What Might've Been: Blansky's Beauties (1977)

After appearing concurrently in supporting roles in 2 series (Rhoda & McMillian & Wife) and a bazillion commercials for Bounty paper towels, Nancy Walker landed a contract with ABC in 1976. Unfortunately, much like Andy Griffith at CBS a few years earlier, Walker struck out twice in the same season.

After her self-titled, Norman Lear-produced sitcom came & went, Walker was cast in the lead in Garry Marshall's Blansky's Beauties. Set in present-day Las Vegas, Walker played Nancy Blansky, who was a den mother, if you will, for a troupe of showgirls. Unfortunately, Blansky was stuck with a Saturday night berth opposite NBC's Emergency! and CBS' The Jeffersons. Game over.

Curiously, Blansky started with a back-door pilot just a few days earlier on Happy Days, so this was the first spin-off from Days that failed. While Days was set at that time in the late 50's, Blansky's Beauties, as noted, was set 20 years later, and while Walker's character didn't change all that much, the time difference may have been a bit of a factor.

There were crossovers with not only Days, but with, after a fashion, Laverne & Shirley, as well, as Penny Marshall, as a slightly older Laverne, made a guest appearance. Pat Morita reprised as Arnold after his own series, Mr. T & Tina, had also flopped earlier in the season. Eddie Mekka was cast as Joey, the lookalike cousin of his Laverne character, Carmine, which would've been fodder for a future storyline had Blansky been renewed.

Post-Blansky, Lynda Goodfriend and Scott Baio joined the cast of Happy Days, although both would also appear on another Marshall entry, NBC's Who's Watching The Kids?, which replicated a basic plot from Blansky. Kids was also given a quick hook, which suggested that maybe in his seeming obsession with having a hit show set in Las Vegas, Marshall went back to the drawing board too soon.

Marshall also had a recurring role as Nancy's boss, Mr. Smith. Cyndi Grecco, who recorded Laverne's theme song, "Making Our Dreams Come True", does the honors here for Blansky's theme, "I Want it All", not to be confused with the later Queen song of the same name.

Here's the intro:



Another cast member, Rhonda Bates, would also move on, resurfacing in another NBC flop, James Komack's Roller Girls, before co-hosting the magazine series, Speak Up America. As noted earlier this week, Caren Kaye would return in the fall of '77 in The Betty White Show before joining the cast of Who's Watching The Kids?.

No rating. I have no memory of seeing this show.