The Slap Maxwell Story
| The Slap Maxwell Story | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Jay Tarses |
| Starring |
Dabney Coleman Megan Gallagher |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 22 min. |
| Production company(s) | Warner Bros. Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 23, 1987 – June 8, 1988 |
The Slap Maxwell Story (sometimes seen in print as The "Slap" Maxwell Story) is a situation comedy broadcast in the United States by ABC as part of its 1987-88 lineup.
It stars Dabney Coleman as "Slap" Maxwell, an egocentric sportswriter for a newspaper called The Ledger, somewhere in the American Southwest. The Ledger was a very old-fashioned newspaper—Slap still composed his column, "Slap Shots," on a typewriter) -- and Slap was a very old-fashioned guy. Despite the newly litigious environment of journalism, Slap insisted on filling his column with rumor and innuendo, drawing lawsuits and Slap's frequent termination, to be followed by a groveling apology and his rehiring.
He had an on-again, off-again relationship with girlfriend Judy (Megan Gallagher), one of the paper's secretaries, due primarily to his off-putting personality. Annie (Susan Anspach) was Slap's ex-wife, who nonetheless retained a (small) soft spot for him.
A recurring event throughout the series' run is that at some point in each episode, someone would hit Slap (hence the character's nickname), with a nun even doing the honors in one episode.
The show was created by Jay Tarses, who in 1983 was co-creator of Buffalo Bill, an NBC sitcom in which Coleman starred as a similarly off-putting character, the host of a TV talk show.
References
- Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows