The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd


The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on NBC from May 21, 1987 to June 17, 1988 and on Lifetime from April 17, 1989 to April 13, 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and stars Blair Brown in the title role.

Premise

The show depicts the life of Molly Bickford Dodd, a divorced woman in New York City with a lifestyle that could be described as both yuppie and bohemian. Molly seems to drift from job to job and relationship to relationship. Her ex-husband, a ne'er-do-well jazz musician, still cares for her. In fact, nearly every man she meets adores her. Her warmth and emotional accessibility are the root cause of most of Molly's problems in life.

Cast

Additional cast included:

Season 1 (1987)

Season 2 (1988–89)

Season 3 (1989)

Season 4 (1990)

Season 5 (1991)

Production

The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd had story lines that often did not resolve in a single episode.
The show was filmed using a single camera.
Production took place in Hollywood for the first two seasons before moving to Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York in season 3.
Tarses wrote and directed many of its episodes.

Reception and network change

NBC first broadcast the show as a summer replacement in 1987 running 13 episodes. Molly Dodd was critically acclaimed and a moderate ratings success, but was not featured in the network's fall schedule. It was a mid-season replacement for NBC again in spring 1988, with 12 episodes. NBC canceled Molly Dodd after this second short season.
After it was canceled by NBC, Lifetime cable network picked the show up, first re-airing the 26 episodes originally produced, then commissioning three more 13-episode seasons for 1989, 1990, and 1991. Lifetime would continue to air Molly Dodd in reruns after original production stopped.

Awards and nominations

The show earned Brown five Emmy Award nominations as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, one for each year the show was on. Tarses was also the recipient of multiple nominations.

Music rights

Despite some demand for the show on DVD or streaming services, the original producers did not clear music rights for subsequent broadcast. Since Brown often sang as Molly, the cost to secure those rights would be substantial. In an interview, Brown indicated "all the songs that I sang, they never got the rights. So in a vault somewhere and will never see the light of day."