Thirtysomething
Encyclopedia
Thirtysomething is an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz
and Edward Zwick
for MGM/UA Television Group
(through United Artists Television
) and The Bedford Falls Company
, and aired on ABC
. It premiered in the U.S. on September 29, 1987. It lasted four seasons, with the last of its 85 episodes airing on May 28, 1991.
The title of the show was designed as thirtysomething (with a lowercase "t") by Kathie Broyles, who combined the words of the original title, Thirty Something.
In 1997, "The Go Between" and "Samurai Ad Man" were ranked #22 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
In 2002, Thirtysomething was ranked #19 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
.
yuppies during the late 1980s. They are bonded by their involvement with the peace movement and counterculture of the 1960s
during their youth, a past that is in marked contrast to their current, middle-class lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
Although seen as an ensemble drama, the series tended to revolve around husband and wife Michael Steadman (Ken Olin
) and Hope Murdoch (Mel Harris
), who provided the focal point for the group. Michael's cousin is photographer Melissa Steadman (Melanie Mayron
), and his business partner is Elliot Weston (Timothy Busfield
), who has a troubled marriage with his wife Nancy (Patricia Wettig
). Michael's best friend is Gary Shepherd (Peter Horton
), who eventually married Susannah (Patricia Kalember
). Hope's best friend is Ellyn Warren (Polly Draper
).
. The show reflected the angst felt by baby boomers and yuppies in the United States during the 1980s, such as the changing expectations related to masculinity
and femininity
introduced during the era of second-wave feminism
. It also introduced "a new kind of hour-long drama, a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives of a group of young urban professionals, a socio-economic category of increasing interest to the television industry [...] its stylistic and story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the level of an art form as weekly television ever gets,' as the New York Times put it." During its four-year run, Thirtysomething "attracted a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its eight central characters, a circle of friends living in Philadelphia." Even after its cancellation in 1991, it continued to influence television programming, "in everything from the look and sound of certain TV advertisements, to other series with feminine sensibilities and preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (Sisters
), to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (Seinfeld
)."
The show also influenced the British television series Cold Feet
, which featured similar storylines and character types. The creator of Cold Feet wanted his show to be in the mould of successful American TV series like Thirtysomething and Frasier
.
Some were particularly critical of the show. Susan Faludi
, in her 1991 bestseller Backlash
, argues that the show exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single, working, and feminist women (Melissa, Ellyn, and Susannah) while at the same time "exalting homemakers" (Hope and Nancy).
The season three episode Strangers
, which showed a male couple in bed in one scene, prompted five regular sponsors to pull out of the episode.
s in their thirties. This cultural shift was reinforced by the Oxford English Dictionary
, which added Thirtysomething in 1993 (under the word thirty) and defined the term as follows:
Thirtysomething was also responsible for the coinage of the word "twentysomething," to describe Generation X
. This was reflected in Douglas Coupland
's 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
. The Fortysomething Team was used to describe the Clinton
-Gore
ticket in the US 1992 presidential election
, as both members of the ticket were Baby Boomers.
Thirtysomething aired Tuesdays at 10:00 on ABC.
Note: Ratings data from TVTango.com
(under license from MGM
) has released all four seasons of Thirtysomething on DVD in Region 1.
On January 18, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released half of season one of Thirtysomething on DVD. It contained 10 episodes and was released as part of their "TV Flashbacks" collection. Other TV shows were released under the TV Flashbacks banner including Punky Brewster, My Two Dads, Blossom, and Simon and Simon.
1988 Winners:
It also received the following nominations in 1988:
1989 Winners:
It also received the following nominations in 1989:
1990 Winners:
It also received the following nominations in 1990:
1991 Winners:
It also received the following nominations in 1991:
Marshall Herskovitz
Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and...
and Edward Zwick
Edward Zwick
Edward M. Zwick is an American filmmaker and film producer noted for his epic films about social and racial issues. He has been described as a "throwback to an earlier era, an extremely cerebral director whose movies consistently feature fully rounded characters, difficult moral issues, and plots...
for MGM/UA Television Group
MGM Television
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television is an American television production/distribution launched in 1955 and a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc....
(through United Artists Television
United Artists Television
-Background:UA purchased Associated Artists Productions in 1958, giving UA access to the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library and the Popeye cartoons made by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios between 1933 and 1957....
) and The Bedford Falls Company
Bedford Falls Productions
Bedford Falls Productions is the production company of Edward Zwick, the co-creator of the television series thirtysomething and Once and Again, and the director of Legends of the Fall, The Siege, and Blood Diamond...
, and aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. It premiered in the U.S. on September 29, 1987. It lasted four seasons, with the last of its 85 episodes airing on May 28, 1991.
