"Turnabout" (1979) TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

26 January 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Plot:

Tough sportswriter Sam and cosmetics exec Penny are a married couple who find themselves inhabiting each other's bodies thanks to a magic statue...

Plot Keywords:

Married Couple | Gender Swap | Sitcom | Body Swap | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

John Schuck	...	Sam Alston (7 episodes, 1979)
Sharon Gless	...	Penny Alston (7 episodes, 1979)
Bobbie Jordan	...	Judy Overmeyer (5 episodes, 1979)
Richard Stahl	...	Jack Overmeyer (5 episodes, 1979)
Bruce Kirby	...	Al Brennan (4 episodes, 1979)
James Sikking	...	Geoffrey St. James (4 episodes, 1979)

Runtime:

30 min (7 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Sam Denoff Productions

Movie Connections:

Version of Turnabout (1940)

Great while it lasted

By the 1970's, Thorne ("Topper") Smith's original novel could have been a recipe for disaster: the husband's mind in the wife's body and vice versa? Lord save us from cheap swishy jokes on the one hand and from free-your-mind homilies about our true bisexual selves on the other. Well, the series fell into neither trap. The leads were so masculine (without being handsome) and so feminine (without being a bimbo) that the switch between them was nothing but crystalline humor... except that each episode, if I recall correctly, came down to earth abruptly as the couple wished earnestly to return to their own identities.