A YEAR AT THE TOP (1977) – What a cast! PAUL SHAFFER, GREG EVIGAN, Gabriel Dell (from the Dead End Kids/ Bowery Boys/ East Side Kids/ Little Tough Guys), Priscilla Morrill (Lou Grant’s wife Edie), Antonio “Huggy Bear” Fargas, Julie Cobb (Lee J. Cobb’s daughter) and Nedra Volz in her usual “sassy old lady” role.
This Norman Lear series lasted just 5 half-hour episodes. Paul Shaffer actually left his gig as a musician on Saturday Night Live to take this role, but luckily it got canceled so quickly he was still able to go back to SNL.
Even worse, Greg Evigan turned down a role on Welcome Back, Kotter to star in this TV Turkey. But at least B.J. and the Bear lurked in his 1970s future. I’ll let you readers decide if that’s good or bad.
A Year at the Top sports a premise that sounds like it could work … as a made-for-tv movie, NOT a series. After three pilots – one as early as 1975 but still with Shaffer and Evigan – the producers went ahead with a tale centered around two would-be rock stars who sell their soul to the Devil’s son in exchange for the titular year at the top of the music industry. Continue reading
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