1 9 7 6 – 1 9 7 7 (USA)
Book 1: 9 x 60/120 minute episodes
Book 2: 21 x 60 minute episodes
One of the first American television miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man aired on ABC from 1 February to 15 March 1976.
Adapted from the best-selling 1970 Irwin Shaw novel, Rich Man, Poor Man was a limited twelve-part dramatic series consisting of six two-hour prime-time made for television movies.
The televised novel chronicled the lives of the first-generation immigrant Jordache family.
The story focused on the tumultuous relationship between brothers, Rudy (Peter Strauss) and Tom Jordache (Nick Nolte), as they suffered through 20 years (1945-65) of conflict, jealousy, and heartbreak.
The serial was enormously successful, leading the weekly ratings and ending as the second-highest-rated show for the 1976-77 television season.
Along with its enormous audience popularity, it also garnered critical praise, reaping 20 Emmy nominations and winning four – two for acting achievement, one for directing, and one for the musical score.
The success of Rich Man, Poor Man hinged on its employment of several innovative techniques. The narrative struck a unique combination which contained both the lavish film-style production values of prestigious special event programming while relying upon the “habit viewing” characteristic of a weekly series.
Also, by utilising historical backdrops like McCarthyism, the Korean War, campus riots, and the Black Revolution, Rich Man, Poor Man suggested larger circumstances than those usually found in a traditional soap opera.
However, the limited series also liberally applied a range of risqué melodramatic topics including adultery, power struggles, and alcoholism. Another inventive concept introduced was the use of multiple, revolving guest stars throughout the series.
While the three principal cast members were relatively unknown at the time, shuffling better-known actors throughout the six-part series was a way to maintain interest and achieve some form of ratings insurance on the six-million dollar venture.
By invigorating the concept of adapting novels into television miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man began a rapid proliferation of similar prime-time programming, including a sequel.
The continuation, Rich Man, Poor Man – Book II, was a twenty-one part weekly series that aired in the fall of 1976 and followed brother Rudy’s further career as a US Senator. In the last original episode, Rudy and Falconetti (William Smith) faced each other with guns in hand and shot it out, apparently leaving the two of them lying bleeding to death on a sidewalk.
A further sequel, Beggar Man, Thief (1978) introduced the Jordache’s previously unmentioned sister, Gretchen.
Although the sequels were not as successful as their predecessor, the idea of extended televised adaptations of popular novels quickly became a component of network schedules.
In the season following the debut of Rich Man, Poor Man, all major networks scheduled at least one miniseries, including an adaptation of Harold Robbins’ The Pirates and Alex Haley’s historical epic Roots.
Rudy Jordache
Peter Strauss
Tom Jordache
Nick Nolte
Julie Prescott Abbott Jordache
Susan Blakely
Axel Jordache
Edward Asner
Mary Jordache
Dorothy McGuire
Willie Abbott
Bill Bixby
Duncan Calderwood
Ray Milland
Teddy Boylan
Robert Reed
Virginia Calderwood
Kim Darby
Sue Prescott
Gloria Grahame
Asher Berg
Craig Stevens
Joey Quales
George Maharis
Linda Quales
Lynda Day
George Nichols
Steve Allen
Smitty
Norman Fell
Teresa Sanjoro
Talia Shire
Marsh Goodwin
Van Johnson
Irene Goodwin
Dorothy Malone
Kate Jordache
Kay Lenz
Sid Gossett
Murray Hamilton
Arnold Simms
Mike Evans
Al Fanducci
Dick Butkus
Clothilde
Fionnula Flanagan
Brad Knight
Tim McIntire
Bill Denton
Lawrence Pressman
Claude Tinker
Dennis Dugan
Gloria Bartley
Jo Ann Harris
Pete Tierney
Roy Jenson
Lou Martin
Anthony Carbone
Papadakis
Ed Barth
Ray Dwyer
Herbert Jefferson Jr
Arthur Falconetti
William Smith
Col. Deiner
Andrew Duggan
Pinky
Harvey Jason
Martha
Helen Craig
Phil McGee
Gavan O’Herlihy
Billy
Leigh McCloskey
Wesley Jordache
Gregg Henry
Billy Abbott
James Carroll Jordan
Maggie Porter
Susan Sullivan
Arthur Falconetti
William Smith
Marie Falconetti
Dimitra Arliss
Ramona Scott
Penny Peyser
Scotty
John Anderson
Charles Estep
Peter Haskell
Phil Greenberg
Sorrell Brooke
Annie Adams
Cassie Yates
Diane Porter
Kimberly Beck
Arthur Raymond
Peter Donat
Claire Estep
Laraine Stephens
Senator Paxton
Barry Sullivan
Kate Jordache
Kay Lenz
John Franklin
Philip Abbott
Max Vincent
George Gaynes
Al Barber
Ken Swofford
Senator Dillon
G. D. Spradlin
