Beacon Hill was a CBS network drama series written by Lionel Chetwynd, which aired from August 25 to November 4, 1975, lasting for one season & 13 episodes.
It was produced by the Robert Stigwood Organization.
Plot[]
Set after World War I in the fashionable Beacon Hill area of Boston, Massachusetts, the series centered on the wealthy Lassiter family in contrast to their Irish immigrant servants, who live together on Louisburg Square.
Cast[]
- Stephen Elliott as Benjamin Lassiter
- Nancy Marchand as Mary Lassister
- Maeve McGuire as Maude Palmer
- Edward Herrmann as Richard Palmer
- David Dukes as Robert Lassister
- Roy Cooper as Trevor Bullock
- Linda Purl as Betsy Bullock
- Kitty Winn as Rosamond Lassister
- Michael Nouri as Giorgio Bellonci
- Paul Rudd as Brian Mallory
- Beatrice Straight as Mrs. Hacker
- Susan Blanchard as Maureen Mahaffey
- George Rose as Mr. Hacker
- David Rounds as Terence O'Hara
- Holland Taylor as Marilyn Gardiner
Production\Reception[]
The first episode of "Beacon Hill" cost $900,000 to produce, and the music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch.
Christopher Schemering of The Soap Opera Encyclopedia called the show "the most touted prime-time soap since the Lana Turner-George Hamilton debacle The Survivors".
The series premiered on August 25, 1975 with an "impressive audience" of "43% of people watching TV" that evening, but it could not sustain those ratings.
Schemering wrote that "the overly large cast and fragmented stories did not allow the audience to get its bearings."
The show was cancelled after 11 episodes had aired (its final air date was November 4, 1975), with two completed shows never broadcast.