This ABC sugarfest – think Wild Kingdom meets The Brady Bunch with large doses of Eight is Enough,The Waltons and Daktarithrown in for good measure – had big-hearted married couple Noah (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and Jesse (Betsy Brantley) Beckett raising eight adopted kids while living in an animal theme park in Tampa, Florida.
Stay-at-home dad Noah was a record-setting former University of Tampa basketball coach who became an overnight sensation as a novelist. But as he struggled with writer’s block, he returned to his first love and began coaching at Plant High School.
Jesse was the chief veterinarian at Busch Gardens Wildlife Park (which adjoined their family home) and specialised in rescuing exotic animals – and abandoned children.
10-year-old Hannah (Ashley Gorrell) escaped an abusive home in which she was locked in a closet for punishment. Bethany (Zelda Harris), also 10, was the only African-American sibling and the self-appointed Beckett spokeswoman.
Danny (Jon Torgerson) and Ranny (Jeremy Torgerson) were 13-year-old identical twins who had been abandoned by their mother and adopted by the Becketts through an ad in a Louisiana newspaper.
Hispanic siblings Roxanna (Erika Page White), aged 16, and Luis (Jeffrey Licon), aged 8, had also been deserted by their parents and lived in a car before the Becketts adopted them.
Hunky Ricky (James Marsden) was the 17-year-old father of 3-year-old Ben (Gemini Barnett), who he called “Cowboy”.
Sly, wisecracking Shirley Crockmeyer (Deirdre O’Connell) was the Becketts’ live-in housekeeper and confidante and helped hold the family together. Having lost her own kids years ago, she vowed to make up for her mistakes with the Beckett clan.
The family also had 37 animals, including water buffalo, Siberian tiger cubs, rhea monkeys, goats, antelope, zebra, a baby camel, a 4-foot iguana, and a boa constrictor named Squeezer.
Originally aired against Melrose Place and The Nanny, SecondNoah‘s ratings were consistent but mediocre. Most weeks it reached about 13 percent of the American viewing audience and ranked 58th of 100 prime-time series.
Still, ABC approved a second season, partially due to a campaign by the show’s executive producer Pam Long, where she wrote 15,000 letters to priests, ministers and rabbis in the 50 biggest TV markets across the US, urging them to watch the show and encourage it amongst their congregations.
Busch Entertainment – the owner of nine theme parks and a partner in the show – also mailed letters to its 250,000 season pass holders, and plugs came from celebrities including Larry King, Oprah Winfrey and Kathie Lee Gifford.
The show dipped even further in the ratings, and ABC officially cancelled Second Noah on 16 October.
Noah Beckett
Daniel Hugh Kelly Jesse Beckett
Betsy Brantley Ricky Beckett
James Marsden Hannah
Ashley Gorrell Bethany
Zelda Harris Luis
Jeffrey Licon Roxanna
Erika Page White Ben
Gemini Barnett Danny
Jon Torgerson Ranny
Jeremy Torgerson Shirley Crockmeyer
Deirdre O’Connell JoJo
Michael McLafferty Darby
Joey Lauren Adams
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10-year-old Hannah (Ashley Gorrell) escaped an abusive home in which she was locked in a closet for punishment. Bethany (Zelda Harris), also 10, was the only African-American sibling and the self-appointed Beckett spokeswoman.
