Robert Firth was a starring cast member in this project's initial version. The first pilot had been written as a situation comedy and was taped before a live audience. The original theme song was Show Me Some Respect by Tina Turner. The initial pilot also starred Robby Benson, Alan Rosenberg, Toni Kalem, LeVar Burton, and Robert Pastorelli. Firth played Alfie, a gay prizefighter who tends bar at the local watering hole, owned by his mother Rita (Lainie Kazan).