Caroline In The City - General Discussion

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

Caroline Duffy is a successful cartoonist living in Manhattan whose comic strip "Caroline in the City" has become a huge hit. The strip is based on her own life, and the people in it - her occasional boyfriend Del and her best friend Annie. Aside from her career, however, Caroline's life is a mess, as is proven when she throws fruit out the window onto the street in a pathetic attempt to meet men.

I discovered this show is currently on CBS All Access and have been rewatching.  

[Black Knight]

I don't remember much about this show anymore, but I have fond memories of Caroline and Richard's will-they/won't they. I also got to attend a taping of an episode when I was at USC, and that was fun. Malcolm Gets, who played Richard, was really, really good-looking in person, much more so than on TV.

[FormerMod-a1]

I have been enjoying my rewatch a lot more than I anticipated.  I remember if being a cute show, but wasn't sure how it'd hold up.  It's still a cute show. 🙂  Some things do annoy me, or seem a little off, but so far I've gone through 2 seasons, so something is still good.  We are now up the Julia season though, and ugh, not sure how it'll be.  I remember not liking it much way back then.  After 2 years of (sometimes cartoonish) intervention into the will-they portion of the will-they/won't-they they made it worse with her, I thought.  Granted, that's how a young me saw that.  I may appreciate it more now.  

[Black Knight]

I remember that season cliffhanger so well, Caroline leaving the message for Richard and then Julia being shown deleting it as she lounged in Richard's shirt, and towel-clad Richard came out of the bathroom briefly. I thought it meant Julia was eeeeeeeeeeeevil.

But then the premiere came, and when she explained why she deleted the message, I liked her then. And I liked her well enough through that season. I don't remember why she and Richard finally broke up though.

[wendyg]

I remember thinking it was funny that Sofia Milos, who played Julia, also played the filmmaker Paul went for a walk with on MAD ABOUT YOU. If it were today, she'd be hounded on Twitter.

[Black Knight]

I didn't realize it was the same actress! All she would've needed was to play the woman who got in the way of Susan and Jack on Suddenly Susan and she would've had the trifecta for NBC sitcoms back then.

[WendyCR72]

Waaaaay back when this show premiered, I once received a letter from NBC. I had been chosen to participate in a focus-group survey (via phone call - landline, the mid-90s, you know!). I remember they had called me, asked some decent questions about the characters and story angles - and some very strange questions, i.e. would I watch CitC or *insert show on ABC or CBS*, with the "strange" part asking if I would watch CitC or other NBC show titles.

That made me wonder if the focus group people were even aware of NBC programming as a whole.

Still, it was a cool experience for the then-young 20-something me...

[FormerMod-a1]

CBS All Access is missing quite a few episodes of Season 3.  Season 1, they were missing a couple, but Season 2 seemed fine.  Season 3 however is missing eps 5 thru 9, and several throughout, including the last 3 episodes of the season!  And some of the other missing eps had some real key plot points like Annie telling Caroline about Richard's letter and telling Richard about Carline's phone call/feelings.  Also missing - Caroline meeting Trevor, who she ends up dating for the rest of the season.

When it was just a couple of eps in season 1 missing, I thought maybe it was music rights of something. This show doesn't have the music enmeshed like other shows, so my thinking was if a song was used somewhere they didn't see the point to pay for it if it was just a few eps.  But with whole swaths of season 3 missing, I don't think that's it, and I wonder why those are missing.

[blondiec0332]

1 hour ago, aquarian1 said:

When it was just a couple of eps in season 1 missing, I thought maybe it was music rights of something. This show doesn't have the music enmeshed like other shows, so my thinking was if a song was used somewhere they didn't see the point to pay for it if it was just a few eps.  But with whole swaths of season 3 missing, I don't think that's it, and I wonder why those are missing.

Could it have something to do with the musical Cats? The character of Annie was in the musical and I remember scenes of her in her costume. Some I think were supposed to be backstage of the show.

[FormerMod-a1]

There have been lots of scenes of her in her costume, and backstage scenes. 

I know one episode centered around Victor/Victoria so I thought that may play a part into why it's not available. but that was one of the few season 1 episodes that was missing.  I got nothing for all the season 3 missing items.

[FormerMod-a1]

Wow, there's a decline in quality in season 4.  I also don't remember a lot of these episodes (at least the few I've watched so far), so I must have stopped watching way back then.  The last ep I watched was a bit better quality, and this is good background TV, so I will close this out, but yeah, those first few at least were not good.  WAY too over the top in shenanigans.

[KWalkerInc]

I remember that I really wanted Richard and Caroline to get together, so I felt bad about not watching most of season 4, but they had turned the show into a bad "wacky office ensemble" with a bunch of new characters, and I just couldn't take it.  Then they ended on a cliffhanger.  Could they not read the ratings reports and know that things were bad?  Of course, if the show had ended on a good note, it sounds like CBS All Access wouldn't show it anyway!  I mean, skipping the third season finale where Richard and Caroline finally get together, really?

[Irlandesa]

On 1/19/2020 at 1:28 PM, aquarian1 said:

I discovered this show is currently on CBS All Access and have been rewatching.  