The title of the show was designed as thirtysomething (with a lowercase "t") by Kathie Broyles, who combined the words of the original title, Thirty Something.
In 1997, "The Go Between" and "Samurai Ad Man" were ranked #22 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
In 2002, Thirtysomething was ranked #19 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is TV Guides list of the 50 most entertaining and influential television series in American pop culture...
.
General plot and characters
Thirtysomething depicts the lives of a group of baby boomerBaby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
yuppies during the late 1980s. They are bonded by their involvement with the peace movement and counterculture of the 1960s
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
during their youth, a past that is in marked contrast to their current, middle-class lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
Although seen as an ensemble drama, the series tended to revolve around husband and wife Michael Steadman (Ken Olin
Ken Olin
Kenneth Edward "Ken" Olin is an American actor, director and producer. He is known for his starring role on the television series Thirtysomething, and most recently as Executive Producer, director, and recurring guest star of the television series Brothers & Sisters .-Career:As an actor, Olin...
) and Hope Murdoch (Mel Harris
Mel Harris
Mel Harris is an American actress.-Personal life:Harris was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the daughter to Mary Michael "Mike", a high school science teacher, and Warren Harris, a university football coach...
), who provided the focal point for the group. Michael's cousin is photographer Melissa Steadman (Melanie Mayron
Melanie Mayron
Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
), and his business partner is Elliot Weston (Timothy Busfield
Timothy Busfield
Timothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
), who has a troubled marriage with his wife Nancy (Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
). Michael's best friend is Gary Shepherd (Peter Horton
Peter Horton
Peter Horton is an American actor and director. He played the role of Prof. Gary Shepherd on the popular television series Thirtysomething until 1991.-Early life:...
), who eventually married Susannah (Patricia Kalember
Patricia Kalember
Patricia Kathryn Kalember is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Georgiana "Georgie" Reed Whitsig on the NBC drama Sisters , Susannah Hart Shepherd on the popular 1980s television show Thirtysomething and as Judge Karen Taten on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit .- Life and...
). Hope's best friend is Ellyn Warren (Polly Draper
Polly Draper
Polly Carey Draper is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. She is renowned for her ensemble role in ABC's hit series Thirtysomething. In 1998, Draper starred in her screenwriting debut The Tic Code, featuring Gregory Hines which was inspired by her husband Michael...
).
Character descriptions
- Michael Steadman and Hope Murdoch Steadman: Michael works in the advertising business with Elliot (initially in their own business, but later for DAA). Hope is a writer and stay-at-home motherHomemakerHomemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
who struggles between her desire to be at home with her daughter Janey (and later son Leo) and her need to work. She sometimes feels like a sellout for having become a homemakerHomemakerHomemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. Michael (who is Jewish) and Hope (who is ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
) are also an interfaith coupleInterreligious marriageInterfaith marriage, traditionally called mixed marriage, is marriage between partners professing different religions. Some religious doctrines prohibit interfaith marriage, and while others do allow it, most restrict it...
, a fact that was referenced throughout the series. During the third season of the series, Hope is attracted to environmentalist John Dunaway (J. D. SoutherJ. D. SoutherJohn David Souther is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written numerous hits songs recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Frey of the Eagles.-Singing career:...
) and contemplates having an affair with him, but decides against it.
- Melissa Steadman: Michael's cousin and Gary's former girlfriend. Melissa is a photographer whose career includes the cover of an album by Carly SimonCarly SimonCarly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
and photos in the magazine Vanity FairVanity Fair (magazine)Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. Melissa becomes involved with a younger man, Lee Owens (Corey ParkerCorey Parker (actor)Corey Parker is an American actor and acting coach.-Biography:Corey Parker was born in New York City, the son of acting coach Rochelle "Rocky" Parker...
), a house painter, but the relationship is fraught with problems based largely on the age difference and on Melissa's insecurities. Melissa's friendship with Russell Weller (David Marshall Grant) an artist who was gay, developed in season two and continued off and on the last two seasons.
- Elliot Weston and Nancy Krieger Weston: Elliot works in the advertising business with Michael (initially in their own business, but later for DAA). Nancy is an artist and stay-at-home mother to Ethan and Brittany. Like Hope, she often feels bored and unhappy in her role as a homemakerHomemakerHomemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. In addition to coping with Elliot's infidelities, Nancy struggles with and overcomes ovarian cancer during the last two seasons. She also becomes a successful children's author and illustrator.
- Ellyn Warren: Hope's childhood friend. Ellyn works at City HallCity hallIn local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
and is initially involved with Steve Woodman (Terry KinneyTerry KinneyTerry Kinney is an American actor and theatre director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry.-Early life:...
