"Goodtime Girls" (1980) TV series

Directors:

Tony Mordente
Howard Storm

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

22 January 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Four young women share a Washington, D.C. apartment during World War II.

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Friendship Between Women | Homefront | Home Front | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Annie Potts	...	Edith Bedelmeyer (13 episodes, 1980)
Lorna Patterson	...	Betty Crandall (13 episodes, 1980)
Georgia Engel	...	Loretta Smoot (13 episodes, 1980)
Francine Tacker	...	Camille Rittenhouse (13 episodes, 1980)
Marcia Lewis	...	Irma Coolidge (13 episodes, 1980)
Merwin Goldsmith	...	George Coolidge (13 episodes, 1980)
Peter Scolari	...	Benny Loman (13 episodes, 1980)
Adrian Zmed	...	Frankie Millardo (13 episodes, 1980)

Runtime:

30 min (11 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions

Short Lived TV show with early Annie Potts, Peter Scolari

Having the look of an episode of Soap or Golden Girls, obviously from the same creator, Goodtime Girls was about four girls, volunteers, secretaries, whatever, who share a room in D.C.

Annie Potts was the star and had the believability to be a creature of the forties. So did Dance Fever's/T. J. Hooker's Adrian Zmed, who played military reject (for his flat feet) cab driver Frankie. Peter Scolari, who would go on to be in Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks, was Frankie's roomie, another tenant in the building, who juggled and rode a unicycle and had very few lines. I remembered one of the other girls was Georgia Engel, at that time perhaps the biggest name, having just left the Mary Tyler Moore show. The fourth girl was the meanie, Camille.

Having recently caught this show on TVland, it seems obvious the door was open for Engel to leave if she chose, Camille could be written out (I did recall she was used to a minimum) and Potts would carry on, a la Laverne & Shirley, with her co-star, Lorna Patterson, of tv's Private Benjamin and the motion picture, Airplane.

The show didn't last that long. The opening credits alone, showing scenes from episodes, reveal the slapstick is forced, very forced. Plot consisted of Potts giving thoughtful Robert Reed/Mr. Brady lectures of her own, with soft music to back her up, dealing with very little forties or WWII issues, but then this was the anti-American, anti-war late seventies. Zmed did seem to be spared many of this sentiment and get good laughs. Guest stars were the like of Scott Baio as Potts brother who enlists and Micheal McKean (Lenny off Laverne and Shirley) as a bitter soldier in a wheelchair.

Pity the show couldn't avoid the over-emoting, because the look was as close as an American show could get.