Harry and the Hendersons (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Harry and the Hendersons is an American sitcom based on the film of the same name
, produced by Amblin Entertainment
for Universal Television
. The series aired in syndication from January 13, 1991 to June 18, 1993, with 72 half-hour episodes produced. The series is about a family who adopt a Bigfoot
called Harry.
and Molly Cheek
played the parents (in the film, they were played by John Lithgow
and Melinda Dillon
respectively) with Carol-Ann Plante and Zachary Bostrom as the children (in the film, they were played by Margaret Langrick
and Joshua Rudoy respectively). Kevin Peter Hall
played the role of Harry in both the film and TV series, until his death late in the production of the first season. He was replaced first by Dawan Scott and then by Brian Steele
in the third season (Steele had filled in for Scott in the Harry costume for numerous scenes during season two, before taking over the role full time).
In the series, George and Nancy were an upwardly mobile two-career couple, with the former working for a sporting goods company. George eventually launched his own magazine, The Better Life, late in the second season. Initially helping the Hendersons with Harry's care, and sasquatch research, was Walter Potter, a biologist working for the Department of Animal Control. Also seen early on were the Glicks, neighbors of the Hendersons; Samantha was a pretty, young single mother and reporter, and Tiffany was her precocious little girl, a classmate of Ernie's who had an obvious crush on him. Samantha, Tiffany, and Walter were all written out after the first season, but the aspect of having a girl next door who chased after Ernie was retained through a new character, Darcy Payne, for the 1991-92 season. Darcy was more annoying than her predecessor, and spent all her waking hours trying to make the Hendersons' young son hers. However, she did catch on to the fact that the family was hiding a bigfoot, and had several close encounters with Harry; fortunately, Darcy disappeared from the show before she could have exposed the secret about him. Nancy's younger brother Bret, a photographer, moved in with the Hendersons in the second season, and was also sworn to secrecy about Harry. When George began The Better Life in the spring of 1992, Bret was hired as the publication's chief photographer and a financial beneficiary.
The following year brought many changes, as in the season premiere Harry's existence was accidentally exposed. Just as the Hendersons feared he would be captured by the government and possibly killed, he was rather embraced by the public and received overnight regional fame. For a while, Harry had to adjust to a high-profile life full of exhibition and additional scientific studies, but at the same time the entire family got used to resting more comfortably now that they did not have to hide the big creature from view anymore. Hilton, a friend of Ernie's and the son of a local police chief, joined the cast in the third season.
The TV series credits contains an artistic representation of key scenes from the film
.
, Frank Bonner
, Tony Dow
, Richard Kline
, Dwayne Hickman
, and Donna Pescow
.
The series' theme song was "Your Feets Too Big", performed by Leon Redbone
.
Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons is a 1987 American comedy film directed and produced by William Dear, and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Lainie Kazan and Don Ameche. It is the story of a family's encounter with the cryptozoological creature Bigfoot...
, produced by Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
for Universal Television
Universal Television
Universal Television is the television production arm of the NBCUniversal Television Group, and by extension, the NBC television network...
. The series aired in syndication from January 13, 1991 to June 18, 1993, with 72 half-hour episodes produced. The series is about a family who adopt a Bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
called Harry.
Synopsis
Bruce DavisonBruce Davison
Bruce Davison is an American actor and director.-Early life:Davison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Marian E. , a secretary, and Clair W. Davison, a musician, architect, and draftsman for the Army Engineers. His parents divorced when he was three years old. He was raised by his...
and Molly Cheek
Molly Cheek
Molly Cheek is an American actress who played the mother of main character Jim Levenstein in the 1999 film American Pie. She also played Garry's best friend on the television show It's Garry Shandling's Show....
played the parents (in the film, they were played by John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
and Melinda Dillon
Melinda Dillon
Melinda Rose Dillon is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the holiday classic A Christmas Story.-Early life and career:...
respectively) with Carol-Ann Plante and Zachary Bostrom as the children (in the film, they were played by Margaret Langrick
Margaret Langrick
Margaret Langrick is a Canadian actress. She won a 1986 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for My American Cousin and was also nominated in the same category in 1990 for Cold Comfort. She was also nominated for a Gemini Award in 1987 for Best Guest Performance in a...
