79 Park Avenue

Did You Know?

• The teleplay was split among three writers: Richard DeRoy wrote the first part, Jack Guss the second, and Lionel E. Siegel the third.
• Co-stars included Barbara Barrie, Raymond Burr, and Polly Bergen.
• Marc Singer played a gangster struggling to survive in the 1930s.

Reception

The miniseries achieved strong ratings. Part I, airing Sunday October 16, 1977, ranked as the 10th most watched show in the United States for that week, with a 22.3 rating and 16.3 million homes.

Critical response was generally negative but not harsh. Tom Shales of The Washington Post described the series as a laughable tawdry throwback to 1950s movie eyebrow raisers, lacking their cheap panache, and noted that television raises the subject of sex only to avoid it. Joan Hanauer of UPI called it a woman's show with unrealistically sentimental romance and a high moral tone that nonetheless depicts sleazy sex; she found the second installment the strongest. John J. O'Connor of The New York Times, while crediting the lead actors, deemed the story already tired and manufactured for mass consumption with the artistic concern of a can of baked beans. In his year-end review, O'Connor referred to 79 Park Avenue and Aspen as dumb pot-boilers that tarnished the promising concept of miniseries.

The sexual content sparked controversy from the start. Executive producer George Eckstein noted that broadcasting standards people became very apprehensive when the property was announced.