), who works at City Hall as well. Later, she has an affair with a married man, Jeffrey Milgrom (Richard GillilandRichard GillilandRichard Gilliland is an American television and movie actor.Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He appeared onscreen in the 1970s. Notable appearances include Thirtysomething, Party of Five, Little Women, and a recurring role on Designing Women...
). During the final season, Ellyn becomes involved with (and marries) Billy Sidel (Erich AndersonErich AndersonErich Anderson is an actor, sometimes credited as E. Erich Anderson, who has starred in film and on television. He is best known for his first film role in the 1984 horror film Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as Rob Dyer...
), a graphic designerGraphic designerA graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
.
- Gary Shepherd and Susannah Hart: Gary, Michael's college roommate at the University of Pennsylvania, is a free-spirited professor of English literature at Haverford College. When denied tenure at Haverford College, he thinks about becoming a social worker. It is at this point that Gary meets Susannah, a social worker. Despite the fact that no one else likes her, Gary marries Susannah when they have a baby, Emma. Gary dies during the final season in a chain-reaction car accident (ironic since he is a bicyclist and hates cars), just as Nancy recovers from cancer. Prior to Gary's death, Susannah accepts a job-offer and moves away to New York; the two marrying on the day of her departure.
- Miles Drentell (David ClennonDavid ClennonDavid Clennon is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again....
): Michael and Elliot's boss at DAA. Miles' lack of ethics propels Michael into periods of self-reflection and depression, in particular when he is forced to fire Elliot. David Clennon reprised this role in the series Once and AgainOnce and AgainOnce and Again is an American television series that aired on ABC from September 21, 1999 to April 15, 2002. It depicts the family of a single mother and her romance with a single father...
(1999–2002).
Influences and cultural impact
Thirtysomething was influenced by the 1983 film The Big ChillThe Big Chill (film)
The Big Chill is a 1983 American comedy-drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. It is about a group of baby boomer college friends who reunite briefly after 15 years due to...
. The show reflected the angst felt by baby boomers and yuppies in the United States during the 1980s, such as the changing expectations related to masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
and femininity
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...
introduced during the era of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
. It also introduced "a new kind of hour-long drama, a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives of a group of young urban professionals, a socio-economic category of increasing interest to the television industry [...] its stylistic and story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the level of an art form as weekly television ever gets,' as the New York Times put it." During its four-year run, Thirtysomething "attracted a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its eight central characters, a circle of friends living in Philadelphia." Even after its cancellation in 1991, it continued to influence television programming, "in everything from the look and sound of certain TV advertisements, to other series with feminine sensibilities and preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (Sisters
Sisters (TV series)
Sisters is a television drama which aired on NBC for six seasons, from 1991 to 1996. The series was created by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, who also created the Showtime series Queer as Folk and wrote the acclaimed Emmy and Peabody Award winning drama An Early Frost, also for NBC...
), to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
)."
The show also influenced the British television series Cold Feet
Cold Feet
Cold Feet is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his award-winning 1997 Comedy Premiere of the same name. The storyline follows three couples experiencing the...
, which featured similar storylines and character types. The creator of Cold Feet wanted his show to be in the mould of successful American TV series like Thirtysomething and Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
.
Some were particularly critical of the show. Susan Faludi
Susan Faludi
Susan C. Faludi is an American feminist, journalist and author. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1991, for a report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway Stores, Inc., a report that the Pulitzer Prize committee thought showed the "human costs of high finance".-Biographical...
, in her 1991 bestseller Backlash
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women is the title of a 1991 nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Faludi, which argues for the existence of a media driven "backlash" against the feminist advances of the 1970s...
, argues that the show exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single, working, and feminist women (Melissa, Ellyn, and Susannah) while at the same time "exalting homemakers" (Hope and Nancy).
The season three episode Strangers
Strangers (thirtysomething)
"Strangers" is a 1989 episode of the television series Thirtysomething. The episode contrasts two relationships, one between Melissa Steadman and Lee Owens and the other between Russell Weller and Peter Montefiore . Melissa worries about the age difference between herself and Lee as she is...
, which showed a male couple in bed in one scene, prompted five regular sponsors to pull out of the episode.
Oxford English Dictionary
Almost immediately after the introduction of the show, the term "Thirtysomething" became a catchphrase used to designate baby boomerBaby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
s in their thirties. This cultural shift was reinforced by the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, which added Thirtysomething in 1993 (under the word thirty) and defined the term as follows:
- [popularized as a catchphrase by the U.S. television program Thirtysomething, first broadcast in 1987], an undetermined age between thirty and forty; specifically applied to members of the ‘baby boom’ generation entering their thirties in the mid-1980s; also attributed as an adjective phrase (hence, characteristic of the tastes and lifestyle of this group).
