Beacon Hill

This series was an Americanized version of Upstairs/Downstairs which had just become a huge hit in England and then the USA. It revolved around the wealthy Boston Lassiter family. It featured a superb cast -- Stephen Elliot, David Dukes, Paul Rudd, Maeve MacGuire, Edward Herrman, Nancy Marchand, Michael Nouri, George Rose, Beatrice Straight, Kathryn Walker....

Another reviewer savaged this series, but I totally, entirely disagree. This was richly produced, had the distinctive 1920's flavor and each episode built on the previous. There was a smack of the early Kennedy money/Irish mob background which would have been great to build upon.

David Dukes was outstanding as Rob Lassiter, the war-injured, somewhat bitter son of patriarch Benjamin Lassiter (Stephen Elliott), returned from WWI minus an arm. His sister, Fawn, was the flapper of the family, and was a fun, sexy character.

I sure would like to see this series out on DVD! It's a shame it only ran 1/2 a season (13 episodes).

Even after all these years, I recall what a well-produced, well-acted fun show this was. It was ahead of the times for prime-time soaps like Dallas, Dynasty and Knots Landing.

I saw the entire series when it originally ran and it was wonderful! David Dukes was excellent as the Lassiter son who'd lost his arm in WWI and was still despondent over it. Paul Rudd played the Irish chauffeur in love with the only Lassiter sister who wasn't considered "pretty", they had a nice, slowly blossoming romance. Linda Purl did an excellent job as the spoiled oldest grandchild. Nancy Marchand was memorable as the elegant Mrs. Lassiter. A great show!

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the greatest tv show in history, but I enjoyed it and it had a great group of actors, including the recently-deceased Nancy Marchand. It was just getting interesting (soap-story wise) when CBS pulled the plug. But I would like to know what happened to Paul Rudd, who was a fine actor. According to the database, his last credit was in the early 80's. He either died or quit, since there is another young actor named Paul Rudd, and SAG does not allow two people to register with the same name.

There have always been attempts to take popular British shows and transform them onto American TV. Steptoe and Son successfully transformed into Sanford and Son. Unfortunately the transformation of Upstairs, Downstairs to Beacon Hill missed the mark and did so for two reasons: it brought 1970's morals and mores to the Roaring Twenties and almost as bad, it relied on standard soap opera clichés rather than a real storyline. Here's some examples of both: the Lassiter granddaughter is sleeping with the fired chauffeur (was that before or after he was fired?) The other Lassiter daughter is in a rather Bohemian and morally loose lifestyle. The one-armed son visits a black whorehouse. All a little hard to fathom for a supposedly well-to-do Roman Catholic family in Boston. Some other clichés: the new chauffeur falls for the homely Lassiter daughter. The embittered one-armed son hates his father who seems to be a decent fellow and the show never explains the estrangement.

The actors seemed to be well cast and quite memorable, so what's the problem? Again, soap opera clichés rather than an engaging story. In fact, the only ongoing storyline seems to be Prohibition and its effects on everyone. On the other hand, Upstairs, Downstairs had a much more durable storyline - the decline of the aristocracy - and perhaps that is why it seemed more believable to me and was around a lot longer. Still, if Beacon Hill came out in DVD, I might be tempted to purchase it.

Exactly the gutless kind of thing you get when you put network television executives in charge of anything. To imagine what this series could have been you only need to read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and think, just a little, about what Malcolm X had to say about the wealthy white folks in Boston, and who they had working for them as servants. It wasn't the "Irish immigrants" my friend. But a TV show in 1975 that reflected the reality of the "upstairs" white family and the "downstairs" black servants? No way. Actually, I'm still waiting to see a show like that. Gutless. The best word for TV producers around the world.