Love, American Style (TV)
"Love, American Style" was a distinctive anthology television series that aired on ABC, focusing on short romantic comedy segments. Each hour-long episode was creatively divided into multiple segments, beginning with the title format "Love and the . . .," which introduced the theme of the night. Despite a brief reduction to half-hour episodes in its second season, the show returned to its original format and time slot on Friday nights until its cancellation. The series featured a rotating cast of actors and directors, with notable guest appearances from celebrities such as Sonny Bono, Cher, and Vincent Price, enhancing its appeal.
The theme song, performed by the Cowsills and later by the Charles Fox Singers, became iconic, associated with visuals of fireworks that symbolized love. The program is recognized for its influence on future romantic comedy shows, paving the way for successful series like "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island." Additionally, it spawned several spin-offs, including the well-known sitcom "Happy Days." While it never achieved high Nielsen ratings, "Love, American Style" left a lasting cultural impact and remains a notable part of television history.
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Subject Terms
Love, American Style (TV)
Identification Television comedy series
Date Aired from 1969 to 1974
This anthology of miniplays and sketches—all dealing with lighthearted, sentimental, or family-centered understandings of romance—offered airtime opportunities to a wide range of celebrity guest stars while giving the program’s network a chance to promote actors appearing on its own sitcoms.
Love, American Style was the only anthology programming of its day that focused on short romantic comedy. Airing on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network, the program featured hour-long episodes divided into two, three, four, or five segments. Each episode used different casts and directors and began with a title, “Love and the . . . , ” which set the night’s theme. Although the series was cut back to just half an hour for sixteen episodes during the second season, it returned to its original format when it was moved to Friday night in 1971 and kept that format and time slot until its cancellation.
The theme song, performed by the Cowsills in the first season and then by the Charles Fox Singers, might not have done very well on the charts, but it left a lasting impression on viewers, who would henceforth associate the music with the visuals of fireworks exploding on screen, representing the power and majesty of love. To enhance this connection, in the last two seasons, fireworks sound effects were added to the opening titles. The same brass bed was used repeatedly in episode after episode, despite the different settings or circumstances, in order to provide a recurring motif that fans could identify.
Sometimes, real-life celebrity couples, such as Sonny Bono and Cher, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, or Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows, would play fictional couples on the show. The program also provided a venue for recurring visits from such comedic actors as Judy Carne, Alice Ghostley, Kaye Ballard, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Larry Storch. Guest stars could be as varied as Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Milton Berle, Burt Reynolds, Edward Everett Horton, and Sissy Spacek. One-minute blackout skits, often starring character actor Stuart Margolin, were sometimes used as filler between segments.
Impact
Although it never ranged higher than number twenty-five in the Nielsen ratings, Love, American Style paved the way for more successful romantic comedy programming for ABC that used television celebrities and guest stars within a more structured format, including Aaron Spelling’s Love Boat (1977-1986) and Fantasy Island (1978-1984). It also spawned three diverse spin-offs: Barefoot in the Park (1970-1971), the animated Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (1972-1974), and, most notably, the very successful sitcom Happy Days (1974-1984).
Bibliography
Brooks, Tim, and Earle F. Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present. 8th ed. New York: Ballantine, 2003.
McNeil, Alex. Total Television. 4th ed. New York: Penguin, 1996.
Marc, David. Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture. 2d ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997.