1 9 9 5 – 1 9 9 9 (USA)
97 x 25 minute episodes
This NBC sitcom featured New York cartoonist Caroline Duffy (former ballet dancer and Back To The Future costar, Lea Thompson) who had found success with her autobiographical comic strip called “Caroline In The City” – being the adventures of a young single woman living in the big city – which was syndicated to 565 newspapers.
Caroline lived at 54 Gramercy Place in the Tribeca neighbourhood of Manhattan, where she also worked, and eventually expanded her business to include greeting cards, books and calendars.
When she hired a rather stuffy artist/colourist named Richard Karinsky (Malcolm Gets), Caroline fell in love with him – much to her surprise – although she had become engaged to buffoonish Del Cassidy (Eric Lutes) who published her greeting cards.
Much to Caroline’s chagrin, Richard married an attractive full-figured bartender named Julia (Sofia Milos).
Listening to Caroline’s various problems was her best friend, professional dancer Annie Spadaro (Amy Pietz).
Savvy, slick, squeaky-clean and difficult to dislike, the show came across like a Mary Tyler Moore Show for the nineties. It even managed to knock Friends off the top spot in the US ratings.
One disconcerting habit was the introduction of characters from other sitcoms as guests. In one episode, Chandler (Matthew Perry) turned up from Friends, and in another, it was Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves) from Frasier.
For the record, Caroline’s cat was called Salty.
Caroline Duffy
Lea Thompson
Richard Karinsky
Malcolm Gets
Annie Spadaro
Amy Pietz
Del Cassidy
Eric Lutes
Julia
Sofia Milos
Remo
Tom La Grua
Charlie
Andrew Lauer