The ’80s was a time of many memorable, big-time sitcoms filling TV screens in homes nationwide. “Family Ties,” “Cheers,” “Full House,” “The Golden Girls…” The list goes on. Even “Family Matters” and “Saved by the Bell” started in the last year of the decade.
But did you know that a lesser-known sitcom was set right here in town?
That’s right, “Marblehead Manor,” a show taking place in a mansion centered around the Stonehill family and its butlers, made its premiere in 1987 and ran for one season before being canceled in 1988.
The show features future Seinfeld stars Michael Richards as Mansion gardener Rick and Phil Morris as Jerry Stockton. Richards famously went on to play the role of Cosmo Kramer, and Morris played Jackie Chiles in Seinfeld.
The show also stars Paxton Whitehead as butler Albert Dudley, Bob Fraser as Randolf Stonehill, and Linda Thorson as Hillary Stonehill. “Marblehead Manor” was a Dames-Fraser Production in association with Paramount Television.
According to the show’s description on IMDb.com, “Randolf Stonehill and Albert Dudley are respectively the third-generation owners of, and the butler for, Marblehead Manor, a mansion someplace in New England, USA” (The name of the show gives away that “someplace”).
According to the show description, Fraser’s character is also heir to the Stonehill corn-oil fortune.
“Life is seldom normal in Marblehead Manor,” the description reads. “Along with Randolf’s wife Hillary, Jerry the Chauffeur, Duane the Handy Man, Lupe the Cook, Lupe’s son Elvis, and Rick the Gardener, comic misunderstandings abound. The inhabitants of Marblehead Manor also have a habit of dressing up as other people to comic effect.”
The show’s lone season ran for 24 episodes, debuting on Sept. 19, 1987, and ending on May 28, 1988. “Marblehead Manor” was one of several sitcoms that were a part of NBC’s ‘Prime Time Starts at 7:30’ initiative to retake the 7:30 p.m. timeslot from competing syndicated game shows and entertainment news, according to popculturereferences.com.
The project involved running syndicated TV series, including “She’s The Sheriff,” “You Can’t Take It With You,” “Out of This World,” “We Got It Made,” and “Marblehead Manor.”
An article by Tom Shales of the Washington Post dated Sept. 14, 1987, detailing and reviewing NBC’s PrimeTime campaign mentions “Marblehead Manor” as a “slapstick and double-entendre about a rich family and its dippy servants.”
Unfortunately, only two series lasted more than one season, with the rest being canceled. However, “Marblehead Manor” still lives on the internet in digital form. All 24 episodes are still available on YouTube.
While “Marblehead Manor” ultimately did not receive the ratings it needed to continue for future seasons, it is interesting to see a big-time network corporation choose this small, beautiful coastal town on Massachusetts’ North Shore as the setting of a Prime Time sitcom.
For the purpose of this article, some community members were asked if they were familiar with the show, including employees at MHTV and Town Historian Don Doliber, who said that they had heard about it but could not recall ever seeing an episode.
Do you remember this show? Did you watch it when it first aired, or did your “antennas” not catch its signal? We here at Marblehead Weekly News would love to hear your stories.