Caroline in the City

Due to a recent wave of nostalgia for the seventies, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" has become recognized by many critics, historians and viewers of Nick at Nite as a landmark TV series that captured perhaps better than anything else on TV at the time the social changes that took place in the US following the turbulent sixties and women's liberation. The series focused on a single woman (Mary Tyler Moore previously known to America as the perfect embodiment of domestic femininity playing Dick Van Dyke's wife) whose job and friendships gave her life meaning at a time when most women

were only beginning to realize that there was more to life than being a wife and mother. Mary Richards was the perfect seventies heroine in that she was a woman nearing middle age stylishly with the domestic social values of fifties/sixties behind her and the sexual liberation of the seventies in front of her. A woman who has been trained her whole life to be subservient to men is now working amongst them, standing up to them and gaining their professional and social respect.

Lately there have been a plethora of shows that attempt to do what MTM did in the seventies. "Caroline in the City" is one of them, "Suddenly Susan" is another. Unfortunately these shows are taking place in the wrong time period because neither "Caroline" or "Susan," female characters who grew up during the sexual revolution and the AIDS crisis, have any adequate justification to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of being a working woman without a husband. A woman who choses work over marriage is no longer an edgy premise for a sit-com.

Caroline (Leah Thompson) is a cartoon artist who has recently moved to New York having grown up in the midwest. She struggles to preserve her small town values in the fast paced world of the big city. In order to give Caroline's character the innocence that MTM had, the writers keep drawing on her midwestern upbringing as a contrast to her cynical sarcastic native New Yorker friends. I don't know where this woman supposedly grew up but I don't know how she could have been living in NYC for as long as she has and still hasn't gotten over it. While MTM often seemed overwhelmed by the crassness of her female friends and her male colleagues because she was brought up in an era where she just may have been innocent of such behavior, Caroline remains overwhelmed by her New York friends for no other reason than she looks cute when she's overwhelmed.

A typical show goes something like this: Caroline gets really excited about something old fashioned. Her friends "wise cracking" Annie and "cynical-black-wearing" Richard (who is such a closet case and for some reason we are supposed to believe he's in love with her) get annoyed by her pollyanna attitude and make fun of her. She gets upset and gets even and the cynical New York gang sees the importance of Caroline's small town values. The End. There is no character development. There is no plot line that doesn't resolve itself within an episode or two (cept for her on-again-off-again romance with the closet homo Richard). There is no chemistry between her and her friends and Leah Thompson is simply too old to be acting cutsey.

Caroline in the City was one of those shows that attracted a mixed reception: some loved it like me; some thought it was good but nothing special whilst the rest just slated it harshly. It's interesting to note that the show is more popular outside the US, although I'm sure there are a few Yanks who are keen on CITC as well.

The sitcom revolved around a Wisconsin native, Caroline who applies her trade as a cartoonist in Manhattan, New York. Her career and work life, couldn't be more perfect: her greeting cards and merchandise are selling, her comic strip is a hit in every major newspaper and she couldn't be any more happier as she is. Except she is also on the look out for love and thus after several attempts, by the fourth season she finds solace and love in the form of Richard- her assistant and colourist.

The casting of Lea Thompson, Malcolm Gets, Amy Pietz, Andy Lauer and Eric Lutes was spot-on and they all did a magnificent job as their characters, Caroline Duffy, Richard Karinsky, Annie Spadaro, Charlie and Del Cassidy. Lea is just great as the sweet, caring Caroline, whilst Malcolm is brilliant as the often dour- faced, miserable geek/struggling artist, Richard. The attraction involving the pair felt so real and they made such a convincing sitcom couple. Special mentions also go out to Amy, Eric,Andy and Tom. Most of the show's funniest moments revolved around either Richard's sarcastic banter or Richard and Annie mocking and insulting one another.

The first season was an instant hit in 1995-96 but by the time when Friends, Frasier were at their peak in the late 1990s, by 1998 onwards CITC was suddenly losing ground and ultimately the changes had put the nail in the coffin.

