Filthy Rich (1982-83)

1981 · Linda Bloodworth Productions

⚠ Unverified — hosted on the Internet Archive, not confirmed public domain. Opens on archive.org; nothing plays here directly.

Filthy Rich is a send-up of prime-time soap operas is from creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason which stars Dixie Carter and Delta Burke, all of whom went on to work on Designing Women. CBS had cold feet about the hour-long pilot, which was shot in early 1981 sat on the shelf for a full year, but they liked it enough that they kept the cast under contract and ordered a second pilot (Town and Country) the next year. The network ultimately passed, but gave the two pilots an obligatory airing in the summer of 1982 over three weeks on Monday nights alongside reruns of M*A*S*H. To their surprise, it debuted as the #1 show. A weekly series was rushed into production, and Mama Malone was dropped from the schedule to accommodate it (that show wouldn't air until early '84). Sandwiched on Wednesday nights between Alice and the short-lived supernatural detective show Tucker's Witch, the ratings plummeted and Filthy Rich was canceled in early 1983. Included here is the full-length version of the first pilot. When the show was broadcast, it was split in two and several scenes were snipped out to accommodate a teaser and recap. The most notable cut is Marshall's proclamation that he's bisexual, but it also includes an extended version of Stanley's Dr. Pepper toast, and an additional jab from Big Guy at Kathleen for her preoccupation with Stanley. There was a terrible sound issue with one scene on the master tape, so that's been substituted with footage from the TV broadcast. Also included is a rough cut of "Take This Job and Love It: Part 2." Nearly half of this episode is comprised of alternate takes, there's been no "sweetening" to the studio laughter, and Troy Evans has a brief part as head of the Buzby family, who were alluded to but entirely left on the cutting room floor in the broadcast version. The other members of the Buzby clan are currently unidentified. Designing Women fans unearthed copies of the complete series (as well as the two unaired alternate cuts) which have been circulating among TV collectors and on video sites for many years, but the quality was inconsistent and a few episodes leaned toward unwatchable. In 2020, the show popped up for streaming on a Canadian site, but it was not available in the USA and has since been returned to the vaults. Originally, I only had the two rare episodes here, but given the lack of availability, I ultimately decided to share the rest of the series. Subtitles are built into the mkvs and included separately for the mp4s (although there are no subs for the unaired versions). Obviously, no infringement is intended.