Mr. Belvedere

The series follows posh English butler Lynn Belvedere as he struggles to adapt to the Owens household in suburban Pittsburgh. The breadwinner, George (Bob Uecker), is a sportswriter (in the pilot he worked in construction). His wife Marsha (Ilene Graff) is attending law school. At the show's start, older son Kevin (Rob Stone) is a senior in high school, daughter Heather (Tracy Wells) is a freshman, and Wesley (Brice Beckham) is in elementary school.

Over the course of the series, George becomes a sportscaster (a career shared with Uecker, who balanced his role as the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers while starring in the series), Marsha graduates from law school and starts a career as a lawyer, Kevin leaves for college and gets his own apartment, Heather moves up in high school, and Wesley moves up to junior high.

Several episodes deal with the relationship between Wesley and Mr. Belvedere, who are always at odds with each other, with Wesley constantly antagonizing Belvedere (similar to Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson). Deep down, they are revealed to really love each other. Belvedere is the only one who can tame Wesley.

In season two's "Wesley's Friend" – one of the series' many very special episodes – Danny, one of Wesley's classmates, contracts HIV via factor VIII treatment for hemophilia (the same way Ryan White contracted HIV). Danny is taken out of school due to the ignorance and uncertainty shared by the parents of many of the other children at Wesley's school. After hearing rumors from his friends about how HIV can be spread, leading them to shun him for spending time with Danny, Wesley begins to avoid Danny in fear of getting the disease himself. Mr. Belvedere is there for him and the child, and he helps Wesley shed his fear of the boy and publicly accept him as his friend.

Throughout the series, Mr. Belvedere serves as a mentor of sorts to Wesley as well as to the other children. Being a cultured man with many skills and achievements (having even once worked for Winston Churchill), he also comes to serve as a "counselor" to the Owens clan, helping them solve their dilemmas and stay out of mischief. Each episode, except "Deportation Part 1" (season three) and "The Counselor" (season four) ends with Mr. Belvedere writing in his journal, recounting the events of the day (which is heard by the audience via his narration) with the Owens family and what he gets out of it in terms of a lesson.

A frequent gag on the show involves Heather's air-headed best friend Angela (Michele Matheson), who almost always mispronounces Mr. Belvedere's name (such as calling him "Mr. Bumpersticker", "Mr. Bellpepper", "Mr. Butterfinger" or "Mr. Velveeta").

Belvedere's penchant for junk food is shown in many episodes, often being playfully mocked by other characters. Another frequent gag involves George and Mr. Belvedere butting heads, with George being annoyed with his "nosy English housekeeper" always interfering. Yet another recurring gag features George always trying to be initiated into a local charity club, the "Happy Guys of Pittsburgh". Wesley's highly acrimonious relationship with the never-seen next-door neighbors, the Hufnagels (whose first names all began with the letter H), and the shenanigans he pulls on them, are another recurring plot element.

The character of Lynn Belvedere was originally created by Gwen Leys Davenport in her 1947 novel Belvedere. The following year, the title character was portrayed by Clifton Webb in the film Sitting Pretty, which told the story of an arrogant genius who answers an employment advertisement for a babysitter for three bratty kids. He accepts the job because he is secretly writing a novel about a community of gossips and busybodies. Webb earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance and reprised the role in two other films, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) and Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951).

Three previous attempts were unsuccessfully made to adapt the character to television: in 1956 with Reginald Gardiner,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Mr.+Belvedere+(situation+comedy)%22&pg=PA903 |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows - 1946-Present |year=2007 |pages=903–904 |publisher=Ballantine Books |section=Mr. Belvedere |isbn=978-0-345-49773-4 |access-date=28 June 2018|edition=Ninth }} in 1959 with Hans Conried and in 1965 with Victor Buono. In 1985, ABC aired Mr. Belvedere as a mid-season replacement, with British actor Christopher Hewett playing Lynn Belvedere.{{cite news| title=Mr. Belvedere at your service| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZmFPAAAAIBAJ&pg=1744,3306822&dq=mr+belvedere+cancel&hl=en| first=Melanie| last=Proctor| work=New Straits Times| page=14| date=July 14, 1988| access-date=April 25, 2013}}

The series' co-creators and executive producers, Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein, pitched the series as "a very elegant, very British sophisticate hired to restore order to a chaotic household in a Pittsburgh suburb." The show eventually featured an upper-middle-class family in a highly fictionalized version of the real Pittsburgh suburb of Beaver Falls. According to Dungan and Stein, Pittsburgh was chosen as the show's setting because "it was either Pittsburgh or Paris, and Paris doesn't have the Penguins... we wanted someplace with seasons and sporting activity... A city kinda going through a resurgence... with character and traditions that is moving into the '80s, a blue-collar community that is moving into the up-and-coming, yet with the traditional spirit of the country. From everything we've read, Pittsburgh is moving into high tech."

