All's Fair

All's Fair is an American television sitcom from Norman Lear that aired one season on CBS from 1976 to 1977. The series co-starred Richard Crenna as a conservative political columnist and Bernadette Peters as a liberal photographer, and their romantic mismatch because of age and political opinions. The program also featured Michael Keaton in an early role as Lanny Wolf. Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role.

Plot
In Washington, D.C., an older (49) conservative columnist Richard C. Barrington (Richard Crenna) and a young (23) liberal photographer Charlotte (Charley) Drake (Bernadette Peters) become romantically involved. The complications of their politics and the age difference provide the story lines. They are "separated by politics, generation gap, manners and living styles".

Barrington is a gourmet cook who lives in a luxurious Washington townhouse, and Drake is a vegetarian. Barrington has a girl friend, a literary agent (Salome Jens), when he first meets Drake. The style of the show is "almost constant hysteria, the rapid pacing set to the sounds of argumentative shouting."

Cast and crew

 * Cast

Source: Nostalgia Central


 * Richard C. Barrington – Richard Crenna
 * Charlotte (Charley) Drake – Bernadette Peters
 * Lucy Daniels, Al's girlfriend and a reporter – Lee Chamberlin
 * Allen Brooks, Richard's assistant – J.A. Preston
 * Ginger Livingston, Charley's roommate – Judith Kahan
 * Senator Wayne Joplin, a liberal Senator and friend of Richard – Jack Dodson
 * Lanny Wolf (1976), aide to President Carter – Michael Keaton


 * Crew
 * Norman Lear – Production Supervisor
 * Michael Elias – Producer
 * Rod Parker – Executive Producer
 * Bob Claver – Director
 * Hal Cooper – Director
 * Bob Schiller – Writer and Producer
 * Bob Weiskopf – Writer and Producer
 * Ben Stein – Consultant and writer

Reception
The reviewer for Knight News Wire wrote that the show "looks like the best new comedy series of the year...The show looks sound in both writing and acting ... the characters spend a lot of time shouting. Lear seems to have decided ... that high-decibel dialogue is necessary to hold the attention of a large audience."

The critic for The New York Times wrote that "The casting is first-rate and the finger-snapping pace of the show leaves just about everything looking easy and undemanding.

The reviewer for Copley News Service wrote that he did not believe in the relationship (between Crenna and Peters). However, he wrote that "it works. It works because Crenna is an expert farceur and Peters is, well, cute and full of the old ginger. It works because the dialogue has crackle and wit. ... Peters has spunk and spirit and a bawdy and snappishly delightful wit ... a well-paced, intelligently conceived and altogether trenchant comedy and I don't see how it can miss."

Awards and nominations

 * Golden Globe, 1977, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical - Bernadette Peters (nominated)