Flying High (TV series)


Flying High is an American comedy-drama television series, created by Dawn Aldredge and Martin Cohan, starring Kathryn Witt, Connie Sellecca, Pat Klous, and Howard Platt. The series aired on CBS from August 28, 1978 to January 23, 1979.

Premise

This series follows the lives of three sexy flight attendants working for the fictional Sun West Airlines in Los Angeles.

History

In early May 1978, CBS announced its new schedule plan for the 1978-79 season, with eight new shows including Flying High planned for 10-11pm Friday time slot. The main three characters, played by Kathryn Witt, Connie Sellecca, and Pat Klous, were recruited from top New York modeling agencies with a specific plan to find three very attractive female models with or without acting experience. As executive producer Mark Carliner recounted at the time, when he went to visit the CBS head of program planning Harvey Shephard to pitch the show with three models in tow, the networks sales head saw them on the elevator and after learning they were pitching a show, immediately called the head of programming to say "we need this show". The show was not a unique concept -- Flying High was one of a number of shows developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s in what has been called the "jiggle" era.
A two-hour pilot aired on August 28, 1978, during the summer re-run season, and was the most-watched prime time show of the week.
The first regular one-hour episode aired on September 29, 1978. By mid-October it was already clear that the show was in trouble due to low ratings. It only ranked 56th out of 65 shows for the week ending October 15, 1978, and maintained that dangerous low rating, leading to its cancellation. It had also received negative reviews for its representation of women as "curiously old-fashioned, if not stereotypical." Both shows were seen as trying to copycat the success of Charlie's Angels, but neither succeeded.

Cast

Platt and Sellecca met on the set and developed a romantic relationship which led to a brief engagement.
Actress Tanya Roberts was at one point intended to be in the cast, but was dropped.

In popular culture

During the Rifftrax commentary for The Star Wars Holiday Special Kevin Murphy jokes that the series doesn't "even have a Wikipedia page."

Episode list