She's the Sheriff

She's the Sheriff is an American sitcom television series that aired in first-run syndication from September 19, 1987 to April 1, 1989. Produced by Lorimar Television, the series marked the return of Suzanne Somers to television for the first time since she left her role as Chrissy Snow on ABC's Three's Company.

She's the Sheriff
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Dan Guntzelman Steve Marshall
Written by	Cheryl Alu Gene Braunstein Bobby Fine Dan Guntzelman Lawrence H. Hartstein Juliet Law Packer Steve Marshall Mark Miller Marty Nadler Barry O'Brien Bob Perlow Richard Rossner Mark Rothman
Directed by	David Grossman Gary Menteer Lee Miller Russ Petranto Alan Rafkin Doug Smart Howard Storm
Starring	Suzanne Somers George Wyner Pat Carroll Nicky Rose Taliesin Jaffe Lou Richards Guich Koock Leonard Lightfoot
Theme music composer	Bruce Miller
Composer(s)	Bruce Miller
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44 (plus unaired pilot)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark Rothman
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Lorimar-Telepictures
Distributor	Lorimar-Telepictures (1987-1989) Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	Syndication
Original release	September 19, 1987 (1987-09-19) – April 1, 1989 (1989-04-01)

In 2002, She's the Sheriff was ranked #44 on TV Guide's "50 Worst TV Shows of All Time".[1]

Synopsis

Somers stars as Hildy Granger, a young woman suddenly widowed with two children to support. Her employment worries end when the commissioner of fictional Lakes County, Nevada (near Lake Tahoe) offers to appoint her sheriff, the job held by her husband until his death. Hildy accepts the position and is forced to handle the daily problems of locals and tourists, with extra trouble created by the four deputies on her staff. In addition, Hildy has regular battles with colleague Max Rubin, who thinks that Hildy should not be the sheriff.

Cast and characters

• George Wyner as Deputy Max Rubin, indignant that he has been passed over for the job of sheriff.
• Pat Carroll as Gussie Holt, Hildy's mother and a part-time writer.
• Lou Richards co-as Deputy Dennis Putnam, a naive man who takes things too literally.
• Guich Koock as Deputy Hugh Mulcahy, a man admired for his intelligence.
• Leonard Lightfoot as Deputy Alvin Wiggins, who tries to be a voice of reason.
• Taliesin Jaffe and Nicky Rose as Hildy's son Kenny and daughter Allison.

Episode list

• Nº = Overall episode number
• Ep = Episode number by season

Season 1: 1987–88

Nº	Ep	Title	Directed by:	Written by:	Air date
0	0	"She's the Sheriff"	Alan Rafkin	Mark Rothman	N/A
1	1	"All in a Day's Work"	Alan Rafkin	Mark Rothman	September 19, 1987 (1987-09-19)
2	2	"Butterfly Is Free"	Mark Rothman	Barry O'Brien, Juliet Law Packer	September 26, 1987 (1987-09-26)
3	3	"Unsafe at Any Speed"	Alan Rafkin	Juliet Law Packer	October 3, 1987 (1987-10-03)
4	4	"A Little Romance"	Lee Miller	Gene Braunstein, Bob Perlow	October 10, 1987 (1987-10-10)
5	5	"Lover Boy"	Alan Rafkin	Lawrence H. Hartstein, Richard Rossner	October 17, 1987 (1987-10-17)
6	6	"Monkey Business"	Alan Rafkin, Doug Smart	Mark Miller, Mark Rothman	October 24, 1987 (1987-10-24)
7	7	"Max Moves In"	Doug Smart	Barry O'Brien, Mark Rothman	October 31, 1987 (1987-10-31)
8	8	"Poker Fever" "The Golden Streak"	Russ Petranto	Bobby Fine	November 7, 1987 (1987-11-07)
9	9	"Hildy Gets Shot"	Russ Petranto	Barry O'Brien, Mark Rothman	November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14)
10	10	"Child's Play"	Russ Petranto	Bobby Fine	November 21, 1987 (1987-11-21)
11	11	"Call Me Madam"	Alan Rafkin	Barry O'Brien, Mark Rothman	November 28, 1987 (1987-11-28)
12	12	"The Perils of Pauline"	Russ Petranto	Bobby Fine	December 5, 1987 (1987-12-05)
13	13	"A Hero"	David Grossman	Mark Rothman	December 12, 1987 (1987-12-12)
14	14	"The Feds"	Lee Miller	Simon Hunter	December 19, 1987 (1987-12-19)
15	15	"New Year's Eve"	Russ Petranto	Lawrence H. Hartstein, Richard Rossner	January 2, 1988 (1988-01-02)
16	16	"The Great Escape"	Arlando Smith	Gene Braunstein, Bob Perlow	January 9, 1988 (1988-01-09)
17	17	"Hostage"	Marc Gass	Dan Guntzelman, Steve Marshall	January 16, 1988 (1988-01-16)
18	18	"All Alone"	Russ Petranto	TBA	January 30, 1988 (1988-01-30)
19	19	"Hildy the Homewrecker"	Russ Petranto	Mark Rothman	February 6, 1988 (1988-02-06)
20	20	"Hair"	Russ Petranto	Lawrence H. Hartstein, Richard Rossner	February 13, 1988 (1988-02-13)
21	21	"Dinsmore's Wedding"	Russ Petranto	Lawrence H. Hartstein, Richard Rossner	February 20, 1988 (1988-02-20)
22	22	"Hildy's First Kiss"	Russ Petranto	Barry O'Brien	February 27, 1988 (1988-02-27)

