Jennifer Slept Here
Jennifer Slept Here is an American fantasy sitcom television series that ran for one season on NBC from October 21, 1983, to September 5, 1984. The series was a Larry Larry production in association with Columbia Pictures Television.
| Jennifer Slept Here | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Fantasy sitcom |
| Created by | Larry Rosen Larry Tucker |
| Written by | Nick Arnold Larry Balmagia Tom Chehak Bruce Ferber Terry Hart David Lerner Rick Mittleman Larry Rosen Larry Spencer Larry Tucker Jurgen Wolff |
| Directed by | John Bowab Charles S. Dubin |
| Starring | Ann Jillian John P. Navin Jr. Georgia Engel Brandon Maggart Mya Stark Glenn Scarpelli |
| Theme music composer | Clint Holmes Ann Jillian Joey Murcia Bill Payne |
| Opening theme | "Jennifer Slept Here" performed by Joey Scarbury |
| Composer(s) | Perry Botkin, Jr. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Larry Rosen Larry Tucker |
| Producer(s) | Douglas Arango Phil Doran |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Larry Larry Productions Columbia Pictures Television |
| Distributor | Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (2001) Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 21, 1983 – September 5, 1984 |
Overview
In the series, Ann Jillian plays Jennifer Farrell: a once-popular movie actress who in 1963 made the unfortunate mistake of chasing an ice cream truck near her Los Angeles, California home. When the ice cream truck accidentally backed up, it ran her over, killing her. About twenty years later, the Elliot family moved from New York City into Jennifer's home. In the series, this story conflicts with the assertion that her death occurred "six years ago". Father George was a lawyer who had handled Jennifer's posthumous affairs, including the house. George's wife, Susan, was a concerned and understanding figure. Daughter Marilyn was a typical 8-year-old.
The driving story behind the series was that Jennifer haunted the Elliot house—ostensibly to mentor and befriend the family's teenage son, Joey, who was the only person to whom she made herself visible. During the series, however, she does make herself visible in at least one episode. Naturally, Joey had a hard time convincing his family and friends of Jennifer's ghostly existence. They not only refused to believe Joey's claim, but often concluded Joey needed psychiatric or other help. In one episode, they hired a phony exorcist (played by Zelda Rubinstein in a parody of her Poltergeist character Tangina Barrons) to rid the house of Jennifer's spirit by capturing it in a jar.
Cast
- Ann Jillian as Jennifer Farrell
- John P. Navin Jr. as Joseph "Joey" Elliot
- Georgia Engel as Susan Elliot
- Brandon Maggart as George Elliot
- Mya Akerling as Marilyn Elliot
- Glenn Scarpelli as Marc
Theme song
The series theme song, also titled "Jennifer Slept Here", was written by Joey Murcia, Bill Payne, Clint Holmes, and series star Ann Jillian, and was performed by recording artist Joey Scarbury.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | Charles S. Dubin | Larry Rosen, Larry Tucker | October 21, 1983 | |
| With the Elliotts settling into her home, the recently deceased actress Jennifer Farrell appears to Joey for the first time, and later talks him out of a return trip to New York City to see a girl he had a crush on before relocating to California. | |||||
| 2 | "Jennifer: The Movie" | John Bowab | Jurgen Wolff | October 28, 1983 | |
| A planned biopic on her life leaves Jennifer furious: A rival actress she despised when she was alive will play her, and a key scene (to be filmed at her home) is altered for tawdry effect. | |||||
| 3 | "Not with My Date You Don't" | John Bowab | Bruce Ferber, David Lerner | November 4, 1983 | |
| A new girl stands in the way of Joey and Marc... and a pair of concert tickets that the girl actually wants. | |||||
| 4 | "Boo" | John Bowab | Larry Balmagia | November 11, 1983 | |
| The ghost of Jennifer's mother (Debbie Reynolds) pays her daughter a visit but goes missing after the two have a falling out over the influence the mother had on her daughter's career; to help contact her in a seance, Jennifer agrees to assist Joey in impressing a pair of twin girls. | |||||
| 5 | "Calendar Girl" | John Bowab | Nick Arnold | November 18, 1983 | |
