Angie

"Angie" was a program that was doomed to last no more than one season. First of all, it ran on ABC in the late 1970s, which pretty much sealed its fate as a ratings flop. Moreover, it had all of the right elements, in the wrong combination. In a way, the show was very ahead of its time. In another, it had very little new to offer.

Donna Pescow played Angie, a working class Italian-American woman working as a waitress in a Philadelphia Diner, who dreamed of a better life. She was often visited by her "rough around the edges" sister, who criticized her conservative nature, and her smothering mother who criticized her lack of a husband. In the third episode, she married Brad, a regular customer at the diner, only to discover AFTER the wedding that Brad was the heir to a huge family fortune. But her new found wealth didn't keep her from working at the diner, especially after Brad bought her the diner for her birthday. Angie turned her downtown restaurant into a success, while living in her uptown penthouse apartment.

"Angie" had a strong cast. It was well written and it's "working class humor" was right for the times. But the "rags to riches" storyline and slapstick humor did little to set it apart from the sea of sitcoms that filled the airwaves in 1979.

I had a bit of a crush on Donna Pescow when I first saw her in Saturday Night Fever, so when Angie premiered in the spring of 1979, I was ecstatic. She was even more gorgeous on this show, and this was a pretty decent sitcom. It also was in the Top 5 for its first few weeks, but unfortunately it only ran about a season and a half. The basic premise was Angie Falco, a waitress at a Philadelphia coffee shop, falls in love with Brad, a pediatrician and one of her regular customers. It's basically a "working-class Cinderella meets her knight in shining armor" story, and they elope when the two families cannot agree on the upcoming wedding details. The show actually changed quite a bit during its short run. After the wedding, Angie still works as a waitress and moves into Brad's lavish mansion, complete with butler. Shortly thereafter, Brad surprises Angie by purchasing the coffee shop and Angie becomes the manager. Not long after that, Angie puts the mansion on the market and they move to a smaller, cozier, but still opulent home (with Brad's office located downstairs). No sooner are they settled in, then Angie sells the coffee shop and purchases a beauty salon, which she manages and where her mother (Doris Roberts, in a role where she truly shines) works after giving up her newsstand job. There was plenty of good acting and well-written comedy here, but the constant changes in a relatively short series life apparently made the regular viewer dizzy (and the "every once in a while" viewer wonder what the hell happened if they missed a couple episodes!). Despite all that I still enjoyed this show and would love to see it make a comeback on TV Land someday, or perhaps be issued as a DVD set.

From the moment Maureen MxGovern begins singing "Different Worlds" the Angie theme song I was hooked. The show which originally aired after "Happy Days" had spunk and a great ensemble case including Including Doris Roberts, Donna Pescow, Robert Hays and Debralee Scott.

It was a wonderful sitcom that hit the right spots with the audience and the cast chemistry was delightful. I especially loved Doris Roberts whose character was similar to her "Everybody Lives Raymond" character. Sadly CBS the network kept moving the series around the 2nd year which often kills a show. And it did just that. I suppose it is on some streaming channel today.

Donna Pescow & Tom Hayes were great in this TV series, which I could not remember the name of for almost three decades. It was the first time I saw them and they seemed to work so well together. I watched the series regularly and when it was cancelled I was really bummed.

I lost track of these two great actors until I saw Tom Hayes in the fabulous 'Airplane', one of my all-time favorites. I became an instant fan of Tom Hayes again, but I still missed seeing Donna Pescow.

Donna was so cute, beautiful, sexy (in that innocent way) and yes lovable. Actually she was the spitting image of my high school sweetheart and the love of my life (an Italian beauty). I was watching Saturday Night Fever tonight and recognized Donna playing the character Annette. Finally, I was hopeful that through the credits I would see her name and let my sweetheart know the beauty I thought she looked like. The credits rolled by so quickly I missed her name! I found this site when I Googled 'Saturday Night Fever cast' and finally got to remember Donna Pescow and some of her other credits.

After 34 years apart and without any contact, my high school Sweetheart and I found each other and have rekindled our romance. Four year later, finding Donna on this site borough a smile to my face and relieves a frustration I have had for many years. And now I won't forget 'Angie' again. Thank you.

What went wrong? Debralee Scott, Donna Pescow, Robert Hays, awesome theme song. Too bad I was too young to truly appreciate the writing and character development. How about a reunion?