and Joshua Rudoy respectively). Kevin Peter Hall
Kevin Peter Hall
Kevin Peter Hall was an American actor known for his roles in Misfits of Science, Prophecy, Without Warning, and Harry and the Hendersons. He was also best known as the title character in the first two films in the Predator franchise.-Early life:Hall was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
played the role of Harry in both the film and TV series, until his death late in the production of the first season. He was replaced first by Dawan Scott and then by Brian Steele
Brian Steele
Brian Steele is an American actor best known for playing many of Hollywood's favorite monsters and creatures.-Roles:On television, he played the Bigfoot called Harry in the series Harry and the Hendersons before moving on to play creatures in theatrical motion pictures, with roles like Mr. Wink in...
in the third season (Steele had filled in for Scott in the Harry costume for numerous scenes during season two, before taking over the role full time).
In the series, George and Nancy were an upwardly mobile two-career couple, with the former working for a sporting goods company. George eventually launched his own magazine, The Better Life, late in the second season. Initially helping the Hendersons with Harry's care, and sasquatch research, was Walter Potter, a biologist working for the Department of Animal Control. Also seen early on were the Glicks, neighbors of the Hendersons; Samantha was a pretty, young single mother and reporter, and Tiffany was her precocious little girl, a classmate of Ernie's who had an obvious crush on him. Samantha, Tiffany, and Walter were all written out after the first season, but the aspect of having a girl next door who chased after Ernie was retained through a new character, Darcy Payne, for the 1991-92 season. Darcy was more annoying than her predecessor, and spent all her waking hours trying to make the Hendersons' young son hers. However, she did catch on to the fact that the family was hiding a bigfoot, and had several close encounters with Harry; fortunately, Darcy disappeared from the show before she could have exposed the secret about him. Nancy's younger brother Bret, a photographer, moved in with the Hendersons in the second season, and was also sworn to secrecy about Harry. When George began The Better Life in the spring of 1992, Bret was hired as the publication's chief photographer and a financial beneficiary.
The following year brought many changes, as in the season premiere Harry's existence was accidentally exposed. Just as the Hendersons feared he would be captured by the government and possibly killed, he was rather embraced by the public and received overnight regional fame. For a while, Harry had to adjust to a high-profile life full of exhibition and additional scientific studies, but at the same time the entire family got used to resting more comfortably now that they did not have to hide the big creature from view anymore. Hilton, a friend of Ernie's and the son of a local police chief, joined the cast in the third season.
The TV series credits contains an artistic representation of key scenes from the film
Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons is a 1987 American comedy film directed and produced by William Dear, and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Lainie Kazan and Don Ameche. It is the story of a family's encounter with the cryptozoological creature Bigfoot...
.
Cast
- Kevin Peter HallKevin Peter HallKevin Peter Hall was an American actor known for his roles in Misfits of Science, Prophecy, Without Warning, and Harry and the Hendersons. He was also best known as the title character in the first two films in the Predator franchise.-Early life:Hall was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
– Harry (1991) - Dawan Scott – Harry (1991–1992)
- Brian SteeleBrian SteeleBrian Steele is an American actor best known for playing many of Hollywood's favorite monsters and creatures.-Roles:On television, he played the Bigfoot called Harry in the series Harry and the Hendersons before moving on to play creatures in theatrical motion pictures, with roles like Mr. Wink in...
– Harry (1992–1993) - Bruce DavisonBruce DavisonBruce Davison is an American actor and director.-Early life:Davison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Marian E. , a secretary, and Clair W. Davison, a musician, architect, and draftsman for the Army Engineers. His parents divorced when he was three years old. He was raised by his...
– George Henderson - Molly CheekMolly CheekMolly Cheek is an American actress who played the mother of main character Jim Levenstein in the 1999 film American Pie. She also played Garry's best friend on the television show It's Garry Shandling's Show....
– Nancy Henderson - Carol-Ann Plante – Sara Henderson
- Zachary Bostrom – Ernie Henderson
- Gigi RiceGigi RiceGigi Rice is an American actress in movies and television shows.-Early life:She graduated from the Ohio State University, and majored in Theatre. Gigi Rice has enjoyed a career on television, gaining national attention when she was added to the cast of the The John Larroquette Show in 1993...