Weeks after Pittsburgh was chosen as the show's setting, the city was named by Rand-McNally as the most livable in the U.S. The show's producers promised to use this publicity. Both Dungan (from Philadelphia) and Stein (from Cleveland) admitted to never having been to Pittsburgh prior to developing the series, although Dungan's sister attended Carnegie Mellon University and had told him about the city's resurgence. Stein admitted: "We thought about setting the show in Cleveland, but that's too jokey. ... We're not doing Pittsburgh jokes. We like Pittsburgh. We like the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's a classy ballclub. And we like Willie Stargell." No scenes from the pilot nor the first season's six episodes were shot on location, but the producers promised that "if we get picked up for fall [1985–86], we'll probably come to Pittsburgh."{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z4kcAAAAIBAJ&pg=5523,4976703&dq=mr+belvedere+pittsburgh+dungan+stein&hl=en| title=Pittsburgh Gets a TV Series| last=Holsopple| first=Barbara| date=March 10, 1985| work=The Pittsburgh Press| page=5| access-date=April 25, 2013}}

The producers learned of Pittsburgh locales from a promotional calendar provided by the Pittsburgh Media Group (PMG), a consortium of public officials and Western Pennsylvania media. Dungan and Stein used it for story ideas during Season 1 after the PMG pitched several studio groups in Los Angeles in January 1985: "The calendar has Pittsburgh scenes for each month. The Bridge of Sighs is February. The PPG Building is March. Three Rivers Stadium gets three months."

• Christopher Hewett as Mr. Lynn Belvedere
• Ilene Graff as Marsha Cameron Owens
• Bob Uecker as George Owens
• Rob Stone as Kevin Owens
• Tracy Wells as Heather Owens
• Brice Beckham as Wesley T. Owens

• Casey Ellison as Miles Knobnoster, Wesley's best friend, who is always the butt of jokes due to his orthodontic headgear.
• Michele Matheson as Angela Shostakovich, Heather's somewhat dimwitted best friend, who always mispronounces Mr. Belvedere's name. Angela's middle name, Raskolnikov, was mentioned in one episode.
• Raleigh Bond as Burt Hammond, bombastic and overly talkative chief spokesman and membership director for the Happy Guys of Pittsburgh, a local men's club; he is always trying to recruit George as a member. His final appearance was in the season five episode "Stakeout", as Bond died eight months after the show was taped.
• Jack Dodson as Carl Butlam, Mr. Hammond's obsequious assistant.
• Winifred Freedman as Wendy, Kevin's geeky and self-conscious high school friend who has a crush on him.
• Robert Goulet, singer and actor, who plays himself. Occasionally sings duets with Marsha. George finds him to be irritating.
• Norman Bartold as Skip Hollings, George's co-anchor at the television station. Prior to the character's first appearance in season four, Bartold played as a hotel clerk in a season three episode.
• Willie Garson as Carl, Kevin's best friend, who's always dragging Kevin into one of his schemes.
• Patti Yasutake (or by Maggie Han in some episodes) as Tami, one of George's co-anchors at the television station.
• Laura Mooney as Marjorie, a Junior High student, and one of Wesley's love interests during the final season. Prior to playing the character in season six, Mooney appeared as "Roberta" in a season four episode.

{{Main|List of Mr. Belvedere episodes}}

{{:List of Mr. Belvedere episodes}}

The show's theme song, "According to Our New Arrival", was performed by ragtime singer Leon Redbone. It was written by Judy Hart-Angelo and Gary Portnoy, who also co-wrote the theme songs to Cheers and Punky Brewster. In the original unaired pilot, an unidentified studio vocalist sang the theme.

The song was composed in 1984 for a rejected television pilot called Help (which was later resurrected in 1987 as Marblehead Manor, produced by Paramount Television and aired in first-run syndication). With a minor lyrical rewrite (changing the word "arrivals" to "arrival"), it quickly became the theme song to Mr. Belvedere.{{cite web | title=Bio | date=January 4, 2015 | url=http://www.garyportnoy.com/bio/ | publisher=GaryPortnoy.com}} In 2007, Portnoy released a never-before-heard full-length version of the theme on his CD, Destiny.

The show used four different closing themes during its original run:

1. The unaired Pilot and early ABC promos of the show used a rock version of the main theme, with a guitar lead.
2. Seasons 1 and 2 and one Season 3 episode featured an instrumental version of the theme song.
3. Season 3 featured a Dixieland rendition of the ending theme.
4. Seasons 4-6 employed a jazzier rendition of the ending theme.

This sequence consisted of a purple family portrait book, with pictures of the cast (including a picture of George at his construction job), set to the original version of theme song. This version was only used on the original unaired version of the pilot; the broadcast version used the second variation. It surfaced on Antenna TV in 2015.

Similar to the original unaired pilot, but now with a beige family portrait book, some of the cast pictures changed (most notably, George at his construction job), and Leon Redbone singing the theme. The Redbone version would be used in all subsequent variations of the opening. On the Shout! Factory DVDs of seasons one & two, this was only seen on the broadcast version of the pilot.

The opening was overhauled completely beginning with this season. It begins with a stock photo of a British palace, and then zooms in to Mr. Belvedere himself. It was then followed by Belvedere as different people (including a Man on Safari), followed by photos and clips from season one episodes, as well as general photos of the cast from said season. On the Shout! Factory DVDs of seasons one & two, this version was kept as is on all the season two episodes, but plastered the season one opening on episodes 2–7. In addition, the show adopted its familiar logo.

The opening was overhauled completely once more in season three. Now, it began with Mr. Belvedere writing in his journal, followed by the camera zooming in to the fictional World Focus magazine, with Belvedere on the front cover for the title card. It was then followed by edited images of Belvedere with famous people from around the world. The photos were updated to reflect how the cast looked in season three, and most of the season one clips were now replaced with scenes from season two episodes. In season four, the opening was updated to feature new positions of Tracy Wells on the couch. In season six, it was updated once more to feature clips from season five episodes, and new positions of Brice Beckham on the couch. A short 30 second version was also created, as well. In early syndication reruns, the short season four/five opening was used on all the episodes, with the exception of season six; early reruns of season six used the short open from said season.

Mr. Belvedere did not place within Nielsen's Top 30 shows at any time during its six-season run, but it did have a relatively solid ratings base, and often won its time slot.

Its first season (1985) was exempt from the Nielsen ratings as it aired too few episodes before the end of April to be counted.{{cite news| title='Dynasty' Ends As No. 1 Series| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8XVEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2365,4460340&dq=primetime+nielsen+ratings+1984&hl=en| date=April 27, 1985| work=The Albany Herald| page=2B| access-date=April 25, 2013}} In its second season (1985–86), the series ranked at #45 with a 14.8 rating.{{cite news| title=Season's Final Ratings| work=Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel| page=4E| date=April 23, 1986}}

During season three (1986–87), the show fell to 51st place with a 13.7 rating.{{cite news| title=Year-end ratings| work=USA Today| page=3D| date=April 22, 1987}} At the end of the 1986–87 season, ABC decided to cancel the show after three seasons,{{cite news| title=Parton Show Heads 8 New ABC Fall Series| date=May 16, 1987| work=Philadelphia Inquirer |page=C1}} but negative feedback from fans of the series led the network to reverse its decision and order a fourth season that debuted in October 1987.{{cite web| title=Thank you, ABC, for bringing back "Mr. Belvedere"...| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-20-tv-29829-story.html| date=December 20, 1987| work=Los Angeles Times| access-date=April 25, 2013}} In season four (1987–88), the show fell to 64th place and an 11.5 rating for the year.{{cite news| title=Final rankings for the 1987-'88 season| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Df4lAAAAIBAJ&pg=1962,6182197&dq=mr+belvedere+ratings+1987-88&hl=en| work=The Miami News| page=3C| date=April 20, 1988| access-date=April 25, 2013}} For its fifth season (1988–89), the show rose to a 12.2 rating, placing it at #47 for the season.{{cite news| title=Poking Around Through the Rubble Of the 1988-89 Television Season| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YkxTAAAAIBAJ&pg=7054,4727603&dq=poking+around+through+the+rubble+of+the+1988-89+television+season&hl=en| first=Joseph| last=Walker| work=The Deseret News| page=6C| date=April 26, 1989| access-date=April 25, 2013}}

For its sixth and final season (1989–90), Mr. Belvedere left its longtime Friday night slot (which began its evolution into the long-running TGIF block that season) and was moved to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday nights. The move led Mr. Belvedere to suffer a steep ratings decline, falling to a 6.3 rating. The final episode to air before it was put on hiatus on December 30, 1989 ranked #70 out of 83 shows.{{cite news| title=ABC Puts Two More On Cancellation List| work=Wichita Eagle| page=C1| date=December 7, 1989}}[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TIHU89_R9xg/SYCxo-5l4NI/AAAAAAAAAC0/DeN38ODiYgQ/s1600-h/Ratings_19891225.jpg Ratings for the week of December 25, 1989] ABC canceled the series for good in February 1990.{{cite news| title=For ABC, the King is dead| work=The Dallas Morning News| first=Ed| last=Bark| date=February 15, 1990}} The two-part finale, which aired on July 1 and July 8, 1990, ranked #59 and #37, respectively, out of the 86 shows that aired during those weeks.[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TIHU89_R9xg/St57upQA5EI/AAAAAAAAAHI/G6noSkTuHcE/s1600-h/Ratings_19900625.jpg Ratings for the week of June 25, 1990][http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TIHU89_R9xg/SuEjRMLEyJI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/eZGQt4vE3sI/s1600-h/Ratings_19900702.jpg Ratings for the week of July 2, 1990]