Season 2: 1988–89

Nº	Ep	Title	Directed by:	Written by:	Air date
23	1	"A Not So Fatal Attraction"	David Grossman	Barry O'Brien	October 8, 1988 (1988-10-08)
24	2	"Hildy's Public Defender"	Russ Petranto	Barry O'Brien	October 15, 1988 (1988-10-15)
25	3	"A Friend in High Places"	Russ Petranto	Marty Nadler	October 22, 1988 (1988-10-22)
26	4	"Have a Nice Day"	Russ Petranto	TBA	October 29, 1988 (1988-10-29)
27	5	"Gussie Behind Bars"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	November 5, 1988 (1988-11-05)
28	6	"Max's Ten"	David Grossman	TBA	November 12, 1988 (1988-11-12)
29	7	"Mulcahy Gets Kicked Out"	Gary Menteer	Mark Miller	November 19, 1988 (1988-11-19)
30	8	"Dream the Implausible Dream"	Gary Menteer	Mark Miller	November 26, 1988 (1988-11-26)
31	9	"Father-Son Banquet"	Russ Petranto	Mark Miller	December 3, 1988 (1988-12-03)
32	10	"Love Hurts"	Michael Miller	Michael Klein	December 10, 1988 (1988-12-10)
33	11	"Down for the Count"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	December 17, 1988 (1988-12-17)
34	12	"Midnight Run"	Howard Storm	Kimberly Young	January 7, 1989 (1989-01-07)
35	13	"Tastes Great, Less Killing"	Howard Storm	Doug McIntyre	January 14, 1989 (1989-01-14)
36	14	"Divorce, Wiggins Style"	Gary Menteer	Marty Nadler	January 21, 1989 (1989-01-21)
37	15	"Forever Young"	Gary Menteer	Barry O'Brien	February 4, 1989 (1989-02-04)
38	16	"The Teflon Sheriff"	Gary Menteer	Barry O'Brien	February 11, 1989 (1989-02-11)
39	17	"The Mother Mugger"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	February 18, 1989 (1989-02-18)
40	18	"I'm Okay, You're All Crazy"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	February 25, 1989 (1989-02-25)
41	19	"Max Gets Trumped"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	March 4, 1989 (1989-03-04)
42	20	"You Always Hurt the One You Love"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	March 18, 1989 (1989-03-18)
43	21	"Me Tarzan, You Hildy"	Gary Menteer	Cheryl Alu	March 25, 1989 (1989-03-25)
44	22	"Kissing Cousins"	Gary Menteer	Suzanne Somers	April 1, 1989 (1989-04-01)

Original pilot

The series had its origins in the 1982 CBS sitcom pilot Cass Malloy. Creators Dan Guntzelman and Steve Marshall pitched the format to CBS that later became the syndicated She's the Sheriff: that of a late sheriff's wife taking over her husband's job, and the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-oriented environment. Annie Potts was originally cast as the titular Cass Malloy, but she was soon dropped during development in favor of Caroline McWilliams, who was in search of a starring vehicle after leaving the hit ABC series Benson. The pilot was shot and greenlighted by CBS, and aired as a one-off on July 21, 1982. The pilot did not perform to CBS' expectations, and thus was not picked up as a series.

George Wyner and Lou Richards appeared in both Cass Malloy and She's the Sheriff, but in the CBS pilot, their characters' surnames were different. Wyner played Deputy Max Rosenkrantz, who had hoped to fill the shoes of deceased sheriff Big Jim Malloy, but who was now upset about being passed over in favor of Malloy's wife. Richards played Deputy Dennis Little in the pilot. The cast also featured Glynn Turman as officer Woodrow Freeman, a character that served as the basis for Leonard Lightfoot's Alvin Wiggins in She's the Sheriff; Dick Butkus as officer Alvin Dimsky; Murphy Dunne as Adam Barrett; and Dianne Kay (in her first project after Eight is Enough) as Tina Marie Nelson.

Sheriff Cass Malloy had three children in the original pilot: teenager Colleen (Amanda Wyss), preteen Nona (Heather Hobbs) and the youngest, "Little Big" Jim (Corey Feldman). While She's the Sheriff was set in Lakes County, Nevada, Cass Malloy was situated in Burr County, Indiana.