I didn't have a problem with Season 3, as I thought it was very good. The first two were just downright funny and brilliant, but with the fourth whilst there were some wonderful moments involving the pair, I just felt that there was too much pain towards the end, which was totally unnecessary. I was bemused as to why Caroline and Richard argued as much as they did in the fourth season when they were a couple, which I thought was pretty stupid. Particularly as after the 'Big Night' episode where they finally consummated their 4- year relationship, the episodes which had followed afterwards had them arguing, such as the arrival of Caroline's former high school 'friend' Randy and thus, the cracks in their relationship had appeared. What didn't make sense was how could Caroline have feelings for Randy, whilst she was with Richard at the same time, and the guy she had always wanted to be with?

The way the writers had handled the writing was shameful: different writers for different seasons? Now that I don't get. No wonder there was no continuity, no consistency, and no genuine ending. CITC became a silly soap opera towards the end of the final season that the impression that I and many other fans got, based on the changes they made, was that none of the writers cared about the show, any more. They didn't know whether they wanted CITC to be a work place sitcom or a romantic sitcom, although I'd go for the latter. Although it seems to me that they had numerous ideas up their sleeves, in an attempt to keep Caroline and Richard apart for as long as possible and preventing them from getting married to one another. What they mistakenly didn't realise is that as soon as fans sense a sitcom is no longer a sitcom and the ideas become so OTT, then there will be signs indicating that the show is no longer what it stands for- and there were signs throughout that final season, which denoted that CITC no longer stood for what it originally was in the beginning.

For instance, getting rid of Remo and moving Caroline's work environment from the loft was a massive gamble, which was a terrible error and a decision of which backfired completely. In its place, we got a dull office, characters like Plum, Dave and Reg-, who I liked; hence, silly twists in the shape of Richard discovering he has a child by his horrible ex Julia, of him telling Caroline he doesn't want any more children and Randy's appearance also emerged. Eventually, CITC lost its sense of direction and it got canned, which led us fans to ponder how on earth the show started out so brilliantly and perfectly at the beginning… only to falter and go downhill in the end, all in the short space of 4 seasons.

I was disappointed and angry when I first read that the show had been cancelled- as much as the fourth season was bad, it was still okay. I still felt that CITC had some life in the series yet to be able to prolong its existence until the very end, as well as there would have been plenty of material for a fifth season. And even though, ratings were falling, I still felt they should have just gone ahead and produced it, rather than to just have an unresolved ending. I will never forgive the writers for concluding it on a cliff hanger. It wasn't the actors, of who were accountable for the show's demise, but the writers of the last season. Because of those errors, which weren't addressed throughout the series, Caroline In The City failed to fulfil its full potential as a show- so therefore despite the early promise, the constant chopping and changing, as well as the absurd ideas later on, had killed it completely.

Nonetheless, CITC is an amusing sitcom, which despite its faults, is a show that is worth watching and one that kept me interested up until the finale.

I started to watch this a little about 3 years ago when it played on a satellite station here. I was not expecting to like it because it has been slated by various critics across the US. However, I found myself enjoying it more and more as it went along. The characters were well portrayed and likeable and the writing was at least average.

Lea Thompson is gorgeous and her 'chirpiness' as Caroline was endearing, as was her attachment to Richard. He seems to have been something of a sore point in the show but I took to him straight away. He's fab because he's different and quirky. I think it's great that he didn't have to be an amazingly attractive, built guy, it gives more realism.

All in all, 'Caroline in the City' is fun and watchable, though not Emmy-worthy its certainly worth a look.

This show is pretty good, I watch it whenever I can find the time. It's not really outstanding, and there are better sitcoms, but the characters are nice and especially Richad has some good lines. Compared to Suddenly Susan this show is, well, a million times better, mainly because the characters aren't as annoying (except Julia).

This show has to be one of the cutesy-est ones out there. It's perfect to watch when you have nothing else to do or can't sleep. I've gotten into the habit of doing that lately. It's an amusing comedy, though not one of the best out there. All in all, it is a pretty good show and I would recommend it if you like cute comedies.