The Tortellis

1987
The Tortellis

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 The Tortellis <i>a.k.a.</i> Pilot Jan 22, 1987

Nick Tortelli leaves Boston to move to Las Vegas and reconcile with his wife, Loretta, who is living with her sister and is trying for a show biz career. His son, Anthony, moves with him to help with the TV repair business.

EP2 An Affair To Remember Jan 28, 1987

Loretta catches Nick having an affair and threatens to leave him. Nick tries to win back her love

EP3 Frankie Comes To Dinner Feb 04, 1987

Cliff and Norm leave Boston and come visit Las Vegas, intending to get Frank Sinatra's autograph for Cliff's mother. Meanwhile, Nick promises he will have Frank over for dinner.

EP4 Svengali Feb 11, 1987

Loretta's new manager gets her work, spurring her former one, Nick, into action.

EP5 The Ad Game Feb 18, 1987

Nick's new TV ad for his TV hospital guarantees he will fix your TV in a day or eat a bug. A feisty woman may hold him to it.

EP6 Viva Las Vegas Feb 25, 1987

Nick's newest client as a manager, a struggling Elvis impersonator, becomes involved with Charlotte.

EP7 Coochie-Coochie Mar 18, 1987

When Loretta kicks nick out of the house, he remembers all the good times they had. He comes back and forgives her. She slams the dor in his face and he has a long talk with his neighbor. Then, he goes back and Loretta lets him in

EP8 Man of The Year Mar 25, 1987

Nick & Loretta enter a competition for Man & Woman of the year, Nick wns & Loretta loses. Loretta finds out that Nick lied to win though.

EP9 The Good Life Apr 01, 1987

When Nick starts complaining about how much his life sucks, Loretta reminds him of how much stuff is good in it

EP10 Father Knows Best Apr 21, 1987

When one of the Tortelli kids gets in trouble at school, good ol' dad gives him some advice which backfires, leaving Loretta to clean up the mess.

EP11 The Customer's Always Right Apr 28, 1987

At Nick's shop, he gets in an argument with a customer, his boss reminds him that the customer is always right, yet, nick begs to differ

EP12 Innocent As Charged May 05, 1987

Nick is framed for robbery and he must prove himself innocent

EP13 His Girl Friday May 12, 1987

It is Friday & Nick wants to just stay home, but, Loretta wants to go out. They have a huge fight and Nick loses.
5.2| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 21 January 1987 Ended
Producted By: Paramount Television Studios
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The Tortellis is an American sitcom that aired from January to May 1987 on NBC. A spin-off of the hit series Cheers, The Tortellis stars Dan Hedaya and Jean Kasem.

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Reviews

VinnieRattolle &quot;The Tortellis&quot; was a spin off of &quot;Cheers&quot; featuring Carla&#39;s eccentric family, who were infrequent recurring characters. The characters were all hilarious when seen on &quot;Cheers,&quot; but it seemed like they tried to dump them into their own show without coming up with a definitive concept first.The series opens with Carla&#39;s ex-husband Nick dreaming that he&#39;s being denied acceptance into Heaven because he&#39;s been such a slimeball in life. He awakens on a bus headed to Las Vegas and decides to become &quot;the new Nick Tortelli.&quot; Nick&#39;s airheaded wife Loretta caught him lathering up in the shower with the Avon lady, so she&#39;s gone to Nevada to stay with her sensible, divorced sister Charlotte and her young son Mark. Nick arrives, convinces Loretta that he&#39;s changed his ways and decides to start a new life as a TV repairman in Vegas. Nick invites his dimwitted 17 year old son Anthony to live with them, and Anthony brings along his new wife, Annie.Unfortunately, for the bulk of the run, it was basically &quot;The New Nick Tortelli Show,&quot; featuring the over-the-top Nick as the center of the universe. Whether he was forced to eat a bug, trying to convince people he knew Frank Sinatra, or being elected Man of the Year, Nick was always the central character. And that was the problem with the show: Nick was an unlikable bigot whose likable family had nothing to do. For example, aside from continuously making out with Anthony and cracking the occasional sarcastic joke at Nick&#39;s expense, all Annie accomplished over the course of 13 episodes was getting her driver&#39;s permit and working for one day in a fried chicken restaurant. And the other characters didn&#39;t accomplish much more.Sadly, as the series concluded it was beginning to improve (the writers started adding in b-story lines to give the other characters a little more to do). I surmise the show would&#39;ve found a comfy groove if it had been renewed for another season. Too bad that didn&#39;t happen.It&#39;d be nice if they&#39;d release a DVD set (seems DVD distributors don&#39;t want to touch short-lived spinoffs). While it&#39;s not the greatest sitcom ever made, it&#39;s far from the worst. Jean Kasem played the part of the dumb blonde to perfection (hard to believe she&#39;d go on to register numerous patents) and young Aaron Moffatt managed to steal every scene he appeared in with his sarcastic line deliveries.
Jonah Falcon I remember when I was 17 this show debuting after a Cheers episode. The funny thing was that I had missed all the Nick Tortelli shows prior to seeing this, so I had no idea why Carla appeared in the beginning of the pilot to tell Nick to clean his act up in an odd dream sequence. Since I didn&#39;t see Nick or Loretta or their kids, I just thought they were vile and unfunny -- now when I watch the Nick episodes in &quot;Cheers&quot;, they&#39;re all a scream. Maybe someday someone will re-air the episodes so I can watch it with the background intact.
mrron I agree with the first reviewer, this show was very funny with a cast that really could deliver the well-written scripts. It&#39;s a shame that the series was so short-lived .. so much so that I have found no trace of it anywhere (reruns, video, the Hollywood answer guys, ebay!). When I count all of the unfunny &#39;comedies&#39; on the tube, it is still refreshing when something actually good makes it.