In addition to its existing prime time airings, ABC aired reruns of the first three seasons of Mr. Belvedere on the network's daily daytime schedule from September 7, 1987 to January 15, 1988, filling the gap between the cancellation of the game show Bargain Hunters and the premiere of the talk show Home.[http://www.sitcomsonline.com/mrbelvedere.html Mr. Belvedere Online]

On September 11, 1989 (about the time the show entered its final season), and continuing in sporadically until 1997, it was seen in local syndication on select Fox affiliates. Along with the addition of seasons four through six, ten previously unaired episodes (two from season five and eight from season six), were also added to the syndication package. The syndication package initially consisted of all 95 half-hour episodes produced up until the end of season five in 1989; the following year, season six (the remaining 22 half-hour episodes) was finally included in the package.

In the early 2000s, reruns of the series aired on Foxnet (a master feed of the Fox network for markets without a local affiliate, which aired syndicated programs outside of network programming),{{cite web| url=http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2011/09/familynet-fall-2011-schedule-part-ii.html| title=FamilyNet Fall 2011 Schedule Part II With Sitcoms Like Mr. Belveder; The Parkers Return to BET| date=September 6, 2011| publisher=sitcomsonline.com| access-date=April 25, 2013}} and on CTS in Canada from 2002 to 2004.

In December 2009, American Life Network aired both of the series' Christmas-themed episodes, as part of the network's month-long block of holiday-centered episodes of series from 20th Century Fox Television (season four's "Christmas Story" and season six's "A Happy Guy's Christmas"). This was the first time in over a decade that Mr. Belvedere was syndicated in U.S. On or around October 3, 2011, reruns began airing on FamilyNet, marking the first time that the series had been regularly syndicated in over 15 years. Around November 2012, Dish Network began broadcasting FamilyNet's successor channel, Rural TV, making the show viewable throughout the U.S. on weeknights (with commercial bumpers intact briefly). On January 5, 2015, Antenna TV began airing reruns of the series, initially airing seven days a week. These have been completely unedited, and include alternate pilot credits without Leon Redbone singing. It aired until April 1, 2018.

Shout! Factory (under license from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) has released the first four seasons of Mr. Belvedere on DVD in Region 1, featuring the original unedited prints of the episodes.{{cite web| title=Mr. Belvedere - SCOOP: Get Your First Look at DVD Package Art for Mr. Belvedere - Seasons 1 and 2!| url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Seasons-1-2-Box-Art/11045| publisher=tvshowsondvd.com| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025075242/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Seasons-1-2-Box-Art/11045| archive-date=October 25, 2014| df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|title=Mr. Belvedere - The Butler is Back! A Season 3 DVD is Scheduled for Release|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-3/11989|publisher=tvshowsondvd.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420082335/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-3/11989|archive-date=April 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web| title=Mr. Belvedere - Fans Get a Season 4 Set from Shout! Factory...But Not in Stores| url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-4/13098| publisher=tvshowsondvd.com| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613132917/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-4/13098| archive-date=June 13, 2013| df=mdy-all}} Currently, Shout! Factory does not have the DVD rights to seasons five and six, and has been involved in protracted negotiations to acquire those remaining episodes (46 in total) for future releases.{{cite web| title=The "What's The Hold-up?" FAQ| url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/holdup.cfm#Belvedere| author=David Lambert| publisher=tvshowsondvd.com| date=November 12, 2012| access-date=April 25, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415081050/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/holdup.cfm#Belvedere| archive-date=April 15, 2013| df=mdy-all}}

In September 2015, Shout! re-released season 4 on DVD as a full retail release.[http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-4/21364 Shout!'s 'Season 4' Re-Release Seems to be Sold in Stores This Time!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150726221539/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mr-Belvedere-Season-4/21364 |date=July 26, 2015}}

♦ - Shout! Factory Exclusives title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store.

{{Portal|Television|United States|1980s}}

• Charles in Charge (1984)
• Gimme a Break! (1981)
• Who's the Boss? (1984)

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{{Mr. Belvedere}}

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Category:1980s American multi-camera sitcoms

Category:1985 American television series debuts

Category:1990s American multi-camera sitcoms

Category:1990 American television series endings

Category:Fictional immigrants to the United States

Category:Television series about families

Category:Television series by 20th Century Fox Television

Category:Television shows set in Pittsburgh

Category:American Broadcasting Company sitcoms