Busting Loose (TV series)

*Busting Loose*
Busting Loose
	Title card, with Adam Arkin as Lenny Markowitz at right.
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Lowell Ganz; Mark Rothman
Starring	Adam Arkin
Theme music composer	Mark Rothman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	25 (4 unaired)
Production
Executive producers	Lowell Ganz; Mark Rothman
Producers	Lawrence Kasha; (Season One); John Thomas Lenox; (Season 2)
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Hayadou Productions; Paramount Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	January 17 –; November 16, 1977

Busting Loose is an American sitcom starring Adam Arkin which centers on a young man in New York City who has moved out of his parents' house to live on his own for the first time. The show aired on CBS between January 17, 1977, and November 16, 1977.^[1]^[2]

Synopsis

Twenty-four-year-old Jewish American Lenny Markowitz has recently graduated from engineering school, though his true aspiration is to be a sportscaster. Tired of his overprotective and meddling parents Sam and Pearl, he secretly moves out on his own for the first time — hence "busting loose" — into an inexpensive apartment in a rundown tenement in New York City. Lacking the money to even replace the duck-covered wallpaper in his new place and unable to find an engineering job, Lenny temporarily takes a job at the Wearwell Shoe Store owned by Ralph Cabell and befriends his co-worker Raymond St. Williams, a "hip" African American man.

Lenny's childhood friends — Lester Bellman, Allan Simmonds, Vinnie Mordabito, and Woody Warshaw — frequently hang out with him at his place, where they play poker together and get involved in various escapades. He becomes close friends with his neighbor Melody Feebeck, a tall and very attractive older redhead who works for an escort service.

While Lenny is unlucky finding an engineering job, he is also unlucky in love. In season 1 he dates several different girls, and even goes out on a date with Melody. By season 2 he manages to find a regular girlfriend, an attractive girl named Jackie Gleason (no relation to, and who bears no resemblance to, the real-life TV and film star Jackie Gleason).^[1]^[2]^[4]

Cast and characters

Adam Arkin as Lenny Markowitz
Barbara Rhoades as Melody Feebeck
Jack Kruschen as Sam Markowitz
Pat Carroll as Pearl Markowitz
Danny Goldman as Lester Bellman
Steve Nathan as Allan Simmonds
Greg Antonacci as Vinnie Mordabito
Paul Sylvan as Woody Warshaw
Paul B. Price as Ralph Cabell
Ralph Wilcox as Raymond St. Williams
Louise Williams as Jackie Gleason

Production notes

Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz created Busting Loose and served as its executive producers, and Rothman composed the show's theme music. Lawrence Kasha was the producer for the first season; John Thomas Lenox produced the second season. Lenox also directed one episode; the other episode directors were Greg Antonacci, James Burrows, Mel Ferber, Norm Gray, Asaad Kelada, Harvey Miller, Tony Mordente, Alan Myerson, Bill Persky, Howard Storm, and Joel Zwick. Antonacci, Ganz, Rothman, Chet Dowling, David W. Duclon, Howard Gewirtz, Joe Glauberg, Sandy Krinski, David Lerner, Deborah Leschin, Babaloo Mandel, and Barry Rubinowitz all wrote or co-wrote one or more episodes.^[3]

During its first season, Busting Loose aired on CBS on Monday at 8:30 p.m. from January to May 1977. The show then left the air until July 1977, when reruns of the first season began to air on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The second season also ran at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the fall of 1977.^[1]

In "Mr. Dennis Steps Out," broadcast on October 26, 1977, as the fifth episode of the second season of Busting Loose, Melody is afraid that her boss at the escort service, Roger Dennis – played by guest star Ted Knight – is going to fire her. The episode served as the pilot for Knight's first show of his own, the short-lived 1978 sitcom The Ted Knight Show, which centered on Roger Dennis's firm, the Mr. Dennis Escort Service. However, Barbara Rhoades and her Melody Feebeck character did not appear in The Ted Knight Show.^[3]

Episodes

Busting Loose was broadcast over two seasons. Thirteen episodes aired during its first season in the winter and spring of 1977. Eight more were broadcast during its second season in the fall of 1977, and four other episodes produced for that season never aired.^[3]^[5]