– Samantha Glick (1991) - Cassie Cole – Tiffany Glick (1991)
- David CoburnDavid CoburnDavid Coburn is an American actor, voice actor and singer. He is best known as the voice of Captain Planet in the TV series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers.-Filmography:...
– Walter Potter (1991) - Noah Blake – Bret Douglas (1991–1993)
- Courtney PeldonCourtney PeldonCourtney Peldon is an American television and film actress.-Personal life:Peldon was born in New York City, New York. Her younger sister Ashley Peldon is also an actress...
– Darcy Payne (1991–1992) - Mark Dakota Robinson – Hilton Woods, Jr. (1992–1993)
- Jared Henderson; himself (1992)
Season one: 1991
- The Arrival of Nothing
- The Day After Yesterday
- Cool Hand Luke
- Harry Goes Home (Part 1)
- Whose Forest Is It Anyway??? (Part 2)
- The Father-Daughter Syndrome
- Banging the Big One
- Harry the Heroshima
- Curb the Roots
- The Mentor
- The Bodyguard Goes To Market
- Harry and the Homeless Man
- Harry Goes Ape Sh*t
- Pet Psychic Hotel
- The Bigfoot That Ate Starbucks
- Harry and the Masked Wrestler and the Legend of the Stone Table
- When Harry Met Sammy Davis Junior
- Harry and the Cheerleaders do Dallas
Season two: 1991-92
- Retrospective
- The Terror of The Trees
- Sarah Sings the Blues
- Mom
- The Ransom of Bigfoot
- Halloween
- Brett Hits Home
- George's White Light Cream Cake
- Working Stiffs
- Love Mask
- The Blue Parrotting
- Winning
- 'Til Theft Do Us Part
- The Genius
- Wild Things
- Fatherhood
- Sara Spills the Bigfoot Beans
- The Green Pea Eating Bigfoot
- The Itchologist
- Selling Out
- The Girl Who Cried
- The Busybody
- I Got Your Birthday Right Here
Season three: 1992-93
- Yo Richie!
- The Bigfootchurian Candidate
- The Bridel and the Glue
- Born Again
- The Old Bigfoot
- The Outing
- Harry Henderson, National Park
- Retrospective Five Hundred
- Blood is Thicker Than an Arm
- Pitch, Pitch, Pitch
- Harry the Mascot
- The Big Kiss Off
- The Frenchman
- Laid Up
- Harrywood Babylon
- Witness (!)
- Harry the Hostage
- Exterminator
- Beauty and the Beast
- Big Feet, Big.....
- Surf's Downtown
- Follow Your Part
- Them Bones Need Scralling
- The Three Facts of Brett
- Ernie Confidential
- Uncle Mack Comes Back From The Grave
- Skin Deep is the Only Way To Go
- Retrospective Twelve
- The Long Goodbyes (Part 1)
- The Long Goodbyes (Part 2)
Production notes
Among the series' directors were series star Bruce Davison, Scott BaioScott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
, Frank Bonner
Frank Bonner
Frank Bonner is an American actor and television director best known for playing sales manager Herb Tarlek on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.-Life and career:...
, Tony Dow
Tony Dow
Tony Lee Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963...
, Richard Kline
Richard Kline
Richard Kline is an American actor and television director. He is best known for playing the sleazy neighbor and used car salesman, Larry Dallas, on the sitcom, Three's Company.-Early life:...
, Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Bernard Hickman is a former American actor and television executive at CBS.He is known primarily for his "teenage" actor roles on television sitcoms. The naturally brown-headed Hickman is best known for playing Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins's crazy teenaged nephew, on the popular 1950s...
, and Donna Pescow
Donna Pescow
Donna Pescow is an American film and television actress and director.-Life and career:Pescow was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family. Her father owned and ran a news stand in downtown NYC at Battery Place. Pescow attended Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn and she took drama classes...
.
The series' theme song was "Your Feets Too Big", performed by Leon Redbone
Leon Redbone
Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....
.