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Homefront is an American television drama series created by former Knots Landing producers Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick in association with Lorimar Television. The show is set in the late 1940s in the fictional city of River Run, Ohio, and aired on ABC from September 24, 1991, to April 26, 1993. The show's theme song, "Accentuate the Positive", was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer and performed by Jack Sheldon.

Series overview

Homefront begins in September 1945 and focuses on three families from different backgrounds, the Sloan, Metcalf and Davis families. The Sloans, Mike Sr. and Ruth (Ken Jenkins and Mimi Kennedy), own a steel manufacturing factory initially responsible for making tank parts in the war. They are coming to grips with the death of their only son, Mike Jr., a soldier, and the arrival of his Italian war bride, Gina (Giuliana Santini), a Jewish Holocaust survivor. The Metcalfs include widow Anne (Wendy Phillips) and her three children, Hank (David Newsom), Linda (Jessica Steen) and Jeff (Kyle Chandler). Anne and Linda are dealing with being displaced from their job at the plant for returning GIs, while Hank, a returning soldier, and Jeff, a baseball player for the Cleveland Indians, are involved in a love triangle with college student Sarah Brewer (Alexandra Wilson). Meanwhile, Linda's friend, Ginger Szabo (Tammy Lauren) is shocked when her boyfriend Charlie Hailey (Harry O'Reilly) returns from the war with a British war-bride, Caroline (Sammi Davis).

Abe (Dick Anthony Williams) and Gloria Davis (Hattie Winston) are descendants from slaves and work for the Sloans as a chauffeur and housekeeper respectively. Their son Robert (Sterling Macer, Jr.) is a decorated veteran who served in Europe with the 761st Armored Battalion. He lands a job at Sloan Industries but is isolated and belittled by his racist co-workers. In the second season, he is joined by Perrette (Perrey Reeves), his white French war bride. Later cast members include Al Kahn (John Slattery), a Jewish union organiser and possible former Communist sympathiser who seduces Anne, and Judy Owens (Kelly Rutherford), a widow working as a bartender who has an affair with Mike Sr.

While the show received critical praise, it struggled in the ratings and was close to being cancelled after its first season. An April 11, 1992 issue of TV Guide ran a S.O.S (Save Our Shows) campaign to save five series from cancellation, which included Homefront, and two other period pieces (set in the 1950s), Brooklyn Bridge on CBS and I'll Fly Away on NBC. Of the five, Homefront received the most votes – 99,591 – and was subsequently renewed. Abigail Van Buren of Dear Abby also dedicated a column to the show, urging fans to write into the network to save it. However ratings did not improve in its second season, and after being moved around the schedule numerous times, the show was cancelled.

Cast and characters

• Kyle Chandler as Jeff Metcalf
• Sammi Davis-Voss as Caroline Hailey
• Ken Jenkins as Mike Sloan, Sr.
• Mimi Kennedy as Ruth Sloan
• Tammy Lauren as Ginger Szabo
• Sterling Macer, Jr. as Cpl. Robert Davis (season 1 & eps. 1–4 of season 2)
• David Newsom as Lt. Hank Metcalf (season 1)
• Harry O'Reilly as Sgt. Charlie Hailey
• Wendy Phillips as Anne Metcalf Kahn
• Giuliana Santini as Gina Sloan
• Jessica Steen as Linda Metcalf
• Dick Anthony Williams as Abe Davis
• Alexandra Wilson as Sarah Brewer (eps. 1–20)
• Hattie Winston as Gloria Davis
• John Slattery as Al Kahn (eps. 5+)
• Kelly Rutherford as Judy Owen (season 2; recurring season 1)

Episodes

Season 1 (1991–92)

Note

1. This episode aired out-of-order after the show's initial run, as ABC felt it was "too depressing" for new viewers.

Season 2 (1992–93)

Note

1. This episode was never aired by ABC during its initial run, and premiered on April 23, 2000 as part of a Homefront marathon on TV Land.

Awards and nominations

References

1. "Ultimate Homefront Episode Guide". homefront.html. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006.
2. "Music of Homefront". Homefrontondvd.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
3. "Tonight's 'lost' 'Homefront' is powerful drama". Baltimore Sun. July 28, 1992.
4. ^ From the United States Copyright Office catalog: "Public Catalog - Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) - Basic Search [search: "I Had Three Wives"]". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
5. Bruce B. Morris, Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas, 1964-1993, McFarland and Company, 1997.
6. Lowry, Brian (April 16, 1993). "CBS leads noms for Emmy rival". Variety. Retrieved October 27, 2013.

External links

• Homefront at epguides.com
• Homefront at IMDb

• 1990s American drama television series
• Television series by Lorimar Television
• Television series set in the 1940s
• Television shows set in Ohio
• 1991 American television series debuts
• 1993 American television series endings
• American Broadcasting Company television dramas