Associates, The

1 9 7 9 – 1 9 8 0 (USA)
13 x 30 minute episodes

Three young law school graduates have just joined the prestigious New York law firm of Bass and Marshall as associates, beginning their five-to-seven-year trial period.

Daughter of a poor New York family, big-hearted Leslie Dunn (Alley Mills), had recently graduated from Columbia and felt for the oppressed. Bass and Marshall, however, did not usually represent the oppressed.

Tucker Kerwin (Martin Short in an early role) was a Midwesterner, slightly out of step with his Ivy League Colleagues, a little nerdy, naive, and idealistic, but very charming.

Boston blueblood Sara James (Shelley Smith) was tall, blonde, sexy, bright and very confident.

She was usually the target of the overtly testosterone-laden 21-year-old mailroom boy named Johnny Danko (Tim Thomerson).

They were all at the mercy of a hierarchy that included oddballs such as the formidable but slightly dotty and forgetful senior partner Emerson Marshall (Wilfrid Hyde-White) – who ranged from paternalistic to domineering in his relation to his charges – and the obnoxious but dedicated junior partner Eliot Streeter (Joe Regalbuto), who had only one goal: to take over the firm.

The ABC series was created by the makers of Taxi and debuted on 23 September 1979. Critics loved it, but it was a colossal flop with viewers. 13 episodes were recorded, but only 9 were aired before ABC pulled the plug.

The theme song Wall Street Blues, was written by A Brooks and performed by blues legend BB King.

Emerson Marshall
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Tucker Kerwin
Martin Short
Leslie Dunn
Alley Mills
Eliot Streeter
Joe Regalbuto
Sara James
Shelley Smith
Johnny Danko
Tim Thomerson

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