Gloria (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Gloria


caption =
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 min.
creator = Joe Gannon
Patt Shea
Harriett Weiss
starring = Sally Struthers
Burgess Meredith
Jo De Winter
Lou Richards
Christian Jacobs
country = USA
network = CBS
first_aired = September 26, 1982
last_aired = April 10, 1983
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 22
preceded_by="All in the Family"
related="Maude" "The Jeffersons" "Archie Bunker's Place" "704 Hauser"
imdb_id = 0083424

"Gloria" was a spin-off television situation comedy that lasted one season on CBS, from September 1982 to September 1983. It starred Sally Struthers, reprising her role as Gloria Bunker Stivic, the daughter of Archie Bunker on the hugely successful 1970s sitcom "All in the Family".

The setup of the show was that Gloria had been left at loose ends after her husband, Michael Stivic (who did not appear in the new series), left her and moved away to a commune. (Some viewers thought that this was somewhat of a contrived story about Michael, as over the run of "All in the Family" he became more conservative and seemingly had left his "hippie" past behind him). Gloria, to be closer to her father, decided to move with her young son, Joey (played by Christian Jacobs), and pick up the pieces of her life as an assistant to two veterinarians in Fox Ridge, New York. The veterinarians were played by Burgess Meredith and Jo De Winter; the character played by Meredith was also, conveniently, Gloria's landlord. Though "Gloria" ranked 18th in the Nielsen ratings for the 1982-83 season, CBS chose not to renew it for a second season, making it one of the few spin-offs of the successful "All in the Family" not to have a successful run.

The unaired pilot

CBS rejected "Gloria"'s original pilot which featured a brief cameo by Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker dropping off Gloria and Joey at Dr. Adams' clinic and residence. This pilot was written by veteran "All in the Family" and "Archie Bunker's Place" writers Pat Shea and Harriett Weiss and "Archie Bunker's Place" producer and close Carroll O'Connor associate Joe Gannon who co-created, wrote and produced the pilot. They were replaced by former "WKRP in Cincinnati" writers Steve Marshall and Dan Guntzelman (who would later find success writing and producing "Growing Pains"). The show's production was moved from CBS Television City to Universal Studios. According to a December 1982 feature interview with Sally Struthers in TV Guide this did not sit well with Carroll O'Connor who, with the rest of the "Archie Bunker's Place" production staff, were effectively shut out of the production of "Gloria". After this, O'Connor refused to take part in the retooled pilot and series in any way. The characters of Dr. Jim Waynewrite and Ben the handyman were dropped when Marshall and Guntzelman's second pilot was made which went to series. In the second pilot, Joey adopted a black dog which he named Archie after his grandfather, Carroll O'Connor was said to be less than thrilled about according to the same 1982 "TV Guide" article. In the original pilot, actress Jo de Winter's character, Maggie Lawrence, was an assistant to Dr. Adams. In the second pilot and the series, Maggie Lawrence is a veterinarian and Dr. Adams' partner in the clinic.

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