After graduating from NYU in 1972, Tom Nash (Robert Urich) becomes a stringer for an unnamed, low-rated TV news show. He later becomes a reporter and falls in love with and marries his field cameraperson Elizabeth (Urich’s real-life wife Heather Menzies), and they have two children, Rachel (Chay Lentin) and Danny (future Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki).
Fourteen years later, Elizabeth is killed while covering the war in Lebanon. Tom quits his job and moves to a quiet little Wisconsin town to raise his children.
There, Tom begins working as a columnist for the local newspaper, the Chicago American. Editor Joe Barnes (Jeffrey Tambor) visits Tom weekly to pick up his columns and complain about “the fresh air and general decency of the people,” which appals him.
15-year-old Rachel attends Mission West High School – where she has constant boy trouble – and works after school as a waitress at Baker’s Corner, the local diner owned by Holly Baker (Margaret Welsh).
12-year-old Danny attends Wisconsin Junior High School and is a member of the Leopards, the school baseball team.
Lillian (“Lilly”) Abernathy (Carol Kane) is Tom’s flakey secretary who spent 12 years in night school to obtain her B.A. in journalism. Lily has distrusted men since her divorce from Bill (John Glover) – she even has trouble walking past the men’s room.
Other semi-regular characters included Holly’s sister, Drew Baker (DeLane Matthews), Joe’s daughter, Lisa Barnes (Kiersten Warren), Lillian’s son, Nelson Abernathy (Brice Beckham) and her mother, Beatrice Pfeiffer (Eileen Brennan).
Robert Urich was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma (a rare form of cancer that attacks soft tissue) in the autumn of 1996. He passed away in April 2002, aged just 55.
Tom Nash
Robert Urich Rachel Nash
Chay Lentin Danny Nash
Johnny Galecki Lillian ‘Lily’ Abernathy
Carol Kane Joe Barnes
Jeffrey Tambor Holly Baker
Margaret Welsh Drew Baker
DeLane Matthews Lisa Barnes
Kiersten Warren Nelson Abernathy
Brice Beckham Beatrice Pfeiffer
Eileen Brennan Elizabeth Nash
Heather Menzies Tom’s Father
Michael Alldredge
Episodes
Pilot | Guys Just Wanna Have Fun | Flight of the Dodo | All God’s Children Go to Wisconsin | Corvette Man | Over the Hill? | Mr Wizard | Divorce, American Dreamer Style | In from the Cold: Part 1 | In from the Cold: Part 2 | The Fabulous Baker Girls | A Face in the Cloud | Don’t Drink the Water | Mother Knows Best | Papa Joe | Heartbreak Diner | They Shoot Ducks, Don’t They?
