Can a young
apprentice architect making $80 a week meet and fall in love
with a lovely girl, take up housekeeping in a small apartment
with a magnificent rooftop view of San Francisco and find happiness
and rating success as a TV series in the fall?
That's what the ABC television network hopes to find out when its new domestic comedy, Love on a Rooftop, premieres in color Tuesday night, Sept. 13, at 9:30.
No less interested is Peter Deuel, fresh from playing Gidget's brother-in-law, starring as the young designer of buildings.
Aware of the popularity of the many spy and action stories, he has no illusion about the instanteous success of his show. Nor is he offering any predictions.
"I like to venture my opinions on many things," he says cautiously, "but suggesting what will or will not be a success on TV is not my forte. Our show has a certain amount of charm, which is one thing that action shows lack. Some people have suggested it will replace the Dick Van Dyke Show. But those are pretty big shoes to fill."
JUDY CARNE IS WIFE
Peter plays Davis [sic] Willis with Judy Carne co-starring as his wife, Julie. Others in the cast are Edith Atwater and Herbert Voland as Julie's mother and father and Barbara Bostock and Rich Little as the neighbors.
Peter explains that director-producer E.W. Swackhammer describes it as a love story first and a comedy after, hoping to stay away from the stereotyped family comedy.
Through the Willis apartment is small, its one advantage is the rooftop view of San Francisco. Because of it, the couple often spend their nights there, hence the title of the show.
"It's
romantic and very adult," says Peter. "Like sleeping
in bed together. It isn't cute nor dwelled upon. It won't be like
early television which saw the constant emasculation of the male
and heavy reliance on comic situations which did not recognize
an honest relationship between the man and woman. It will be non-gimmicky."
All exteriors will be shot in San Francisco, which will "give it that extra edge," says Peter. A real rooftop was chosen after an extensive survey of the city. Unfortunately the front entrance didn't complement the roof, according to someone's critical eye. So an entrance elsewhere in the northern city was used. Peter doesn't remember the address of either.
He further pointed out that a rooftop in San Francisco is more appropriate to the plot line than a rooftop in Los Angeles.
"San Francisco nights are colder,"
he adds succinctly.
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