Thirtysomething was also responsible for the coinage of the word "twentysomething," to describe Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. This was reflected in Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
's 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, published by St. Martin's Press in 1991, is the first novel by Douglas Coupland. The novel popularized the term Generation X, which refers to Americans and Canadians who reached adulthood in the late 1980s...
. The Fortysomething Team was used to describe the Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
-Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
ticket in the US 1992 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
, as both members of the ticket were Baby Boomers.
Episodes
Thirtysomething aired Tuesdays at 10:00 on ABC.
Nielsen Ratings
- 1987-88: #44 (13.74 rating)
- 1988-89: #40 (13.91 rating)
- 1989-90: #47 (12.58 rating)
- 1990-91: #54 (11.22 rating)
Note: Ratings data from TVTango.com
DVD releases
Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
(under license from MGM
MGM Home Entertainment
MGM Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD arm of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-History:The home video division of MGM started in 1979 as MGM Home Video, releasing all the movies and TV shows by MGM. In 1980, MGM joined forces with CBS Video Enterprises, the home video division of the CBS television...
) has released all four seasons of Thirtysomething on DVD in Region 1.
| DVD Name | Ep# | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 21 | August 25, 2009 |
| The Complete Second Season | 17 | January 19, 2010 |
| The Complete Third Season | 24 | May 11, 2010 |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 23 | November 9, 2010 |
On January 18, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released half of season one of Thirtysomething on DVD. It contained 10 episodes and was released as part of their "TV Flashbacks" collection. Other TV shows were released under the TV Flashbacks banner including Punky Brewster, My Two Dads, Blossom, and Simon and Simon.
Emmy Awards
Thirtysomething won numerous Emmy Awards and nominations for:1988 Winners:
- Drama Series
- Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Patricia WettigPatricia WettigPatricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
- Writing in a Drama Series — Paul HaggisPaul HaggisPaul Edward Haggis is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, and director. He spent his early career producing and directing various American and Canadian television network series.-Early life and education:...
and Marshall HerskovitzMarshall HerskovitzMarshall Schreiber Herskovitz is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and...
(episode: "Business as Usual") - Guest Performer in a Drama Series — Shirley KnightShirley KnightShirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
It also received the following nominations in 1988:
- Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy BusfieldTimothy BusfieldTimothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
- Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Polly DraperPolly DraperPolly Carey Draper is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. She is renowned for her ensemble role in ABC's hit series Thirtysomething. In 1998, Draper starred in her screenwriting debut The Tic Code, featuring Gregory Hines which was inspired by her husband Michael...
- Editing for a Series — Single Camera Production
- Achievement in Main Title Theme Music
- Achievement in Costuming for a Series
1989 Winners:
- Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie MayronMelanie MayronMelanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
- Writing in a Drama Series — Joseph Dougherty (episode: "First Day/Last Day")
- Editing for a Series — Single Camera Production
- Achievement in Costuming for a Series
It also received the following nominations in 1989:
- Drama Series
- Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy BusfieldTimothy BusfieldTimothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
- Guest Actor in a Drama Series
- Directing in a Drama Series
- Writing in a Drama Series
- Art Direction for a Series
- Sound Mixing for a Drama Series
- Achievement in Special Visual Effects (episode: "Michael Writes a Story")
- Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series
1990 Winners:
- Lead Actress in a Drama Series — Patricia WettigPatricia WettigPatricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
- Directing in a Drama Series (tied with Equal Justice).
It also received the following nominations in 1990:
- Drama Series
- Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy BusfieldTimothy BusfieldTimothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
- Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie MayronMelanie MayronMelanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
- Guest Actor in a Drama Series
- Guest Actress in a Drama Series
- Writing in a Drama Series
- Art Direction for a Series
- Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series
- Achievement in Costuming for a Series
1991 Winners:
- Lead Actress in a Drama Series — Patricia WettigPatricia WettigPatricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
- Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy BusfieldTimothy BusfieldTimothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
- Achievement in Costuming for a Series
It also received the following nominations in 1991:
- Drama Series
- Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie MayronMelanie MayronMelanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
- Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — David ClennonDavid ClennonDavid Clennon is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again....
- Writing in a Drama Series
- Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Further reading
- "thirtysomething." The Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsMuseum of Broadcast CommunicationsThe Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
. - Hanke, R. (1990). "Hegemonic masculinity in thirtysomething." Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 7, 231–248.
- Heide, Margaret J. Television Culture and Women's Lives: "thirtysomething" and the Contradictions of Gender (ISBN 0-8122-1534-6).