There was a discussion elsewhere about CitC a few years ago and it led me down the rabbit hole of watching old episodes fans had uploaded in places that shall not be named.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it because I remember how off the rails it got in the last season but I found it addictive comfort viewing. 

On 1/19/2020 at 6:43 PM, Black Knight said:

But then the premiere came, and when she explained why she deleted the message, I liked her then. And I liked her well enough through that season. I don't remember why she and Richard finally broke up though.

IIRC, they had issues throughout their spontaneous marriage with her dad and their differing lifestyles.  She wanted to move to Europe which I think Richard is reluctant to do.  There were all kinds of mixups where Caroline thinks Julia cheated on Richard (she didn't) and it led to Richard in the hospital after being run over by bulls realizing he didn't love Julia.  Caroline ended up getting dumped around the same time and that led to the door kiss where he declares that he was in love with Caroline.

And then we got the baby which led Richard out of the US for six months setting up the cliffhanger never to be resolved.

On 1/19/2020 at 2:37 PM, Black Knight said:

Malcolm Gets, who played Richard, was really, really good-looking in person, much more so than on TV.

I thought he was a stud.  It was usually hidden behind the heavy black glasses and somewhat droopy posture of a misanthrope but get the glasses off, the clothes off or give him romantic/emotional moments and it was pretty obvious.

One of my favorite clips of him that I'd love to see is when he was on the Rosie O'Donnell Show and sang Suddenly Seymour to her.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Irlandesa

[FormerMod-a1]

Well, they are missing the last episode of season 4.  Ha!  The last episode I can see is Richard coming to stop her wedding, with baby in tow.  Oh well.  I've watched all the episodes I had available to me.  Time to move on to someting else.

[KWalkerInc]

Isn't that the last episode?  I looked at an episode list, and there was another one called "Caroline and Joanie and the Stick" or something like that, but apparently that was just some random episode that NBC never aired (it's listed as the 15th of the season when it aired in syndication).

I remember that after season 1, there was an episode that NBC aired in the middle of the summer.  In an online group I was in to discuss the show, we were all hoping for some hint at how that season's cliffhanger would be resolved, but it was just a regular episode that was supposed to air earlier that had to be edited or shelved because it had to do with condoms!

[FormerMod-a1]

That could be.  I looked at IMDB and saw there was a 22nd episode in season 4.  And since I apparently never watched any of season 4 before, I wouldn't know what was out of place or not.

[TheLanai]

I went to a taping in summer 1996 while on vacation in LA. The actor playing Del at the taping was, I want to say, John Fugelsang (and I could be completely wrong on that, it was a long time ago) but when that particular episode aired, Eric Lutes had replaced Fugelsang ( or whoever it was). I guess they reshot the entire episode with Eric Lutes?  

[KWalkerInc]

The cast is reuniting virtually to read the pilot script and appear on "Stars in the House."

https://deadline.com/2020/05/caroline-in-the-city-cast-reunion-stars-in-the-house-coronavirus-script-reading-lea-thompson-1202931626/

[LemonSoda]

On 1/20/2020 at 10:23 AM, wendyg said:

I remember thinking it was funny that Sofia Milos, who played Julia, also played the filmmaker Paul went for a walk with on MAD ABOUT YOU. If it were today, she'd be hounded on Twitter.

When she showed up on The Sopranos I said uh oh! 
 

ive been thinking about this show a lot lately, I need to add it to my binge list. I miss sitcoms like this. 

[Irlandesa]

What coincidental timing for this to be bumped up.  The cast will be reuniting for an interview and a table read.

https://deadline.com/2020/05/caroline-in-the-city-cast-reunion-stars-in-the-house-coronavirus-script-reading-lea-thompson-1202931626/#comments

[catlover79]

My sister and I to this day still quote "we got the coach, we got the team, we got the coach, we got the team - I hate my life!" That was when Richard's car broke down in the middle of nowhere.

My favorite scene:

 

[Rinaldo]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:37 AM, aquarian1 said:

When it was just a couple of eps in season 1 missing, I thought maybe it was music rights of something. This show doesn't have the music enmeshed like other shows, so my thinking was if a song was used somewhere they didn't see the point to pay for it if it was just a few eps.  But with whole swaths of season 3 missing, I don't think that's it, and I wonder why those are missing.

The first season (and only that one) was put out on DVD complete. I pulled out my copy in order to watch the 4 episodes I've noticed are missing on Paramount+. Two of them possibly have music issues: in one Caroline goes to the opera (with Peter Krause) and we hear a bit of an aria, presumably in a recording to which they didn't have perpetual rights; in another (Thanksgiving parade, with Caroline getting a balloon) Florence Henderson sings bits of "My Favorite Things" offscreen, and the Brady Bunch theme onscreen along with some cast members. Another episode (for revenge, Caroline draws Del as being a secret cross-dresser) might be labelled transphobic or something similar now, or they just didn't want to face the possibility. For the one where Caroline plans to meet Del's parents, I can't come up with an explanation why it should be suppressed.

[babyhouseman]

I just rediscovered the show on the rewind channel. Richard was so funny especially with Annie. And the cat. 

[Clawdette]

I just discovered the Rewind Channel on my cable lineup.  It's within the Spanish language section that I don't have access to so I never look at the menu.