Kate & Allie: Why the Spin-Offs Failed

[@Christopher-j6r2l]

Me and my Late Mom ❤, used to watch this. Jane and Susan ❤❤. Great , Actresses. Remember McMillan and Wife and others movies and How to beat the High Cost of Living, was hilarious 🤣😆. Hmmm 🧐🤔 similar to now, Winky 😉😜 Wink, if you know what I mean, economy 😮. Great Atomic.

[@atomicabe]

Thanks! Kate & Allie is good show. Holds up really well with a great cast.

[@failing_safely]

I sometimes wonder if others think fondly of "Kate and Allie" as I do. I am happy that I found my people. Thank you for the trip back.

[@atomicabe]

Thanks for watching! Yeah Kate & Allie is a funny, sweet show with a good cast. It's streaming on Roku now and worth revisiting.

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

I'm 40 and have never seen any channel show reruns of this show

[@MuckyPup115]

Third Rock is hardly underrated. It still plays in syndication on TV today and was huge at the time it originally aired.

[@malloryemclaren]

I can’t explain what was going on with me when I was 4, 5, whatever, but this was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SITCOM then and I had *better* be in front of the TV when it came on. I think it might have been because it was giving me the cosmopolitan vibes of 80s Manhattan and I was surrounded by rednecks who really put me off in Carolina. There was something forward looking about every aspect of the show that appealed to my little Starseed tendencies. I loved the clothes, the wallpaper, the city… everything.

[@DoyleLanglois]

I think of the show a lot. An underrated show with great characters and a lot of heart. We need more shows like it.

[@TheNightBadger]

_"Just when you think there's no one around who's caring..."_ - No matter what life threw at you back then, you could always find comfort in sitcom land. _"Sometimes tears and sorrow are all the things you've got... just when you think you're all by yourself you're not"_

[@TranKhuong-g6e]

Kate & Allie is one of my favorite sitcoms of the '80s and I'm a huge Jane Curtin fan ever since she was one of the original cast members on Saturday Night Live.

[@trinaq]

I was too late for "Katie and Allie", but I remember Jane Curtin from "Third Rock from the Sun", which is rather underrated, and deserves to be discussed more often.

[@bltvd]

The first season of third rock is especially good!

[@atomicabe]

She's great on Third Rock as well. And of course SNL.

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

I'm 40 and have seen a lot of older shows but I don't think I've ever found a channel that showed reruns of this show growing up

[@missladyanonymity]

In the usa, it ran on E! or lifetime in the late 90s, easly 00s.

[@seanm6215]

​@@atomicabe yes I'm hoping she'll be at the big 50th SNL party in February

[@Tobi-x6u]

This show is so nostalgic, especially the intros at the beginning of the show, where Kate and Allie are walking through NYC.

[@monicacarrilllo]

I'm fascinated by how many sitcoms had spin offs attempted back in the day. I've never even heard of this show! Great video Abe!

[@atomicabe]

Thanks! Yeah, so many 80s and 90s sitcoms had backdoor pilots and spinoffs. It still happens today but the 70s, 80s and 90s were the golden age of backdoor pilots.

[@michaelblaine6494]

There were a lot of shows I watched that were spin offs of other shows I watched but never knew they were spin offs somehow. It does seem like they were awfully trigger happy with spin offs back then,it almost never happens now

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

I think I've heard of it but growing up I don't think it was ever shown in reruns

[@monicacarrilllo]

@atomicabe It feels like backdoor pilots specifically are becoming a rarity. Like I dont think Young Sheldon had one for example.

[@MaximumWarp2099]

Thanks for this. I watched this show all the time with my family, but hadn’t thought about it in years.

[@COMPFUNK2]

Barbara Barrie is still kickin’ at 93 years young (so is Hal Linden, btw). …AND Rita Moreno.

[@GIWonderY15]

I absolutely loved this show FOREVER! I wish I knew this show when younger.

[@octothorpe12]

I have the entire series on DVD, and I'm currently re-watching. I loved this show when it was broadcast.

