Filthy Rich is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from August 1982 to June 1983. Starring Dixie Carter and Charles Frank, the series satirized prime-time soap operas such as Dallas and Dynasty.
The series was set in Memphis at a fictional mansion called Toad Hall, which was owned by one Big Guy Beck (Slim Pickens in the pilot, and Forrest Tucker afterwards), a very wealthy land baron. He had recently died of an undisclosed illness, and before he was cryonically frozen he had made out a videotaped will, a piece of which was played every week by his lawyer, George Wilhoit (David Healy and Vernon Weddle).
The will's terms were harshest on Big Guy's older son, snobbish Marshall Beck (Michael Lombard) and his equally-snobbish wife Carlotta (Dixie Carter). Also aghast at the will's terms was Big Guy's wily younger wife Kathleen (Delta Burke). The terms stated that the family wouldn't be able to collect a dime of their inheritance until they accepted Big Guy's illegitimate son, Wild Bill Westchester (Jerry Hardin) and his good-natured but ditzy wife Bootsie (Ann Wedgeworth) into their family.
Many of the situations stemmed from the conniving Carlotta, Marshall and Kathleen's schemes to declare the terms and constraints of the will invalid and also to rid themselves of Wild Bill and Bootsie, not to mention the rest of the family, out of their lives, so the snobs could live it up on the money they would receive. Their wildly outlandish schemes usually and inevitably ended up failing.
Also appearing were Nedra Volz, who played Big Guy's senile first wife, Winona Beck, called Mother B., who had escaped from her nursing home; and Charles Frank, who played Big Guy's younger son Stanley.
Stanley, independently wealthy because he invested his money wisely, and thus not concerned about his inheritance from his father, was the nicest of the whole lot. Usually, it was Stanley who was able to protect Wild Bill and Bootsie (whom he and Mother B. accepted outright) from the devious scheming of his stepmother, who lusted after him; and his conniving brother and sister in-law.
Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, coming off an Emmy Award nomination for co-writing a script for an episode of M*A*S*H, formed her own production company and produced multiple Television pilots. In 1980, she got the idea for Filthy Rich. The hourlong pilot was filmed on February 27, 1981 as a candidate for inclusion on CBS's 1981âÂÂ82 fall schedule. When the fall schedule was announced in May, Filthy Rich wasn't included, but the network optioned it as a potential midseason replacement. Delta Burke was forced to turn down roles on Dallas and Private Benjamin due to being under contract for Filthy Rich. Dixie Carter was asked to replace Tammy Grimes in the Broadway production of 42nd Street, but CBS prevented her from accepting.
In March 1982, CBS ordered a second pilot episode, this time as a half-hour show. The network stipulated that they wanted the new pilot to be "less bizarre" than the original pilot had been, and though the material was toned down, they still passed on including the show on the fall schedule.
The original hourlong pilot was split in two and re-edited, then packaged with the second pilot (titled "Town and Garden"), and the episodes were billed as a "limited run" series which was broadcast on Monday nights following reruns of M*A*S*H in August 1982. Much to CBS's surprise, the show topped the weekly Nielsen ratings for three consecutive weeks. CBS Entertainment President Donald "Bud" Grant later commented, "I think we conned ourselves into thinking Filthy Rich was a hot show." The network scrambled to find a place on the fall schedule for the show, ultimately opting to bump the new series Mama Malone off the schedule altogether.
Although viewers initially tuned in, the series fared poorly with critics. Associated Press writer Fred Rothenberg commented in his widely circulated review, "It's called Filthy Rich and the slant is more toward the former than the latter."
Burke was pressured to maintain a slender figure while working on the show, for which she began taking methamphetamine. It had the side effect of paranoia and making her lapse into unconsciousness. Slim Pickens, who played Big Guy Beck in the pilot, underwent five hours of surgery to remove a brain tumor the day after the show's premiere. He did not return to the show and was replaced by Forrest Tucker.
In the early weeks of September, scripts hadn't been completed for any episodes of the fall season, which began on September 26. Bloodworth wrote scripts with the assistance of former Jimmy Carter speechwriter E. Jack Kaplan. Filthy Rich returned to the air on Wednesday, October 6 between Alice and Tucker's Witch and opposite Family Ties on NBC, ratings dropped and Filthy Rich ranked #60 in the weekly TV ratings by the end of the month. In November, six weeks into the show's second season, all three series were yanked off the schedule and replaced with The CBS Wednesday Movie. Filthy Rich returned in January 1983 on Monday nights scheduled between Square Pegs and M*A*S*H. Ratings didn't improve. It aired for a month before being pulled from the schedule again. The remaining two episodes aired in June, after the series had officially been canceled.