Bosom Buddies is an
American sitcom starring
Tom Hanks and
Peter Scolari created by Robert L. Boyett, Thomas L. Miller and Chris Thompson. It ran from
1980 to
1982 on
ABC and in reruns in the summer of
1984 on
NBC.
The series was originally conceived by
Miller and Boyett as both a takeoff on the movie
Some Like It Hot and a male counterpart to their hit farce show
Laverne & Shirley. After the cast had been chosen, Miller and Boyett asked Chris Thompson, one of the writer-producers of
Laverne and Shirley, to write the pilot and be the series
showrunner. Thompson (who would go on to executive-produce such shows as
The Larry Sanders Show), said later that he took the job purely for the money, but unexpectedly found it to be "my completely favorite experience in show business," because the network left him and his young cast free to experiment. "We were left alone," he recalled. "Nobody was paying attention to us. We were all really young, but it was like we had daddy's Porsche. We had $500,000 to play with every week."
[`House Rules' Exec Breaks The Mold; Honesty Works For This Tv Guy. - Free Online Library] The show became known for its quirky humor and its frequent use of
improvisation, especially between stars
Tom Hanks and
Peter Scolari. Though the show started out with good ratings, it failed to hold the public's interest and was canceled after two seasons.
Premise
After their own apartment is demolished, two men disguise themselves as women in order to live in the women-only Susan B. Anthony Hotel because of the dirt cheap rent. Kip Wilson (
Tom Hanks) is originally skeptical of the plan, but after meeting knock-out resident model/dancer/nurse Sonny Lumet (
Donna Dixon), he ends up convincing aspiring writer Henry Desmond (
Peter Scolari) that the experience will make a great book. Their co-worker, Amy Cassidy, (
Wendie Jo Sperber) is the only resident in on the plan because she's attracted to Henry. In the first season, Kip, Henry, and Amy work for Ruth Dunbar (
Holland Taylor) at the advertising firm of Livingston, Gentry & Mishkin, where Kip is a graphic artist, Henry is a copy writer, and Amy is the receptionist. Ruth often takes credit for the boys' work when reporting to her (unseen) boss, Mr. Rubinowitz.