[@MisterJWJ71]

Barbara Barrie was also in an earlier series with characters named Kate and Allie....well Allison. The show was "Double Trouble" which starred the twin sisters of Katey Sagal Liz and Jean Sagal.

[@mikejanacone8328]

Kelsey Grammer, who played the great Frasier crane that was the greatest spinoff ever

[@seanm6215]

@@mikejanacone8328 id say facts of life. And they tried spinoffs of their own that failed. But I think Frasier was a spinoff of one of the greatest shows ever.

[@BDUBZ49]

Definitely Frasier is probably in the Top 5 greatest sitcoms ever. Remarkable for a spinoff. (Jeffersons was another highly successful spinoff)

[@seanm6215]

@bossfan49 yes, Jeffersons was great. You saw the characters go from 70s outfits to 80s. Unfortunately it got a raw deal at the end. They all planned on coming back for a 12th season but were unceremoniously canceled with no real final episode.

[@mattnastasi1382]

Love this kind of cultural history document. Great channel!

[@atomicabe]

Thanks for watching!

[@SuperMarioBrosIII]

@@atomicabe ABC waited more than a year to air the final season of Perfect Strangers which was only consisted of 6 episodes. 🤰👶👩‍🍼📺

[@JenMistress]

This is one of those series, I've heard of before, but was long before I was born, and never seen a single episode. However, you did sell me on checking it out and luckily it looks like most if not all the episodes are available here on KZbin, and someone was nice enough to even put together a playlist of them. So should be easy for me to check it out. 😉 Thank you so very much for this video. I did enjoy it.

[@atomicabe]

It holds up! Great cast. It recently came to streaming on Roku and other places.

[@JenMistress]

@@atomicabe Caught me just before I went to start tonight's gaming session. Awesomeness, bookmark it on Roku. Thank you for the heads up.

[@75aces97]

I hadn’t seen it or thought about it in years, but after watching this video I looked it up and the whole series is free on Roku channel.

[@erikandrus4387]

For whatever reason, the two episodes with Andrea Martin (who I think was filling in for Susan Saint James on maternity leave), were fun, and were two of my favorites in the series. They helped me through a dark time.

[@lulubelle24]

I would love to watch this series again.

[@veenus93]

I loved Kate & Allie. The intros every week were always fun.

[@bradparnell614]

Though updated for the 80s, the premise wasn't exactly new. It was the same premise as "The Lucy Show" (1962 to 1968) where Lucy and Vivian Vance played two best friends (Lucy widowed, Viv divorced) living together raising their kids under the same roof. Viv had a young son and Lucy had a teenage daughter and a young son. This premise only lasted three seasons though as they totally changed it for season four and had Lucy move to LA and got rid of Viv and the kids.

[@Regreviews]

Ngl the theme song is classic

[@brianarbenz1329]

There was a Bionic Dog? I learned something today!… Seriously, this was a well made and fun video. I enjoyed this!

[@atomicabe]

Thanks for watching! You can see our episode on the failed Bionic Dog spin-off here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2bHg2N5fbZ3Y7csi=2pmQ6-P66xVs5gG-

[@TVGuidanceCounselor]

Thank you for the shout out!

[@atomicabe]

Thank you for the excellent podcast!

[@RetroCirq]

You made it Ken!

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I don't think I ever watched Kate and Allie, but when you played the theme song I remembered it somehow.

[@BDUBZ49]

There were at least 3 or 4 other sitcom themes that sounded similar.

[@mavfan1]

@@BDUBZ49yeah, definitely could be confused for other themes.

[@AlexSpalex1]

Wasn't Jack Riley the voice those old Shedd's Spread Country Crock commercials?

[@atomicabe]

Oh wow yeah! Thanks for the memory. Love those ads. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqHOhoqAqM2Fo5I

[@simonmarshall19]

I used to think Kate & Allie was a spin off of Family Ties .

[@michaelblaine6494]

I always thought their houses were identical

[@michaelblaine6494]

Although now I’m realizing it looked more like Growing Pains

[@BDUBZ49]

Similar sentiment in the theme songs: K&A - Just when you think you're all by yourself you're not. FT - What would we do, baby, without us... GP - As long as we got each other....

