Kate & Allie: Season One

One of the most popular series of the 1980s, Kate & Allie shot to the top of the ratings charts thanks to its stars, two TV actresses who made the best female team since Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance. Former McMillan & Wife costar Susan Saint James and Saturday Night Live alumnus Jane Curtin played newly divorced women who piled themselves and their kids into a New York apartment and together juggled career and family obligations. By this time, single-motherhood was no longer a TV taboo, and the series explored various aspects of this lifestyle with sensitivity as well as humor. Divorced women all across the country watched the show religiously, but they weren't the only ones: Kate & Allie was the top-rated sitcom of 1984, its inaugural year, and while the show would eventually become a parody of itself, the early episodes were quite engaging and helped refine the newly emerging conventions of character-driven comedy in the Reagan era. Presenting all six first season half-hour episodes (the series premiered as a spring replacement), DVD extras here include a conversation with Saint James and writer-director Bill Persky, a gag reel, and a bonus episode from the second season. Recommended. (E. Hulse)