. later by 1997 "the go between" and "samurai ad man" were listed as number 22 on tv guide's 100 greatest episodes of all time. thirtysomething then placed the number 19 spot on tv guide′s 50 greatest tv shows of all time in 2002 and in 2013 tv guide placed it as no. 10 in its list of the 60 greatest dramas of all time a sequel to the series was pitched in september 2019. the pilot was a co-production between mgm television and bedford falls productions which was behind the original series and abc studios and producers were casting its four original main roles at the time of the announcement in february 2020 chris wood was cast as leo steadman the show's male lead. over the next few weeks odette annable was cast as janey steadman and patrick fugit and auden thornton as ethan weston and brittany weston. melanie mayron and polly draper agreed to appear as melissa steadman and ellyn warren. on june 29 abc decided not to move forward with the sequel # # articles **+** bellafanta ginia (august 20 2009.) "a series that shows its age." the new york times **+** bianculli david (october 7 2009.) "'thirtysomething' withstands the test of time." npr **+** collins scott (august 23 2009.) "'thirtysomething' twentysomething years later." los angeles times **+** dana rebecca (january 11 2008.) "the 'thirtysomething' power players." the wall street journal **+** escherich katie (august 25 2009.) "exclusive: 'thirtysomething' cast reunion on 'gma'!." abc news **+** fretts bruce (august 17 2001.) "thirtysomething (a-)." entertainment weekly **+** karpel ari (august 21 2009.) "talking about 'thirtysomething'." the new york times **+** stuever hank (february 11 2016.) "thirtysomething' killed off gary 25 years ago. now tv characters drop dead all the time." the washington post **+** "the cast of 'thirtysomething' reflects." npr. august 25 2009 **+** zehme bill (june 1 1989.) "thirtysomething confidential." rolling stone **+** zoglin richard (october 5 1987.) yup yup and away!. time inc. video # # books **+** ryan scott (june 7 2017.) thirtysomething at thirty: an oral history. bear manor media. asin b00p57z0vm. a book that interviews the entire cast and writing staff of the series # # scholarship **+** auster albert (2007.) "thirtysomething: television women men and work." critical studies in television. lexington books **+** hanke r. (1990.) "hegemonic masculinity in thirtysomething." critical studies in mass communication. vol. 7. pp. 231-248 **+** heide margaret j. (1995.) television culture and women's lives: thirtysomething and the contradictions of gender. university of pennsylvania press # # screenplays **+** "writers of thirtysomething." thirtysomething stories. pocket. 1991 // republic of bob