thirtysomething (TV series)
"Thirtysomething" is a television series that aired on ABC for four seasons, created by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. Set in Philadelphia, it follows the lives of seven main characters navigating the complexities of adulthood, relationships, and personal growth. The characters include Michael Steadman, a Jewish advertising executive; Hope Murdoch Steadman, his wife grappling with parenting; and Elliot Weston, Michael's self-centered business partner whose actions affect his marriage. Other key figures include the artistic Nancy Krieger Weston, Michael's cousin Melissa, career-focused Ellyn Warren, and Gary Shepherd, a college professor with a critical view of conventional life.
The show is noted for its sophisticated writing, which garnered multiple Emmy nominations and awards, and for addressing serious issues such as homosexuality, AIDS, divorce, and cancer—topics that were rarely explored on mainstream television at the time. While some critics found the show's tone too introspective, others praised its realism and depth. Despite its brief run, "Thirtysomething" influenced the portrayal of everyday life on television, marking a significant shift towards more serious storytelling in the medium.
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thirtysomething (TV series)
Identification American television drama
Date Aired from 1987 to 1991
With its sensitive writing and introspective performances, thirtysomething focused on a group of baby boomers as they dealt with issues intrinsic to growing up. Considered overindulgent by some and groundbreakingly honest by others, the show was the first television drama of its kind.
Creators Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz peopled their fictional Philadelphia with seven main characters: Michael Steadman (played by Ken Olin), the sensitive Jewish advertising executive always trying to make sense of his world and become a better man; Hope Murdoch Steadman (Mel Harris), his Protestant wife, struggling with first-time child rearing; Elliot Weston (Timothy Busfield), Michael’s business partner whose perpetual selfishness nearly destroys his marriage and forces him to change his life; Nancy Krieger Weston (Patricia Wettig), Elliot’s wife, who discovers, through their separation, her new career as an artist and ultimately her cancer and her identity separate from her family; Melissa Steadman (Melanie Mayron), Michael’s photographer cousin who is continually in and out of therapy, trying to work out her issues with men; Ellyn Warren (Polly Draper), Hope’s best friend from high school who has chosen her career over a family life; and Gary Shepherd (Peter Horton), Michael’s hippie college friend, now a college English professor, who criticizes the bourgeois lives of his friends while refusing to grow up.
The lives and loves of these seven characters formed the plot of the show for the four seasons it aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The writing on the show, touted by some critics as some of the best writing ever seen on television nd criticized by others for being either too sophisticated or too “whiny,” earned the show Emmy nominations for each year it was on the air, two of which it won. The show also garnered numerous nominations and wins in acting, directing, and technical categories. Thirtysomething tackled several serious topical issues not previously featured on network television, including homosexuality, AIDS, second-wave feminism, divorce, and a long and detailed look at cancer. It also treated religion, sex, parenting, and friendship as the most important parts of a person’s life, things that require profound and constant attention.
Impact
Though it aired only for four seasons, thirtysomething had a lasting impact on television and culture. The show focused on average people dealing with normal life events, a turn in television culture viewed by some as overindulgent and by others as the first move into making television a more serious and profound medium.
Bibliography
Heide, Margaret J. Television Culture and Women’s Lives: “Thirtysomething” and the Contradictions of Gender. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
Thompson, Richard. Television’s Second Golden Age . Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1997.