[@indiana2096]

I haven't thought about this show in years, I always loved it. I was in high school, and I had a crush on the two girls and who doesn't love Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin always a favorite SNL, 3rd Rock, The Librarian movies and of course here she was great! Thanks for the memories.

[@marieclapdorp2580]

35 seconds in, and there's an error. Jane Curtin played Allie, not Kate. But that was kind of a thing. In a retrospective episode, they even poked fun at the mix-up. Did you do that on purpose, to see if anyone would notice?

[@atomicabe]

Yes, on purpose. Thanks for noticing.

[@DW3010]

There is no uncle Joey on full house. Joey is Danny’s college roommate… And no, the kids never called him uncle Joey.

[@missladyanonymity]

In my culture, children are to address an adult with an honorific. Those kids may have called him joey, but decent folks know to call him "uncle" joey, in retrospect.

[@DW3010]

@ 🙄🙄🙄

[@dayveo]

but WE the viewers call him that and that's all that really matters

[@DW3010]

@ and I can call you Hulk Hogan. Is that all that matters?

[@dayveo]

@@DW3010 No because I'm a real person with thoughts and feelings, and one that you don't know. So I'd ask you not to call me that because I don't like it. Joey on the otherhand is a fictional character on a sitcom who's commonly referred to as Uncle Joey in our culture. Ultimately it's a nickname we've bestowed the character with

[@freebretth]

Damn, did Kelsey ever have a full head of hair??

[@michaelblaine6494]

No,him and principal Strickland. Neither ever had hair😂

[@VulcanDeathGrip44]

I’m definitely a kid of the 80s but this is one show I don’t think I saw even one episode of! I think our family was watching Alf or Monday Night Football. But now that I’m older, I find myself watching anything 80s. This, Cagney and Lacey…,😂

[@michaelblaine6494]

This was a “Monday show”,I never liked any show they aired on Monday when I was a kid. I’d probably like them if I watched them now though. That’s how we identified days of the week in the 80s🤪. The best shows were always on Tuesday and Thursday,I haven’t thought about any of this in years

[@brianarbenz1329]

When I was a kid, it was The Partridge Family, That Girl and Love American Style on Fridays.

[@marieclapdorp2580]

K&A was part of a block of shows on Monday where women were the leads. If I recall correctly, at one point, three of the four shows had actresses who were pregnant. None of the shows wrote the pregnancy into the story line. The only one that had a pregnancy story line was Murphy Brown. Its lead, Candice Bergen, was not pregnant.

[@toxicwaltzn8175]

I have never once in my life heard of the sitcom “Kate & Allie”…

[@kumada84]

Well, now you have. 😊

[@NealHunterHyde]

Is the Roxie series available to stream anywhere? Did the unaired episodes ever get burned off on cable or sales to international broadcasters?

[@atomicabe]

The first episode was floating around on KZbin but the rest of the episodes have vanished. As far as we know only two episodes aired and it never aired overseas or anywhere else.

[@Wally_Weir]

Really cool thorough look at the series . It was one of the series i like to watch with my mom back in the day . Even if they were not the most sympathetic characters of the show, the recurring roles of Allie's Ex Husband Charles and and his new Wife Claire deserve to be mention in the video . Canadian actor Paul Hecht's portrayal of the pompous Charles was grounded even though the role was written in very broad strokes . The role of Claire was the first time i saw Just Shoot Me's Wendie Malick .Her comedic chops were quite evident in her portrayal of the other woman Claire . Malick's and Curtin's recurrent exchange of zingers would be for me one of the series comedic highlights.

[@brianarbenz1329]

I grew up one of two children of a divorced mother and though we had no roommate, I identified with Kate and Allie. It was real world, yet funny.

[@jaylong4705]

Thats so wild i was singing this theme song in my head the other day. Also, sweet Jets hat @00:17

[@DanSteadman]

I can sing this theme song by heart - and considering what we're all about to go through in the US - I'll be singing it to myself more and more. Thanks for this great summary of K&A

[@jdlamb1690]

A picture of my family in 84, except it was my mom & her sister, my sibling and cousins. Best couple of years in our childhood.

[@youtubeemployeesarestupid3464]

A *Kate & Allie* video game needs to play like *Bloody Wolf* for the Turbografx-16.

[@75aces97]

Kate & Allie kinda disappeared from pop culture after its initial run, so I didn’t see it much after prime time. And I don’t remember any spinoffs, failed or otherwise. I thought I watched this show regularly during the prime time run, but either I didn’t, or just don’t remember it well.

[@dayveo]

In the NYC area it was in daily reruns for a few years (among Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, etc) after its run, but then, yeah went away after that and didn't seem to ever air anywhere else again. Wonder why

[@75aces97]

@@dayveoI remember reruns on channel 9, beginning maybe a year or two before it wrapped. By then I started high school and through the 1990s I watched limited tv or didn’t own one, so I might remember some things wrong. Still, for a show that yielded this many episodes, had no scandalous cast member, and no copyrighted soundtrack music to fuss over, this one faded into obscurity.

[@dayveo]

@@75aces97 Yes that's what I was thinking but I couldn't remember if it was channel 9 or 11. Seems like it was on a bit longer than a year to me, but I was also a little kid so my sense of time was very warped then haha

[@BDUBZ49]

I know we watched it in our house but I can't remember a single joke or episode plot. All I can remember is that we watched it.

[@raulzavala9061]

This was not a favorite among my school friends I'd never heard of the show until USA would air reruns in the 90's and plus it was a CBS show which at the time was considered the "old people" network.

[@75aces97]

CBS cast its lot with older viewers by the 1980s and I’m not sure they ever shed that perception ever since.😄

[@temporarybackup5077]

If Chip only knew what the little fella was being setup for later in life.

[@DaveTexas]

I loved Kate & Allie. I wrote a paper on it in college when I was taking a TV criticism class. Through the lens of Queer Theory, I wrote about how many LGBTQ+ people viewed Kate and Allie as a lesbian couple despite CBS’s attempts to portray them as straight women. Laverne & Shirley was viewed much the same way, with Boo Boo Kitty representing…something other than a stuffed toy…

[@kristinazubic9669]

was that what was intended by the creators of those shows?

[@DaveTexas]

@ I have no idea. I’ve never spoken to the creators of the shows, nor have I ever seen an interview in which those topics were discussed. All I know is that CBS wanted them to make it clear that Kate & Allie slept in separate bedrooms.

[@kristinazubic9669]

@@DaveTexas oh ok. I thought you might have run across a comment during research.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

An actress struggling to make it as a therapist is such an interesting concept, they should've kept it at that.

[@GrapeCheez2]

Kate & Allie was my show. I don't even remember the spin offs. There was so many spin offs back then I lost track.

[@jcarterla]

I was scarred for life when Chip went full frontal on Oz.

[@vincentimbesi3947]

What?! Did that really happen? 😳

[@marieclapdorp2580]

For me it was when he played a killer on Bones.

[@tolfan4438]

Whoever did the casting did a really good job with up-and-coming stars at picking them out

[@ReverendBenzo]

Please stop using that tired ass "rent free" thing. If you do, I'll hold your beer. Thanks!

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

It's a little too late to close the barn door on that expression.

[@BDUBZ49]

Yeah, it definitely needs to go, along with the words "cringe" and "iconic" and the trend of videos that include the run time in the title: "Kate & Allie being cringe and iconic for 18 minutes."

[@arfriedman4577]

A friend gave me 2 tickets to see the live studio taping in 1986. I think a sign lit up for us to clap. I dont even remember what the show was about. I just remembered Jane curtain.

[@SuperMarioBrosIII]

Andrea Martin also appears in the Sesame Street music video for Put Down The Duckie. 🦆🦉🎷🐤

[@James_St._James]

Ari Meyers was so cute. She was my favorite when I was a kid.

[@atomicabe]

She's in the Thanksgiving classic Dutch with Ed O’Neill and Etham Embry!

[@SuperMarioBrosIII]

@@atomicabe WWOR tv channel 9 New York aired reruns in the 90s!

[@auldthymer]

The episode about the landlady came out about the same time I did. That episode was a soft embrace while I was being overwhelmed (there was a lot of hate back in the 80s!)

[@kristinazubic9669]

Love Kate & Allie! Thank you ❤

[@goldenboi778]

I wish they would put it back on t.v. I always loved that show and still do..

[@evelynwilson1566]

Kate and Allie was broadcast in Scotland in the mid/ late eighties. Early teen me loved it💚

[@nerdbot37]

I was 13 when Kate & Allie debuted, and had a massive crush on both of the daughters. And a less age-appropriate fascination with the titular moms.

[@technicolordreamer]

I think the premise of Kate & Allie was basically the same premise that was used for the tv show Raven's Home.

[@andrewcoulthard-clark]

Speaking of Lindsay Wagner and spin-offs, she was short-listed by producer Jeri Taylor as a favourite to play the then 'Captain Nicole Janeway', as the lead in 'Star Trek Voyager' during auditions only a few years later in 1994. Taylor even went so far as to list Wagner by name on the casting description sheet. I wonder if experiences with 'Late Bloomer' hurt her chances...?

[@missladyanonymity]

I remember K&A. It also ran in syndication in the late 90s, early 00s

[@hangtownranger]

For as popular as it was, why is it not on any streaming? That and Laverne & Shirley?

[@atomicabe]

Kate & Allie recently came to streaming on the Roku channel

[@hangtownranger]

@ oh cool! I will have to check that out, thanks.

[@amydearing9866]

I once worked with 2 girls, named Kate & Allie. We were old enough to know the TV show.

[@seth8629]

Ari Meyers ❤❤❤❤❤

[@blackamerican40]

My great grandmother and I watched this show every Monday. 😅

[@seanmckeownyoung]

An Andrea Martin spinoff sounds astounding.

[@LBF522]

I had hoped for a spinoff with the two daughters.

[@saleonard79]

I’d never heard the name Emma, before this show (small town) and I loved it.

[@kc-lp6wg]

I just want to say that the ep "A Very Loud Family" is most likely a reference to the tv series "An American Family" (1973) a multi episode series on PBS that followed the Loud Family (from California) and all their trials and tribulations. It's considered the first "reality" program ever aired.

[@atomicabe]

Oh yeah, definitely. Good call. "An American Family" is the first reality show.

[@xLordOfNothingx]

Not to be disparaging to the new narrator lady, but I much prefer the regular narrator dude, even with his bad jokes lol He had the rythimn down

[@Nomadanna88]

Yeah this is borderline unwatchable.

[@gbplayer6789]

I'm 38 and this is the first time I'm hearing of this show

[@joeriveracomedy]

Ray Donovan tried a backdoor pilot. Wife character Abby goes home to her family's bar in Boston. Season 3.

[@CinqueMalcolm]

I can't remember watching a single episode. I was like 7-12 when it aired.

[@anthonycerulli5524]

I remember my mom loved this show when I was a kid.

[@CalidrisJZ]

Kate and Ali was fantastic.

[@alain99v6]

in one episode Allie was in Paris and fell asleep in the subway, you see on the subway station set "Defense de fumIer" writen on the wall instead of 'defense de fumer" (no smokling) , fumier is also a french word and it mans .... manure good idea to make it illegal to drop manure on the subway station , and back to spin off they miss a good opportunity when the blonde girl was in college to give her her own show as a spin off for a younger audience like they did with Cosby show - A Different world the first year

[@americanmanhood]

That's not Abe.

[@KevinGeeksOut]

Atomic Abe is the name of the channel, includes a bunch of different people who write, edit, narrate, produce and design. There have been a few different narrators in the 80-something videos on Atomic Abe. But there is no one "Abe". It's a mascot.

[@FransLebin]

@@KevinGeeksOut Kevin, your calming voice is one of the main draws of this channel. I am not exaggerating when I say something is missing without it.

[@Sassyglbeauty]

I don’t remember it much, but I do remember it. I know my mom watched it.

[@davidthedeaf]

I do not recall ever watching this. I likely turned the channel, since I was a teenager and liked good shows.

