Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe was a CBS network sitcom series based on the 1988 German film of the same name, developed by Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen.

The show aired from March 30, 1990 to July 27, 1991, lasting for two seasons & 15 episodes.

It was produced by Mort Lachman and Associates, Zev Braun Pictures, New World Television and CBS Entertainment Productions.

Plot
The series centered on an offbeat desert truck-stop motel owner named Brenda and an unlikely guest named Jasmine, who takes up residence at the motel after leaving her husband.

Cast

 * Whoopi Goldberg as Brenda
 * Jean Stapleton as Jasmine
 * James Gammon as Rudy
 * Monica Calhoun as Debbie
 * Scott Lawrence as Juney
 * Cleavon Little as Sal

Production
"Bagdad Cafe" was shot in the conventional sitcom format, in front of a studio audience. However, the show did not obtain a sizable audience, being forced to compete with ABC's Top 20 hit, "Family Matters" and was cancelled after two seasons.

Insiders say that production of the series ended on November 16, 1990, after a dispute between Whoopi Goldberg and the show's co-executive producer, Thad Mumford.

Executive producer Kenneth Kaufman was told that Goldberg called CBS president Jeff Sagansky in late November to say that she was quitting the show.

With no time to recast Goldberg's role, CBS ended "Bagdad Cafe" and pulled the remaining episodes from the broadcast schedule.

Reception
Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly rated the series a C, saying that "rarely has a bad sitcom been better acted".

Despite being impressed with the acting from Jean Stapleton and Cleavon Little, Tucker was disappointed that the producers did not hire better writers, to match the quality of the movie on which the series is based.

Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times said the show's premiere "doesn't click tonight, it yields no laughs".

However, John J. O'Connor of The New York Times remarks that, "The stars seem to be enjoying themselves immensely", and complements the director of the pilot noting, "Paul Bogart, a sitcom miracle worker, directs the first episode with enough aplomb to qualify himself as a master illusionist."