Who remembers “Friends and Lovers”?

[Schmo]

The 1974 half-season series starred Paul Sand. It may best be remembered for two things. It co-starred Penny Marshall before she hit it big in “Laverne and Shirley”. “The Jeffersons” replaced it in January 1975.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_F0grymhA

[treky]

I remember it, haven't seen it since it aired but as I recall it wasn't very good. I remember Paul Sand played a cellist in the Boston symphony and Steve Landesburg (Dietrick from BARNEY MILLER) played his friend who was a violinist in the orchestra and Penny Marshall played his sister-in-law.
I remember Leon Askin (Gen. Burgholder on HOGANS HEROES) was in a few episodes

[Bonniegirl]

Yeah. I liked that show! I thought Paul Sand was cute!

[1960'sTVfan]

I wonder sometimes if this series failed because the majority of people were not familiar with Paul Sand. People might have been thinking, "Who is Paul Sand and why does he have his own sitcom?"

[AB]

Originally Posted by Bonniegirl

Yeah. I liked that show! I thought Paul Sand was cute!

I liked it too. And Paul Sand was such a nice looking fellow and could be very funny.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

Originally Posted by 1960'sTVfan

I wonder sometimes if this series failed because the majority of people were not familiar with Paul Sand. People might have been thinking, "Who is Paul Sand and why does he have his own sitcom?"

He had been in a Mary Tyler Moore episode where he was an IRS agent who was auditing Mary. It was very well-received, so MTM put together a show for him. It was nearly always referred to as Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, which maybe was a mistake because it sort of highlighted the fact that people didn't know who he was.

[TMC]

My Journey Through 1970s TV: Saturday Nights, 1974

[quote]New to the lineup was Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, but not for very long. What an odd title – I assume they wanted Sand to have his name in the title like Mary, Bob, and Carol – but they were all already known quantities to viewers, where he was not. According to series co-creator Allan Burns, they gave Sand his own series because he and James Brooks were so impressed by his guest spot as an IRS agent on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But despite being surrounded by hits on the schedule, the series never found an audience.



It’s been decades since I’ve seen it, but in my memory Sand came off like a slightly less nebbish-like Woody Allen, and that’s not the type of character that viewers would embrace on a weekly basis. CBS dropped it after 15 episodes, but Sand continued to work steadily for decades, and is still with us at age 92.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

He had been in a Mary Tyler Moore episode where he was an IRS agent who was auditing Mary. It was very well-received, so MTM put together a show for him. It was nearly always referred to as Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, which maybe was a mistake because it sort of highlighted the fact that people didn't know who he was.

MTM writer David Davis interview. At about -1:19:00, Davis talks about the Paul Sand guest spot. The script was apparently written with the idea that Bob Newhart would be the smitten IRS agent:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmas...w/david-davis/