Guntzelman and Marshall would find success as producers a few years later with ABC's Growing Pains, which prompted them to revisit the Cass Malloy teleplay in hopes of finally getting it on the air as a series. Lorimar-Telepictures took an interest in a revised version of the script and greenlighted a series order in 1987 for the then-burgeoning first-run syndication market. Early in production, a two-page ad was placed in the January 5, 1987 issue of Broadcasting & Cable magazine listing the show under the working title Suddenly Sheriff and with Priscilla Barnes as the star (Barnes had been the second replacement for Suzanne Somers on Three's Company.) It is not known exactly when the show's name and casting were finalized.[2][3]

Production

David Goldsmith and Arthur Silver were the executive producers, Marty Nadler was producer, Wenda Fong was co-producer and Lisa Lewis was associate producer.

Syndication

She's the Sheriff was part of NBC's much-hyped "Prime Time Begins at 7:30" campaign, in which the network's owned-and-operated stations would air first-run sitcoms in the 7:30-8 p.m. time slot to counter competing stations' game shows, sitcom reruns and other offerings. However, this experiment was short-lived, and although She's the Sheriff was renewed for a second season, it was moved to a weekend time slot.

City	Station
Atlanta	WXIA 11[4]
Chicago	WGN 9[5]
Concord	WNHT 21[6]
Des Moines	KDSM 17[7]
Detroit	WXON 20[8]
Great Falls	KTGF 16[9]
Greenville	WYFF 4[10]
Hartford	WFSB 3[11]
Honolulu	KGMB 5[12]
Indianapolis	WXIN 59[13]
Joplin	KODE 12[14]
Knoxville	WTVK 26[15]
New York	WNBC 4[16][17][18]
Portsmouth	WAVY 10[19]
Providence	WJAR 10[20]
Spokane	KAYU 28[21][22]
St. Joseph	KQTV 2[23]
Syracuse	WSYT 68[24][25]
Tequesta	WPBF 25[26]
Toledo	WUPW 36[27]
Washington, D.C.	WRC 4[28]
Wilmington	WECT 6[29]
Wichita	KSNW 3[30]

References

1. "50 Worst Shows of All Time". TV Guide. 2002.
2. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/87-OCR/BC-1987-01-05-OCR-Page-0028.pdf#search=%22bc-1987-01-05-ocr-page-0028%22
3. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/87-OCR/BC-1987-01-05-OCR-Page-0029.pdf#search=%22bc-1987-01-05-ocr-page-0029%22
4. "Who aired what where: Lesser-known syndicated shows". Radio Discussions. July 26, 2014.
5. WGN 9 commercials/superbreak, 7/28/1989 part 1 on YouTube
6. "Retro: Boston MA: Sunday, April 24, 1988". Radio Discussions. January 3, 2019.
7. FOX commercials (May 1989) on YouTube
8. "Retro: Detroit, Sun. July 31st, 1988". Radio Discussions. October 15, 2016.
9. "Retro: Montana Sat, Aug 26, 1989". Radio Discussions. August 21, 2012.
10. "Retro: Spartanburg, SC, Saturday, July 16, 1988". Radio Discussions. November 28, 2017.
11. "Retro: Boston/Providence/New Hampshire Sat 8/20/88". Radio Discussions. October 7, 2005.
12. "Retro: Montana Sat, Aug 26, 1989". Radio Discussions. March 26, 2010.
13. 1989 - Promo for 'She's the Sheriff' Starring Suzanne Somer on YouTube
14. "Retro: Joplin/Pittsburg Sun, Nov 13, 1988". Radio Discussions. November 13, 2012.
15. "Retro: Tri-Cities, TN/VA Sat, Sept 17, 1988". Radio Discussions. September 17, 2010.
16. "Random TV GUIDE Ad - She's The Sheriff". The Cult of Dougsploitation. February 28, 2012.
17. WNBC She's the Sheriff promo, 1987 on YouTube
18. October 12, 1987 commercials on YouTube
19. 1989 - Promo for 'She's the Sheriff' Starring Suzanne Somers on YouTube
20. February 13, 1988 commercials on YouTube
21. April 30, 1988 commercials on YouTube
22. September 23, 1988 commercials with 20/20 closing and KAYU sign-off on YouTube
23. "Retro: Kansas City and Topeka, Thursday, August 11, 1988". Radio Discussions. November 28, 2016.
24. She's the Sheriff promo 20sec on YouTube
25. She's the Sheriff promo 15sec on YouTube
26. "Retro: Miami/West Palm Beach, Saturday, January 21, 1989". Radio Discussions. August 13, 2017.
27. "FIRST RUN FUN!". THE VINTAGE TOLEDO TV SITE. December 12, 1987.
28. WRC Station ID/She's the Sheriff! Promo (10/12/87) on YouTube
29. "Retro: Wilmington, NC, Saturday, May 20, 1989". Radio Discussions. October 24, 2017.
30. "Retro: Kansas Sat, May 6, 1989". Radio Discussions. May 3, 2011.

External links

• She's the Sheriff on IMDb
• She's the Sheriff at TV.com