Struck by Lightning
Entry updated 19 November 2023. Tagged: TV.
US tv series (1979). Fellows-Keegan Company/Paramount Television for CBS-TV. Based on characters created by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in Frankenstein (1818; rev 1831). Produced by Michael Friedman. Director Joel Zwick. Writers included Bruce Kelish, Phillip John Taylor, Michael Russnow. Cast includes Jeff Cotler (Brian), Jack Elam, Bill Erwin (Glen Diamond), Jeffrey Kramer, Millie Slavin (Nora) and Richard Stahl (Walt Colvin). Eleven 30-minute episodes; cancelled after three episodes in US, full series aired 1980 UK. Colour.
In this sf sitcom, high school Biology teacher Ted Stein (Kramer) inherits a creepy inn in New England; upon arrival, he discovers that the caretaker Frank (Elam) is actually the legendary Frankenstein Monster. Stein himself is a descendant of the infamous doctor. After some thought – plus threats from Frank, who needs a special life-giving serum to be recreated – Stein decides to stay on at the inn and attempt to continue his ancestor's experiments while hiding Frank's actual nature. The programme was, however, one of the first television series cancelled in the US that season: eleven episodes were made but only three aired. [GSt]
see also: Frankenstein.
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