[@michaelblaine6494]

6:50 I’m always surprised they didn’t just retire the word “chancellor”

[@debbiec4224]

Loved this show!

[@peterjermey7235]

When I was a kid this is what we has in place of actual gay characters on TV. Not actual gay characters, but straight people in situations that some of the adults would know were coded gay. This is why folks get so passionate about complaining about gay content on TV. All of us from this era missed out on seeing ourselves on TV and it contributed to the general message from school/church/politics/media that we were as worse than serial killers and cancer combined.

[@scottpeterson7500]

That really was a good show. I was in my twenties 🥳❤️♀️

[@otisroseboro5613]

One Of My All Time Favorite TV Shows,80s & 90s Movie's,TV Shows & Music Are The Best 💯 Period

[@adam-l74]

I miss seeing this show.

[@TobiasHarms]

"And they were roommates"

[@good03boy]

7th Heaven was on 11 seasons and never had a spin-off series. Why?

[@sidtucker3660]

I haven’t seen the show since the early 80s. But I used to really like it. Don’t know if I could watch it now.

[@daynabee5521]

I was the same age as Jenny and Emma, and related to them, and loved the show!

[@MondoMiami]

This was a middling sitcom that never had an audience. It was a mid-season replacement that debuted at #8, immediately dropped like a rock, and never rebounded. And just because something is old (the theme song), that doesn’t make it “iconic.”

[@75aces97]

It had an audience, but wasn’t the kind of show that could be a hit. I didn’t realize it cracked the top 10 in its abbreviated first season, but if you look at the 1983-84 tv schedule that was a real soup sandwich. 😆 Yikes! Otherwise I see what you’re saying. This, Family Ties, Facts of Life and Different Strokes struck some nerve at the time but were outmoded by the time they wrapped.

[@john26874]

As a Brit I loved this show!. I`m surprised by the many negative comments?. I was lucky that If I missed it showing first time on `Channel 4`, it was shown a day or two later on S4C (Welsh Channel 4). Allie was kinda my idol!. Loved watching this look back & I thought the narration was good?. Guess i`m the odd one out maybe. Favourite episodes include the `Chocolate cake` one, the 2 Lesbian landlords, `Channel G`, `Allie on strike` `Allie trying to find a job` & the 100th? show that was bloopers?.

[@cindeed4422]

They walked the steers of NY before Sex and The City as well. Before Sara and the girls there were Kate and Allie!

[@pigoff123]

This show never made it to AFN Europe.

[@DrDavelope]

Watched many sitcoms during the 80s - Never heard of this one. Not every country outside US got it.

[@Nomadanna88]

That narrator doesn’t work. That’s the opposite of a broadcasting voice. It’s grating.

[@BDUBZ49]

Better than A.I. or these Millennial/GenZ guys who all somehow have the same pitch and speech pattern for every sentence, ending on an upward inflection.

[@suluturnip]

That Kate & Ali SNL sketch is funnier because everyone thinks they both have Parkinson’s disease but they don’t.

[@iriejane3099]

Omg loved this show!

[@shanecasebeer1364]

I really like the narration on this video, even though Kate and Allie wasn't for me. However, I really like both of the leads - SSJ was great as The Wife of McMillan - although I don't remember seeing her after Kate and Allie. Jane Curtain was great in 3rd Rock From the Sun, and she was refreshed grounded on SNL - not always trying anything for a laugh. The pilots: the leads deserved better! I'm glad Martin is getting more recognition ala other SCTV alumni (O'Hara, Levy especially), but also haven't seen much of Wagner, unfortunately. Nevertheless,.much thanks for an interesting video!

[@clurkroberts2650]

Really wonderful series…

[@fazole]

I liked SNL's spoof "Kate and Ali", about Kate Hepburn and Mohammed Ali!😅

[@tamaraclaw]

I watched Roxie...I thought it was pretty good, probably because I liked Martin on SCTV

[@MD-kq5qg]

Jane Curtin was Allie not Kate

[@atomicabe]

We goofed once. We got it right the rest of the time. Nobody's perfect. Thanks for watching!