Season 1 (1977)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code ^[6]
1	1	"Pilot"	Bill Persky	Lowell Ganz & Mark Rothman	January 17, 1977 (1977-01-17)	001
Tired of living with his meddling and overprotective parents, Lenny tells them that he is going on a trip and secretly searches for a cheap apartment.
2	2	"Five's a Crowd"	Howard Storm	Barry Rubinowitz	January 24, 1977 (1977-01-24)	002
Lenny has a crush on a girl who is paranoid about male attention.
3	3	"The Harder They Come, the Bigger They Fall"	James Burrows	Greg Antonacci	February 7, 1977 (1977-02-07)	005
A bullying deliveryman challenges Lenny to a fight.
4	4	"Still Nutsy After All These Years"	James Burrows	Deborah Leschin & David W. Duclon	February 14, 1977 (1977-02-14)	004
Lenny's ex-girlfriend tries to rekindle their relationship.
5	5	"Grandpa Markowitz"	Harvey Miller	Mark Rothman & Lowell Ganz	February 21, 1977 (1977-02-21)	007
Lenny's grandfather comes to visit. He hates his relatives and plans to shock them by dropping dead at his own 85th birthday party. (Adam's real-life father Alan Arkin plays his grandfather in this episode.)
6	6	"Hell Hath No Fury"	Norm Gray	Barry Rubinowitz	February 28, 1977 (1977-02-28)	008
Lenny refuses to let Helene move in with him, so she has him jailed on trumped-up charges.
7	7	"Love's Labor Lost"	Asaad Kelada	Joe Glauberg	March 7, 1977 (1977-03-07)	006
Lenny is determined to date a girl whose father disapproves of him.
8	8	"Kiss and Dwell"	Tony Mordente	Deborah Leschin	March 14, 1977 (1977-03-14)	010
Lenny's friends goad him into asking Melody for a date.
9	9	"A Nut at the Opera"	Tony Mordente	Greg Antonacci	March 21, 1977 (1977-03-21)	011
Working as escorts, Lenny and a friend accompany two socialites to the opera.
10	10	"House of Noodles"	Tony Mordente	Babaloo Mandel	March 28, 1977 (1977-03-28)	012
Mr. Cabell refuses to give Raymond a raise.
11	11	"Together Again as Never Before"	James Burrows	Greg Antonacci	April 11, 1977 (1977-04-11)	003
Sam is lonely while Pearl is away, and he makes a pest of himself trying to be Lenny's pal.
12	12	"The Famous Announcers School"	Tony Mordente	Chet Dowling & Sandy Krinski	April 25, 1977 (1977-04-25)	009
Aspiring to be a sportscaster, Lenny enrolls in a fly-by-night broadcasting school run by a flaky disc jockey.
13	13	"Singles Weekend"	Tony Mordente	David W. Duclon	May 2, 1977 (1977-05-02)	013
Lenny and his friends visit a resort, seeking sun, fun, and women.

Season 2 (1977)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code ^[6]
14	1	"Smoke Gets in Your Face"	James Burrows	Barry Rubinowitz	September 28, 1977 (1977-09-28)	014
Lenny blames his friends for a fire that damaged his apartment.
15	2	"Foiled Again"	Alan Myerson	Greg Antonacci	October 5, 1977 (1977-10-05)	016
Vinnie is in love, but his state of bliss comes to an end when the woman he is interested in falls for Lenny.
16	3	"Roomies"	Mel Ferber	Babaloo Mandel	October 12, 1977 (1977-10-12)	015
Vinnie and Raymond are both looking for an apartment, and they find the same one.
17	4	"A Knight in Tarnished Armor"	Norm Gray	Babaloo Mandel	October 19, 1977 (1977-10-19)	017
Lenny is a meek man at heart, but he nonetheless tries to impress Jackie with his machismo.
18	5	"Mr. Dennis Steps Out"	James Burrows	Lowell Ganz & Mark Rothman	October 26, 1977 (1977-10-26)	022
Melody fears that her boss at the escort service, Roger Dennis, is going to fire her. Guest star: Ted Knight. This episode was the pilot for the 1978 sitcom The Ted Knight Show.
19	6	"The Decision: Part 1"	John Thomas Lenox	David W. Duclon	November 2, 1977 (1977-11-02)	018
Lenny becomes angry when he spots Jackie out with another man.
20	7	"The Decision: Part 2"	John Thomas Lenox	Howard Gewirtz & David Lerner	November 9, 1977 (1977-11-09)	019
Lenny tries to choose between playing around with women and settling down.
21	8	"All in Love's Unfair"	Unknown	Unknown	November 16, 1977 (1977-11-16)	024
Lenny sets up Vinnie with a girl he once dated who is still sweet on him.
22	9	"Welcome to Fleckman's"	N/A	N/A	Unaired	020
23	10	"Mordabito's Ragtime Band"	N/A	N/A	Unaired	021
24	11	"Camp Sha-Man-Ga"	N/A	N/A	Unaired	023
25	12	"Scenes from an Engagement"	N/A	N/A	Unaired	025

Notes

1 2 3 4 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9 ed.). New York: Random House Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
1 2 3 4 McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 128.
1 2 3 4 5 ctva.com Busting Loose
↑ Busting Loose at IMDb^{[unreliable source?]}
↑ tvguide.com Busting Loose Episodes
1 2 "Busting Loose - Aired Order - All Seasons". The TVDB. Retrieved August 15, 2026.

External links

[Brooks_and_Marsh-1] 1 2 3 4 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9 ed.). New York: Random House Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4. Retrieved May 27, 2024.

[mcneil-2] 1 2 3 4 McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 128.

[ctva-3] 1 2 3 4 5 ctva.com Busting Loose

[4] Busting Loose at IMDb^{[unreliable source?]}

[5] tvguide.com Busting Loose Episodes

[TVDB-6] 1 2 "Busting Loose - Aired Order - All Seasons". The TVDB. Retrieved August 15, 2026.

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