Duet (TV series)

Duet
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Ruth Bennett Susan Seeger
Written by	Ruth Bennett Bruce Ferber Lisa Medway John Peaslee Judd Pillot Susan Seeger Michael Zinberg
Directed by	Peter Baldwin Gabrielle Beaumont Lee Shallat-Chemel Arlene Sanford David Steinberg Michael Zinberg Stephen Zuckerman
Starring	Matthew Laurance Mary Page Keller Chris Lemmon Alison LaPlaca
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	54
Production
Producer(s)	Linda Nieber
Running time	22–24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Original run	April 19, 1987 (1987-04-19) – May 7, 1989 (1989-05-07)
Chronology
Related shows	Open House

Duet is an American sitcom that aired on Fox from April 19, 1987 to August 20, 1989 (the first Paramount Television production ever to air on that network). The series stars Matthew Laurance as Ben Coleman, Mary Page Keller as Laura Kelly, Chris Lemmon as Richard Phillips, and Alison LaPlaca as Linda Phillips.

Synopsis

Ben is a struggling mystery novelist while his girlfriend Laura is a caterer with her younger sister Jane (Jodi Thelen). Richard and Linda were a high-powered yuppie couple. He was in the family patio-furniture business and she was a studio executive. Linda's boss at World Wide Studios was Cooper Hayden (Larry Poindexter), who eventually became infatuated with Jane Kelly. Richard later quit his job to become a professional pianist. Geneva (Arleen Sorkin) was the Phillipses' wisecracking, sexy maid who sometimes fraternized with the sisters.

In the 1987-88 season finale, Linda gave birth to a daughter, Amanda, who grew into a three-year-old (Ginger Orsi) capable of speech by the start of the series' third and final season. When the 1988-89 season began, Ben and Laura had married, and Linda had lost her job at World Wide Studios. Linda then sought a partnership in Laura's catering business. Just prior to the end of that season, Linda met real estate mogul Ted Nichols, played by guest star and LaPlaca's then-boyfriend, Philip Charles MacKenzie. Ted schmoozed her into joining his realty firm, selling upscale properties to snobs just like herself. Shortly after, Fox announced its cancellation of Duet, and with LaPlaca as its breakout star, both she and MacKenzie shared the lead in its spin-off, Open House.

Opening titles

The show's first season opening title sequence, showing cast member names written on dresser drawers, dog food dishes and other props, was produced by creator Susan Seeger's brother, David Seeger, and father, noted animator Hal Seeger. The theme music over the opening titles was composed by Buddy Budson, and in the first two seasons performed by Ursula Walker and Tony Franklin.

Beginning in season two, the opening titles changed to begin featuring clips of the characters in scenes from the show. These were book-ended by the show's title appearing in gold on a maroon leather-textured photo album cover, which opened to reveal the series of episode clips, and the photo album closing, with creators Ruth Bennett and Susan Seeger being credited in gold on the album cover. In season three, the same sequence style remained, but the theme music was rearranged into a complete synth/electric guitar instrumental, with the guitar taking the place of the notes sung by vocalists Walker and Franklin.

Cast

Actor	Role
Matthew Laurance	Ben Coleman
Mary Page Keller	Laura Kelly
Jodi Thelen	Jane Kelly
Chris Lemmon	Richard Phillips
Alison LaPlaca	Linda Phillips
Larry Poindexter	Cooper Hayden
Arleen Sorkin	Geneva
Ginger Orsi	Amanda Phillips

Episode guide

Season 1 (1987)

№	Prod. code	Episode title	Original airdate
1	001	"Prelude"	April 19, 1987
2	002	"Overture"	April 19, 1987
3	003	"Adagio (a.k.a. Not a Date)"	April 26, 1987
4	004	"Variations on a Theme"	May 5, 1987
5	005	"Dissonance (a.k.a. Murdock Exposed)"	May 10, 1987
6	009	"Lullabye (a.k.a. Ensemble)"	May 17, 1987
7	007	"Fugue (a.k.a. Old, Old, Old Friends)"	May 24, 1987
8	008	"Interlude"	May 24, 1987
9	010	"Liebestraum"	May 31, 1987
10	011	"Work in Progress"	June 7, 1987
11	006	"The Long Goodbye"	June 14, 1987
12	012	"Trio"	June 21, 1987
13	013	"Passage"	June 28, 1987

Season 2 (1987-1988)

№	Prod. code	Episode title	Original airdate
14	014	"Apart"	September 26, 1987
15	016	"You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Leaves You"	October 3, 1987
16	015	"The Cower of Love"	October 10, 1987
17	017	"Lots of Things Happen"	October 17, 1987
18	018	"Strange Bedfellows"	October 25, 1987
19	019	"Satin Doll"	November 1, 1987
20	021	"Jane's Getting Serious"	November 8, 1987
21	024	"I Never Played for My Father (Part 1)"	November 15, 1987
22	025	"I Never Played for My Father (Part 2)"	November 22, 1987
23	022	"Born, Bred and Buttered in Brooklyn"	November 29, 1987
24	023	"Fatal Distraction"	December 13, 1987
25	026	"A Hero is Just a Sandwich"	January 17, 1988
26	027	"The Package"	January 24, 1988
27	028	"Baby Talk"	February 7, 1988
28	030	"Funny Valentine"	February 14, 1988
29	031	"The Candidate"	February 21, 1988
30	029	"Special Delivery"	February 28, 1988
31	032	"Oh My God, I Left the Baby on the Bus"	March 6, 1988
32	034	"Mommy and Me"	March 13, 1988
33	033	"Lady on a Grate"	March 20, 1988
34	035	"Good Intentions"	May 1, 1988
35	020	"No Reservations"	July 10, 1988

Season 3 (1988-1989)

№	Prod. code	Episode title	Original airdate
36	40263-036	"Partners"	October 30, 1988
37	40263-037	"Deja Two"	November 6, 1988
38	40263-038	"It's My Party"	November 13, 1988
39	40263-039	"For Richard, For Poorer"	November 20, 1988
40	40263-040	"Oh, Boy!"	November 27, 1988
41	40263-041	"One Man Out"	December 11, 1988
42	40263-042	"His Mother, Myself"	December 18, 1988
43	40263-043	"Brother from Another Zip Code"	January 15, 1989
44	40263-044	"Sister of the Year"	January 29, 1989
45	40263-045	"The New and Improved Linda"	February 5, 1989
46	40263-046	"Too Many Cooks"	February 12, 1989
47	40263-047	"Read Between the Lines"	February 19, 1989
48	40263-048	"Don't Quit Your Day Job"	February 26, 1989
49	40263-049	"True Stories"	March 12, 1989
50	40263-050	"Role Call"	March 26, 1989
51	40263-051	"Kiss and Break Up"	April 9, 1989
52	40263-052	"On the Nose"	April 23, 1989
53	40263-053	"Richie and the Vamp"	April 30, 1989
54	40263-054	"Open House"	May 7, 1989

External links

• Duet at the Internet Movie Database
• Duet at TV.com