Top of the Heap

{{Infobox television

| image = Top of the Heap.jpg

| caption =

| genre = Sitcom

| creator = {{Plainlist|

Ron Leavitt
Arthur Silver

}}

| developer =

| creative_director =

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| opentheme = "Puttin' On the Ritz" performed by Kenny Yarbrough[http://www.tvtango.com/series/top_of_the_heap Top of the Heap] at TV Tango.com

| composer = {{Plainlist|

Michael Andreas
Kelly Brown

}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons = 1

| num_episodes = 6 (7 including Pilot)

| list_episodes =

| executive_producer = {{Plainlist|

Arthur Silver
Ron Leavitt

}}

| producer =

| editor =

| location =

| camera =

| runtime = 22 minutes

| company = {{ubl|ELP Communications|Columbia Pictures Television}}

| channel = Fox

| first_aired = {{Start date|1991|4|7}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1991|5|19}}

| related = {{Plainlist|

}}

Top of the Heap is an American sitcom that ran for seven episodes on Fox from April 7 until May 19, 1991, the most successful (as it was the only one to make it to series) of three attempted spin-offs of Married... with Children that started as backdoor pilots (the other two being Radio Free Trumaine{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} and Enemies{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}). The pilot was episode 20 of the fifth season of Married... with Children.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} The series aired Sundays at 9:30 pm.

Synopsis

Top of the Heap focused on the attempts of two minor Married... with Children characters—Charlie Verducci (Joseph Bologna) and his son Vinnie (Matt LeBlanc)—to get rich. Charlie's "master plan" is for Vinnie to marry into a wealthy family; to this end, the two Chicago slum residents try to get into high society. Vinnie also owns a cat, Mr. Fluffy, who is despised by Charlie. Mona Mullins (Joey Lauren Adams) is a girl from the Verduccis' neighborhood who has a crush on Vinnie, who tries to fend her off. Alixandra Stone (Rita Moreno) is the manager of a country club, and the object of Charlie's affections. Vinnie gets a job at a country club, which also employs a security guard, Emmet Lefebvre.

In some episodes actors from Married... with Children made guest appearances as their characters from the show, thus reinforcing the connection between the two series. Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) appeared in the pilot (which itself was an episode of Married... with Children), Bud Bundy (David Faustino) made an appearance in an episode in the country club, and Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate) appeared twice on the show in cameo appearances.

In 1992, there was a continuation of this series entitled Vinnie & Bobby; it also lasted for only seven episodes.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} The only characters returning in this version were the eponymous Vinnie (Matt LeBlanc), Mona Mullins (Joey Lauren Adams) and Bobby Grazzo (Robert Torti), who only appeared in the last episode of Top of the Heap.

Characters

class="wikitable sortable" ! Actor !! Role !! Appearances in other shows !! Episodes appeared
Joseph Bologna	Charlie Verducci	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 2 of Married... with Children	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 1–7
Matt LeBlanc	Vinnie Verducci	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 10, three episodes of Married... with Children, all of Vinnie & Bobby	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 1–7
Joey Lauren Adams	Mona Mullins	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 8, three episodes of Married... with Children, all of Vinnie & Bobby	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 1–7
Mr. Fluffy the Cat	Mr. Fluffy the Cat	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 1 episode of Married... with Children	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 1–7
Rita Moreno	Alixandra Stone	{{n/a}}	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 2, 4–7
Leslie Jordan	Emmet Lefebvre	{{n/a}}	rowspan="1" align="center"\| 2, 4–7
Christina Applegate	Kelly Bundy	align="center"\| 255 of Married... with Children	align="center"\| 3, 5
David Faustino	Bud Bundy	align="center"\| 257 of Married... with Children	align="center"\| 2
Ed O'Neill	Al Bundy	align="center"\| 259, all of Married... with Children	align="center"\| 1
Robert Torti	Bobby Grazzo	align="center"\| 7, all of Vinnie & Bobby	align="center"\| 7
style="text-align:center;" \| colspan="4" \| Note: This table counts the backdoor pilot on Married... with Children as both the first episode and as an appearance on another show.

Episodes

=Backdoor pilot (1991)=

{{Episode table |background=# |overall=5 |season=5 |title=24 |director=17 |writer=24 |airdate=15 |country=U.S. |episodes=

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=100

|EpisodeNumber2=20

|Title=Top of the Heap

|DirectedBy=Gerry Cohen

|WrittenBy=Ron Leavitt & Arthur Silver

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1991|4|7}}

|ShortSummary=Pilot episode: After Vinnie loses his last boxing match (and Charlie wins Al's TV in a bet), Charlie comes up with a plan to get Vinnie to marry a rich woman, so they crash a high society party.

Guest appearance by Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy.

Originally an episode of Married... with Children, and retains the opening theme of that show ("Love and Marriage" by Frank Sinatra) rather than Puttin' on the Ritz

|LineColor=

}}