Sydney is an American situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 series that aired on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 in 1990

1990 in television

For the American TV schedule, see: 1990-91 United States network television schedule.The year 1990 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1990.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...

. It was created and written by Michael J. Wilson and Douglas Wyman and starred Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American actress, best known for her roles as Barbara Cooper Royer on the television series One Day at a Time , Gloria on the television series Touched by an Angel and Melanie Moretti on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland .- Early years :Bertinelli was born in Wilmington,...

, Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry is Canadian-American television and film actor.Matthew Perry or Matt Perry may also refer to:*Matthew C. Perry , American naval officer who forcibly opened Japan to trade with the West...

 and Craig Bierko

Craig Bierko

Craig Philip Bierko is an American actor and singer.-Early life:Bierko was born in Rye Brook, New York, the son of Pat and Rex Bierko, who ran a local community theatre. Bierko's mother was a Jewish convert to Roman Catholicism...

.

Synopsis

Sydney Kells (Valerie Bertinelli), the daughter of a now-deceased policeman, brings her New York detective agency (in which she is the only investigator) back to her hometown and her family, including her over-protective brother Billy (Matthew Perry), himself a rookie cop. As she struggles to balance her personal and professional life, the main source of her work comes from an uptight lawyer (Craig Bierko), with whom she shares sexual chemistry. She and her best friend Jill (Rebeccah Bush) frequent a neighborhood bar run by Ray (Barney Martin), her father's old police partner.

Cast

• Valerie Bertinelli ... Sydney Kells
• Matthew Perry ... Billy Kells
• Craig Bierko ... Matt Keating
• Barney Martin ... Ray
• Rebeccah Bush ... Jill
• Perry Anzilotti ... Perry
• Daniel Baldwin
  Daniel Baldwin
  Daniel Leroy Baldwin is an American actor, producer and director. He is the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. Daniel Baldwin is known for his role as Detective Beau Felton in the popular NBC TV series Homicide: Life on the Street...
  
   ... Cheezy
• Georgia Brown
  Georgia Brown (English singer)
  Georgia Brown was a British singer and actress.Born Lillian Claire Laizer Getel Klot in the East End of London to Mark and Annie Kirschenbaum Klot, Jewish immigrants to the United Kingdom, she was dispatched to Wales during the Blitz to escape the bombings in London...
  
   ... Linda Kells

Theme song

Bertinelli convinced then-husband Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

 to grant permission for the Van Halen

Van Halen

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

 song Finish What Ya Started, from their 1988 album OU812

OU812

OU812 is the 8th studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1988. The album title is allegedly a joke on Van Halen's previous lead singer David Lee Roth's 1986 album Eat 'Em and Smile . However, "OU812" was also seen in the 70s sitcom Taxi written on a wall...

, to be used as the opening theme song to Sydney.

Guest appearances

Pat Harrington Jr., who appeared with Bertinelli in the long-running CBS situation comedy One Day at a Time

One Day at a Time

One Day at a Time is an American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 until May 28, 1984. It portrays Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper and Schneider, their building superintendent .The show...

, guest starred as a rival private investigator in the seventh episode of the season, which was directed by Cheers

Cheers

Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...

regular John Ratzenberger

John Ratzenberger

John Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...

. Billy Van Zandt

Billy Van Zandt

William "Billy" Van Zandt is an American playwright and actor.-Personal life:Van Zandt was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Mary H. Lento and William Brewster Van Zandt. He is of Italian and Dutch descent...

 and Jane Milmore, who acted as creative consultants on the show, also made various guest appearances. Chazz Palminteri

Chazz Palminteri

Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri is an American actor and writer, best known for his performances in The Usual Suspects, A Bronx Tale, and his Academy Award nominated role for Best Supporting Actor in Bullets Over Broadway....

 played Tony in the episode Love Ya Babe, several years prior to his big screen debut in A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale is a 1993 American crime drama film set in The Bronx during the turbulent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, and follows a young Italian-American teenager as his path in life is guided by two father figures, played by De Niro and Chazz Palminteri...

. Other guest actors included Yeardley Smith

Yeardley Smith

Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....

, Kevin Dunn

Kevin Dunn

Kevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films since the 1980s. His roles include Colonel Hicks in the 1998 version of Godzilla, Sam Witwicky's father in Transformers, and Oscar Galvin, the primary antagonist in the 2010 action thriller...

, Annabelle Gurwitch

Annabelle Gurwitch

Annabelle Gurwitch is an American comedic actress. She is best known as the original hostess of TBS's Dinner and a Movie. She is also a noted author and columnist and was most recently the host of Wa$ted! on Planet Green....

, Tony Longo

Tony Longo

Tony Longo is an American actor who has appeared in many well-known television series such as Laverne & Shirley, Simon & Simon, Alice, Perfect Strangers, Sydney and Monk...

, Andy Dick

Andy Dick

Andrew R. "Andy" Dick is an American comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer. His first regular television role was on the short-lived but highly influential Ben Stiller Show. In the mid-1990s, he had a long-running stint on NBC's NewsRadio...

 and Michael E. Knight

Michael E. Knight

- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...

.