Caroline in the City
Caroline in the City is an American television sitcom that ran on the NBC television network from 1995 until 1999. It stars Lea Thompson as cartoonist Caroline Duffy, who lives in Manhattan. The rest of the cast includes Eric Lutes, Malcolm Gets, Amy Pietz, and Andy Lauer.[1] The series premiered on September 21, 1995, in the "Must See TV" Thursday night block between Seinfeld and ER and ran for 97 episodes over four seasons before it was cancelled; the final episode was broadcast on April 26, 1999. The series' rights are currently held by CBS Media Ventures.
Caroline in the City
- Fred Barron
- Dottie Dartland
- Marco Pennette
United States
English
4
97 (1 unaired) (list of episodes)
- Fred Barron
- Dottie Dartland
- Marco Pennette
20–22 minutes
September 21, 1995 –
April 26, 1999
Summary[edit]
Caroline Duffy (Lea Thompson), a cartoonist who lives in Manhattan, spends a lot of time with dates and lovers, and meddles in the lives of her friends and neighbors. In the pilot episode, she has broken up with Del Cassidy (Eric Lutes), who quickly finds another date. She hires Richard Karinsky (Malcolm Gets) to be her new colorist, and he pretends to be her new boyfriend during a dinner to prevent her from being embarrassed over Del's moving on. During the first season, Richard develops feelings for Caroline.
Caroline's success as a cartoonist is displayed throughout the first season; her cartoon character gets a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, she has a park dedicated to her in her native Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and she even has an offer for a cereal brand.[2] When she was a child, she drew violent pictures of her brother Chris, and after dropping out of college, she started doodling at a copywriting job. It took less than five years for her cartoon to become nationally syndicated, and she even appeared on The Today Show.
Towards the end of season one, Del proposes to Caroline. Richard is distressed by this, and searches for a new job. Although Richard has kept his feelings secret, their friends Annie Spadaro (Amy Pietz) and Remo (Tom La Grua) figure out that he loves Caroline. The day before the wedding, Richard writes her a love letter where he asks Caroline to meet him at Remo's if she loves him. He leaves the letter in a pile of wedding thank-you cards. Caroline arrives at Remo's but does not mention the letter, and continues with the wedding plans. Richard decides to leave Manhattan. When Caroline and Del call off the wedding, Caroline visits Richard's apartment but he has left.
In the second season, Richard returns to Manhattan after having been in Paris where he had tried to sell paintings. Caroline gives the thank-you cards to a friend; Richard tries to find and destroy the love letter; he tosses it out of the window, only to have Annie find it. He resumes his old job as Caroline's colorist. Later, Caroline discovers that she has feelings for Richard; however, Richard has reunited with his former girlfriend Julia, whom he met in Manhattan. Caroline leaves a message on his answering machine telling him that she loves him, but Julia discovers it and erases it.
Richard and Julia get married which prompts a bitter love triangle among the three. Richard eventually splits with Julia.
Caroline and Richard eventually become a couple. However, they split after arguing over whether to have children; Richard learned that Julia had a child. In the final episode, which ends on an unresolved cliffhanger, Annie and Del are now in a new relationship, while Caroline is about to marry another man—her childhood friend Randy—when Richard shows up at the wedding.
Background/production[edit]
The show was filmed at the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, California.[9]
Illustrations and animations[edit]
Bonnie Timmons drew the illustrations and animations that are supposed to represent Caroline's eponymous in-show comic strip.[10][11]
Connections with other sitcoms[edit]
Connections with Frasier[edit]
Though not officially a companion show to Frasier, Caroline in the City exists in the same universe (so likely also connects to both Cheers and Wings as well) with several crossovers and connections. Not only does the end of one early Season 1 episode feature Frasier characters, Daphne and Niles, in Frasier's apartment (filmed on Frasier's set and guest-starring Jane Leeves and David Hyde Pierce as their characters) looking at a Caroline in the City cartoon,[12] but lead Eric Lutes played Frasier's boss Tom Duran in two episodes.[13][14] David Hyde Pierce also appears a second time as another character, this time playing an IRS man who dreams of being in Cats. [15] Dan Butler (Bulldog in Frasier) had a recurring role as a museum owner,[16] plus Frasier actors Harriet Sansom Harris (Bebe) and Edward Hibbert (Gil) appear in the same Season 3 episode as each other, playing different characters (and not sharing any scenes). Additionally, Scott Atkinson (who portrayed Daphne's ex-boyfriend, Clive, in a Frasier episode) also appears playing Caroline's love interest in one episode.[17]
Connection with Friends[edit]
Matthew Perry appears as his Friends character Chandler Bing (not named but implied to be him and advertised by the network as such in their crossover promotions) in the episode "Caroline and the Folks" in a crossover appearance in which Annie meets Chandler at the video store. The same night, Lea Thompson appeared as Caroline Duffy (also never named as such but implied to be - and advertised as - her character) in the November 2, 1995, Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus".[12][18][19]
Connection with The Single Guy[edit]
In the same episode - "Caroline and the Folks" - which featured Chandler from Friends, Jonathan Silverman also appeared, playing his character Jonathan Eliot (again not named but advertised as such) from the sitcom The Single Guy.[18][20]