| Monty Hall has a cameo in an episode that finds Joey discovering a box of Jennifer's unclaimed items — which includes a nude photo she posed for early in her career; when George discovers it and plans to sell it off at an auction for her estate, Jennifer asks Joey to retrieve it. | |||||
| 6 | "One of Our Jars Is Missing" | Charles S. Dubin | Tom Chehak | November 25, 1983 | |
| After seeing their son "talking to a lamp", George and Susan hire a phony expert on poltergeists (played by Zelda Rubinstein, who played a similar role in the film Poltergeist) to rid the house of Jennifer... and to Joey's shock, it works! Now, Joey and Jennifer must convince her to restore Jennifer's power before a letter that Joey accidentally wrote is mailed off. | |||||
| 7 | "Trading Faces" | John Bowab | Larry Spencer | December 2, 1983 | |
| Jennifer discovers that she has the ability to enter other people's bodies, so she uses Susan's so she can rekindle a former mortal flame. | |||||
| 8 | "Rebel with a Cause" | John Bowab | Rick Mittleman | December 16, 1983 | |
| With Jennifer's help, Joey is able to take care of a bully... and in the process acquire his entire lifestyle. | |||||
| 9 | "Risky Weekend" | John Bowab | Tom Chehak, Larry Spencer | April 14, 1984 | |
| With the rest of the family away, Joey keeps an eye on the house, but a sailboat moored in the backyard crashes into the dining room; to help pay for repairs, he agrees to let the repairman use the house for a bingo game... that is, until Joey and Jennifer discover that it's really a gambling operation. | |||||
| 10 | "Do You Take This Ghost?" | Alan Myerson | Douglas Arango, Phil Doran | April 21, 1984 | |
| Jennifer's former playboy boyfriend, who is also a ghost, wants to revive the relationship they had when they were alive. Eve McVeagh made a guest appearance. | |||||
| 11 | "Life with Grandfather" | John Bowab | Terry Hart, Ken Kuta | April 28, 1984 | |
| George's father pays a visit, but when he dies unexpectedly, the Elliotts finally have kind things to say about him that they never told him when he was alive. | |||||
| 12 | "The Tutor Who Came to Dinner" | John Bowab | Terry Hart | May 5, 1984 | |
| When a new tutor appears to help Joey, Jennifer becomes jealous of her... and for good reason, as the tutor (played by Gail Edwards, Ann Jillian's castmate from It's a Living) is actually Jennifer's spiritual replacement. | |||||
| 13 | "Take Jennifer, Please" | Charles S. Dubin | Larry Rosen, Larry Tucker | May 12, 1984 | |
| Fed up with having his father not believing that he can see Jennifer, Joey must find a way to convince him otherwise, even if it means having Jennifer prove her presence before the entire family. So, Jennifer tells Joey that she'll help him if Joey can produce the real will she wrote, which is located in George's office safe (unbeknownst to George). | |||||
Reception
Critical response
Although the show had mixed reviews and a tough Friday night time-slot (its competition was The Dukes of Hazzard on CBS and Webster on ABC), it attracted somewhat decent ratings. Repeats which were shown on Wednesday nights during the summer of 1984 often managed to make the Top 30, but that was not enough to guarantee a second season. Tom Ensign of The Toledo Blade, reviewing Jennifer Slept Here, stated that the show "isn't funny, it isn't witty and it doesn't stand the ghost of a chance".[1] Baird Searles dismissed the series as "a shameless re-echo of Topper".[2]
Ratings
| Season | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Nielsen Rank | Nielsen Rating[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983–84 | 13 | October 21, 1983 | May 12, 1984 | 89 | 10.3 |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Technical Direction/Camerawork/Video for a Series | For episode "Life with Grandfather" | Nominated |
| 1984 | Young Artist Awards | Best New Television Series | Jennifer Slept Here | Nominated |
| Best Young Actor in a New Television Series | John P. Navin, Jr. | Won | ||
| Best Young Actor in a New Television Series | Glenn Scarpelli | Nominated |
References
- "Two New Fantasy TV Shows Make Unimaginative Debuts". The Toledo Blade. November 4, 1983. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
- "Films", F&SF, March 1984, p. 76.
- "1983-84 Ratings History -- The Networks Are Awash in a Bubble Bath of Soaps".