Love, American Style


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

From Wikipedia:

Love, American Style is an hour-long television anthology which was produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974. For the 1971 and 1972 seasons it was a part of an ABC Friday prime-time lineup that also included The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple.

Each week, the show featured different stories of romance, usually with a comedic spin. All episodes were unrelated, featuring different characters, stories and locations. The show often featured the same actors playing different characters in many episodes. In addition a large and ornate brass bed was a recurring prop in many episodes. Charles Fox's delicate yet hip music score, featuring flutes, harp, and flugelhorn set to a contemporary pop beat, provided the "love" ambiance which tied the stories together as a multifaceted romantic comedy each week.

For its first season, the theme song was performed by The Cowsills. Starting in the second season, the same theme song was sung by John Bahler, Tom Bahler, and Ron Hicklin, (billed as "The Charles Fox Singers"), and was carried on for the remainder of the series, as well as most episodes in syndication.

In many ways the show initiated the "mini comedic soap opera" form used and "perfected" later on by Aaron Spelling for The Love Boat. While it lacked the connective threads that The Love Boat used, it generally told the same sort of "cotton candy" light emotional stories about underlying aspects of love, romance, and human relationships.

Highlights
Garry Marshall on writing the Love, American Style episode "Love and the Tuba" (airdate: December 3, 1971)
03:28
Charles Fox on composing the theme and incidental music for Love, American Style
16:00
Valerie Harper on writing a piece with her husband for Love, American Style
00:11
Who talked about this show

Howard Anderson, Jr.

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Howard Anderson Jr. on creating the opening titles for Love, American Style
01:51

Bruce Bilson

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Bruce Bilson on directing episodes of Love, American Style
02:24

Harvey Bullock

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Harvey Bullock on writing for Love, American Style
01:30

Henry Colman

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Henry Colman on working as a Paramount production executive on Love, American Style  and its influence on The Love Boat
01:55

Hal Cooper

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Hal Cooper on directing episodes of Love, American Style (including one with Burgess Meredith); on his surprise that some of his work has continued to be memorable to others
02:38

Stephanie Edwards

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Stephanie Edwards on her acting role on Love, American Style
00:53

Nanette Fabray

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Nanette Fabray on appearing on Love, American Style
00:50

Charles Fox

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Charles Fox on composing the theme and incidental music for Love, American Style
16:00
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (which was done for Love, American Style)
00:51

Everett Greenbaum

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Everett Greenbaum on writing Love, American Style
01:21

Valerie Harper

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Valerie Harper on writing a piece with her husband for Love, American Style
00:11

Ron Howard

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Ron Howard on accepting a role in the pilot of Happy Days (aired as an episode of Love, American Style) to avoid the Vietnam War draft
02:11

Arnie Kogen

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Arnie Kogen on writing for Love, American Style
02:22

Garry Marshall

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Garry Marshall on writing the Love, American Style episode "Love and the Tuba" (airdate: December 3, 1971)
03:28
Garry Marshall on Love, American Style airing the first unsold pilot for Happy Days (then known as "New Kid in Town") as an episode
02:58

Leslie H. Martinson

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Leslie H. Martinson on directing Love, American Style
04:09

Pat Morita

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Pat Morita on appearing on Love, American Style, where he worked with Garry Marshall and Jerry Paris
04:57

Stanley Ralph Ross

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Stanley Ralph Ross on writing for Love, American Style, and on juggling writing for several shows at once
01:51

Lloyd J. Schwartz

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Lloyd J. Schwartz on writing for Love, American Style, and on his career as a comedian
03:16

Jane Wyatt

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Jane Wyatt on appearing on the premiere of Love, American Style
00:13

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