The Thorns

In 1988, ABC aired this sitcom about social climbing New Yorkers, the Thorns, and their highly dysfunctional family. I taped all 7 aired episodes on one tape. The Thorns were way ahead of its time in 1988. They exposed seedy life of Upper East Side New Yorkers with wealth to buy their reputations. The Thorns had such guest stars like Christine Baranski before her Cybill fame, Maureen Stapleton,and the late William Roerick. Kelly and TOny were exquisite in their roles as parents and unfaithful spouses. It was well-written and directed but too intelligent for the audience then and probably now. The pilot plot featured around fundraising party at the Thorns Upper East Side townhouse. The Thorns put the family dog to sleep to avoid it disturbing the party. Their youngest son begins to act like a dog as a reaction to his death. Then their paternal grandmother arrives from Brooklyn, her apartment building burns down. Ginger Thorn replies "It's probably an improvement." The Thorns are forced to put Grandma THorn in the dog's room. Yes, the dog had his own room. Grandma THorn now deals with her youngest grandson's dilemma. She comes down in her nightgown during the party to fetch her grandson. This show had so much potential but not enough viewers at the time. Kelly Bishop and TOny Roberts headed this cast for 7 episodes until it became cancelled by network politics and not enough interest. Maybe the ABC network felt the show was too similar to their own lives and decided to shelve it to avoid criticism. The Thorns made New York City to be equally shallow and depth as a puddle on the street. Sorry it didn't last longer or nobody else picked it up at the time. It was well worth taping all of it.