Love, American Style

I haven't seen this show since the late '70s, but I remember it fondly. The one thing that really sticks out in my mind for this show was the theme song, and the big brass bed that was the trademark, and appeared in nearly every episode short. It used to play at 10pm on Fridays up until 1974, and it was truly missed when it was cancelled. It would be nice if the original pilot movie was available on video, but until then I just have the memories of a show from a great bygone era of TV.

I loved to watch the original LOVE AMERICAN STYLE. It reminds me of the Love Boat. You can get to see your favorite cast members plus guest appearances by some of the more famous bit part actors and actresses. Some years back a cable channel played 24 hours a day of LOVE AMERICAN STYLE. I found myself up all night to catch my favorite episodes. I think there was enough episodes to watch for a week straight and not see any repeats. If you are a hopeful romantic you will definitely find an episode of LOVE AMERICAN STYLE to suit you.

I seem to remember a vignette that is supposed to take place in the 50's, possibly featuring Ron Howard, in which a girl to whom he's attracted expresses an interest in him when she discovers that his parents just bought a television set. This may have been the pilot (of sorts) for "Happy Days". Does this ring a bell, anyone? Thanks.

This series was basically an hour of two or 3 vignettes that were supposed to be comedy about love. Every show would start with phony fireworks & a heart shaped trade mark on screen. The theme song was catchy.

Each show would have a love situation of 20 to 30 minutes. If there were any extra time there would be a 1 or 2 minute comedy blackout. Some of the shows parts were funny & some were not.

The series would vary in quality & sometimes during it's run, pilots for new shows would be put in. Some of them actually made it after into series of their own. Happy Days pilot aired on this program. It had Richie, & Howard, & Marion & the pilot was actually OK.

An animated series called "Wait Until Your Father Gets Home" first aired on Lover American Style too. The great thing about this anthology is you never quite knew where they were going, but you would almost always see well known actors & actresses on the way.

In a way, this series set up the later show "The Love Boat" which basically borrowed this format & moved it too a cruise ship & added a regular crew in addition to the celebrity guests every week. Both shows were ABC so nobody complained.

This show is definitely a show that worked for the era it was produced in, the late 60's/early 70's. This show came out at the height of the sexual revolution and could have easily been called "Lust, American Style". Each episode pretty much was about the same thing, men and women in constant pursuit of each other. Also, the most memorable trademark was the ever present brass bed. However, despite the emphasis on sex there were a few more touching episodes in this series. One that comes to mind is an episode in which an old man creates a sculpture of his deceased wife on the anniversary of her death and the angel of death (played hilariously by Soupy Sales) comes down to inform him that he is about to die. At the end of the episode, there is a shot of the old man, who has become a statue himself, holding his wife's hand. This was perhaps the most moving episode from one of the wildest show's of the early 70's.