On March 19, 1977, Mary Richards turned out the lights of the Newsroom at WJM-TV Channel 12 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The other members of the cast of that location went on to some pretty high profile assignments. One became an editor of a newspaper. Another went on to pilot a luxury liner. We'll talk about the actress who played Ms. Richards at another point, but the news reader for that channel made his first return to TV as a different kind of anchor...
The character of Ted Baxter was originally tailored for and was going to be played by an actor named Jack Cassidy, who I referenced at 387 with "Ask Harriet," because his son, David Cassidy, co-created that program. Jack had a penchant for playing characters that were overly self-involved, and that was going to be a character trait of Baxter.
About a year passed before Mr. Knight returned to TV with a new project. And, oddly enough, this show was a spinoff of another program called "Busting Loose."
Instead of being another dunderhead, like the anchorman he previously played, Mr. Knight was Mr. Dennis, the proprietor of an Escort Service. It's not as bad as it sounds. This was an escort service that actually did what it claimed: provided persons to go with a client to various events on the town.
But the one trait Mr. Baxter and Mr. Dennis shared was summed up in a simple word: VANITY. Mr. Dennis was, in fact, one of the escorts of his own escort service, bringing his female clients to dinners, Broadway, and other engagements. But he also had a stable of beautiful women who were available for hire as well.
Mr. Dennis was a strict taskmaster and made sure that every one of his escorts looked and acted perfect. Of course, that included himself, who was constantly checking mirrors (or really, any reflective surface) to make certain every hair was in place, every fabric was unwrinkled and every smile seemed as sincere as possible!
Most of the humor from the series involved the dates, or the stories of dates that the escorts negotiated during their week, and of course Mr. Knight's reactions to his tête-à-têtes and the demands they might have had for him. Knight got to emote like never before, and audiences got to see a more slapstick/physical version of his personality.
New York played a part because the city is filled with nightlife and reasons for people to want to attend things all over town, and there were plenty of events for Mr. Dennis and his collection of escorts to perform their duties and to do them well, but comedically well.
I think part of the reason why audiences didn't quite respond to Knight in this role was the fact that a guy like Ted Baxter, that's dumb, and who is so self-involved that he can't figure out anything can be cute and funny. But a guy that is intelligent, fastidious, demanding and vain is just plain annoying. Granted, they placed Mr. Dennis in positions where he frequently got a comeuppance (including in the show's opening titles, where a taxicab splatters his impeccable suit with New York water from the curb). But viewers were likely still charmed by and sympathetic for the Baxter character and that just didn't read well in this first sitcom attempt after that Emmy winning role.
New York really isn't for everybody, and Mr. Dennis' Escorts wasn't the service that serviced The City like it needed to do.
