Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Having watched four episodes of the television-sitcom version of Paul Mazursky's "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", I'm probably one-up on home audiences from 1973. ABC canceled the program early, and it's clear why: the casting just isn't right. The swinging couple (Robert Urich and Anne Archer) would be far better suited portraying the squares, while knotted-up David Spielberg and grating Anita Gillette seem as if they could get pretty kinky (given the right amount of alcohol). Mazursky, Larry Tucker, and other notable writers worked on the scripts, but without the proper actors this just looks like a sanitized sham. The fussily-decorated sets are huge compared to the sitcom sets of today, but since this is a dialogue-driven show it's simply a waste of space. 11-year-old Jodie Foster (as Spielberg and Gillette's daughter) brightens the proceedings, but the grown-ups look fairly clueless.

Bob and Carol Sanders are a pair of free-spirited 20-somethings, Ted and Alice Henderson are their repressed 30-something neighbors. Bob works for a TV network, Ted is a lawyer, and both of their wives are homemakers. The Sanders have a precocious young son and the Hendersons have a snarky tween daughter. Plots generally revolve around sexual frustrations and jealousies.

Loosely adapted from the hit 1969 film, the biggest problem with this show was that the material was a little too risqué for 1970s network TV (in context, this aired during the final season of "The Brady Bunch"). For example, in one episode, Alice reveals that she lost her virginity to another man prior to meeting Ted - but they had to dance all around the word "virgin." The other problem is that the characters were poorly defined. Bob and Carol were made out to be the hip, swinging couple, but you never really got a sense of that from their actions - the hippest, swingingest character was actually Alice, who was supposed to have been a wallflower.

Despite various problems with the writing, there were some genuinely funny moments, the cast was great and had appropriate chemistry. Robert Urich exuded charisma as Bob, and it was clear that he was destined for bigger and better things. Anita Gillette was absolutely charming as the flighty Alice, David Spielberg was pitch-perfect as tightly-wound lawyer Ted, and frequent guest-star Jodie Foster brought that patented brand of miniature adulthood that was present in all of her childhood roles. The weakest link was Anne Archer as Carol, though I don't think it was her performance, the problem was the lackluster writing of her character. Archer was never given much to do, and she revealed in an interview immediately after the show was canceled that she was relieved to be done with it.

Certainly not the worst offering of the '70s - and not the worst TV spin-off of a film either - but it's pretty clear why it didn't last long on the air. It's worth seeking out for fans of the cast (particularly Urich and Gillette), but fans of the movie would doubtlessly find it pretty appalling.

Bob Sanders (Robert Urich) and his wife Carol (Anne Archer) return from a trip with new outlooks. They swam in the nude. Their son is Sean. They try to impart their new age free thinking to their older conservative married best friends. Ted Henderson (David Spielberg) and Alice Henderson (Anita Gillette) have preteen daughter Elizabeth Henderson (Jodie Foster).

This is a reimagining of the 1969 movie. Turning it into 1973 network TV would require some soft peddling. I can't really speak to the popular mood of that time since I wasn't around. I can imagine some blowback with the TV show. The original run lasted 7 episodes with 5 unaired. That probably says it all. This is interesting for having child star Jodie Foster although she's not in every episode. Forget the movie. This is a functional modern sitcom and possibly edgy for its TV era. The movie looms too large for it to overcome.