Co-Ed Fever (partially found CBS sitcom; 1979)
Title card for the series.
Status: Partially Found
Co-Ed Fever was an American TV series created by Martin Ransohoff, Michael Elias, and Frank Shaw that was broadcast on the CBS network in 1979. It is mildly notorious as one of a trio of "frat house" sitcoms to debut that fall, all more-or-less inspired by the financial success of National Lampoon's Animal House the previous year (the other two sitcoms being NBC's Brothers & Sisters and ABC's Delta House).
Premise
The series is set in fictional Baxter College, a formerly all-female school that has just gone co-ed. 250 young male freshmen are subsequently integrated into the 2,400-girl campus, with the series focusing on the men's impact on the residents of the Brewster House dormitory.[1] These include seductive Sandi (Heather Thomas), compulsive eater Maria, a.k.a "Mousie" (Alexa Kenin), wholesome Elizabeth (Cathryn O'Neil), Hope (Tacey Phillips), Melba (Jillian Kesner), and "spaced-out" housekeeper Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose), who are then joined by male residents including shy, romantic Tucker Davis (David Keith), wealthy preppie Doug (Christopher S. Nelson), nutty Gobo (Michael Pasternak), and Mr. Peabody (Hamilton Camp).[2][3]
Production
Six episodes of Co-Ed Fever would ultimately be produced, with the episode "Pepperoni Passion" first airing on CBS at 10:30 PM on February 4th, 1979 as a "special preview" following the film Rocky. Unfortunately the preview did not earn nearly high enough ratings[4] to overcome a universally harsh reception from television critics (TV Guide ranked Co-Ed Fever as the 32nd worst television series ever made in a 2002 list) besides numerous complaints from viewers and network censors over the program's notably raunchy content.[5]
In response to this intense backlash, CBS ultimately chose not to air the remaining five episodes of the series, earning it the dubious honor of becoming one of the very few television series to be cancelled after a single episode. The Brewster House set would be reused as the girl's dormitory in the first season of The Facts of Life, which debuted later that same year.
Availability
Oddly, all six episodes of Co-Ed Fever would later air (in a late-afternoon timeslot of the kind generally reserved for syndicated programming) in the Vancouver, Canada area, on the regional network affilliate BCTV. It's unknown exactly how this came about, save that the rights were probably inexpensive and the area's ties to Hollywood production companies very strong.
After this Canadian run concluded, Co-Ed Fever would not be shown again in any market, and due to the program's swift cancellation and the scarcity of home recording devices at the time of its broadcast, footage of the series has since become very hard to come by. A promo and the opening scene of the single CBS airing are all that has currently surfaced.
List of Episodes
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pepperoni Passion | Feb 4th, 1979 | Partially Found |
| 2 | Pilot | Unaired | Lost |
| 3 | Disco Tuck | Unaired | Lost |
| 4 | Double Exposure | Unaired | Lost |
| 5 | Mid-Term Panic | Unaired | Lost |
| 6 | Goodbye, Mrs. Selby | Unaired | Lost |
Gallery
External Links
References
- ↑ Article in The Montreal Gazette about the series. Retrieved 25 Feb '23
- ↑ Page for Co-Ed Fever on Sitcoms Online. Retrieved 25 Feb '23
- ↑ Page for Co-Ed Fever on Nostalgia Central. Retrieved 25 Feb '23
- ↑ Article in The Bonham Daily Favorite about the series. Retrieved 25 Feb '23
- ↑ Forum thread containing the 2002 TV Guide list. Retrieved 25 Feb '23