Nick at Nite Request: "Major Dad"

[stevearino]

Dear Nick at Nite Viewer Services,

I have a proposal for Nick at Nite: to make a deal with NBC Universal Television Distribution for Nick at Nite to have the exclusive basic cable rights to the hit '80s sitcom "Major Dad," starting (appropriately) on November 11, 2019.

Created by Gerald McRaney, "Major Dad" originally aired on the CBS Television Network from September 17, 1989 - April 16, 1993, spanning 4 seasons of 96 half-hour episodes; as Gerald himself stated according to Christian Science Monitor (https://www.csmonitor.com/1989/0920/lraney.html), he initially conceived the idea for "Major Dad" during the last season of "Simon & Simon" just prior to CBS cancelling "Simon & Simon" when he created a TV sitcom, the aforementioned "Major Dad," about "a rather conservative, peacetime officer who falls in love with a newspaper reporter, who is rather liberal. She's a single parent raising three daughters. They get married, and then the real fun begins."

Mac, as his friends call him, continued per the Christian Science Monitor: "``When we were discussing which branch of the service he'd be in, I voted for the Marines.'' A branch Mac himself would have been in had a high-school football injury NOT cut short his plans for the Military after high school.

In its first 3 seasons, "Major Dad" originally aired on CBS Monday nights at 8 P.M. ET (from 1990-1992 after "Evening Shade"); in its debut season, the show was the lead-in to the 1989 flop "The People Next Door."

Married for 30 years to Delta Burke (whom he met and fell in love with when he played her ex-husband on Delta's hit CBS sitcom "Designing Women"), Gerald Lee McRaney was born on August 19, 1947 in rural Collins, Mississippi.

Though he and Delta have no children together, Mac has 2 grown children from his first marriage--including a son, Angus, who was born completely deaf--as well as an adopted daughter, Katie, with 2nd ex-wife Pat Moran.

In September 1992, "Major Dad" moved out of its popular Monday-night timeslot and into Friday nights at 8 on CBS after the "Golden Girls" sequel series "The Golden Palace" and right before "Designing Women" at 9.

Disastrous results in "Major Dad" airing Fridays led CBS to cancel the series after 4 seasons of 96 episodes; in the series finale telecast on April 16, 1993, Maj. Gen. Marcus Craig (Jon Cypher) and Lt. Gene Holowachuk (Matt Mulhern) were transferred from the fictional Camp Hollister in Farlow, Virginia to the nation's capital in Washington, D.C.; at finale's end, after a week of shoddy treatment by Craig's successor, Craig took Gunnery Sgt. Alva "Gunny" Bricker (Beverly Archer) and Major John MacGillis (Gerald McRaney) with him to Washington, D.C.

At the start of the series on September 17, 1989, Major John MacGillis was stationed at the fictional Camp Singleton in Oceanside, California, where he met and fell in love with Polly Cooper (Shanna Reed), a recent widow with 3 daughters: teenager Elizabeth (Marisa Ryan), pre-teen Robin (Nicole Dubuc), and kindergartener Casey (Chelsea Hertford). FYI: Though the finale episode, "General Disturbance," was taped last, it initially aired a week earlier of the penultimate filmed episode, "Oops a Daisy," which aired on April 16, 1993.

Tentatively, and appropriately, Nick at Nite shall add "Major Dad" to its regular schedule on Monday, November 11, 2019 (Veteran's Day) with a week-long marathon titled "Major Dads Everywhere," with real-life Marine Drew Carey hosting and presenting 40 episodes (10 per night from 9 P.M. ET to 2 A.M. ET each night, encoring from 2 A.M. to 7 A.M. ET each night) of "Major Dad" in celebration of the series' addition to Nick at Nite; after the marathon, Nick at Nite shall add "Major Dad" to its regular lineup effectively replacing "Full House" on Nick at Nite's lineup weeknights at 9 P.M. ET. on Nick at Nite.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino