In 1979, NBC aired the very short-lived weekly series
Little Women, based on the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. The show came about after a 1978 telefilm of the same name served as its "pilot," and that telefilm had a spectacular cast of stars! Meredith Baxter Birney ("Elyse Keaton" of
Family Ties), Susan Dey ("Laurie Partridge" of
The Partridge Family), recurrent television guest star Ann Dusenberry, and Eve Plumb ("Jan Brady" of
The Brady Bunch) starred as Meg, Jo, Amy and the ill-fated Beth. Classic film stars Dorothy McGuire and Greer Garson played Marmee March and Aunt Kathryn March, while Robert Young (
Marcus Welby, M.D.) played Mr. Laurence, the next-door neighbor who watches young Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (played by another habitual television guest-star, Richard Gilliland).
Star Trek fans will love that William Shatner ("Captain Kirk") played Professor Friedrich Bhaer, while John de Lancie ("Q") played the role of Frank Vaughn, and William Schallert ("Nilz Baris" of the classic episode "The Trouble With Tribbles," and a regular on
The Waltons) played Reverend Jonathan March.
Bear in mind that the weekly television series saw some replacements in key roles, as the stars were not able to return: Susan Walden took over for Meredith Baxter Birney, Jessica Harper replaced Susan Dey, Mildred Natwick filled the spot vacated by Greer Garson, and David Ackroyd sat in for William Shatner. We don't think that John de Lancie's role even returned for the regular series. But strangely, the cast member that should *not* have returned, Eve Plumb, did return but in the new role of "cousin Lissa." Fans didn't like the changes, though, so the television series was quickly cancelled. What fans remember most is the "pilot," and so Koch International is bringing that to DVD!
October 9th is the day that this DVD will be available (in Canada, it's October 16th) as a two-disc set running 170 minutes. The studio shows the list price as $27.99 (even though some retailers put it at two dollars more than that; I think they've gotten the Canadian list price in error), and you can
pre-order it from Amazon for $22.49 right now. Here is a look at the front cover art:
