Bagdad Cafe is an American television sitcom starring Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...

 and Jean Stapleton. The series premiered March 30, 1990 on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. The show is based on the 1987 Percy Adlon

Percy Adlon

Percy Adlon is a German film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his film Bagdad Café aka Out of Rosenheim.-Biography:...

 film Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Café

Bagdad Café is a 1987 German film directed by Percy Adlon.The film is a comedy set in a remote truck-stop café and motel in the Mojave Desert. The plot is centered around two women who have recently separated from their husbands, and the blossoming friendship which ensues. It ran 95 minutes in...

.

Cast

• Whoopi Goldberg
  Whoopi Goldberg
  Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
  
   as Brenda
• Jean Stapleton as Jasmine
• James Gammon
  James Gammon
  James Richard Gammon was an American actor, known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series.-Early life:...
  
   as Rudy
• Monica Calhoun
  Monica Calhoun
  Monica Calhoun is an American film and television actress. She is best known in her film roles such as The Players Club, The Best Man, and The Salon. She is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts....
  
   as Debbie
• Scott Lawrence as Juney
• Cleavon Little
  Cleavon Little
  Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...
  
   as Sal

Production

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

Thad Mumford

Thaddeus Quetin Mumford, Jr. is American television producer and writer. He has written and produced for a number of television series throughout his career varying different genres namely, The Cosby Show, A Different World, M*A*S*H, Maude, Good Times, Home Improvement, Roots: The Next...

. 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 the series and pulled the remaining episodes from the broadcast schedule.

Episodes

Fifteen episodes are registered with the United States Copyright Office

United States Copyright Office

The United States Copyright Office, a part of the Library of Congress, is the official U.S. government body that maintains records of copyright registration in the United States. It is used by copyright title searchers who are attempting to clear a chain of title for copyrighted works.The head of...

.

#	Title	|Production code

Reception

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

rated the series a C, saying that "rarely has a bad sitcom been better acted". Despite being impressed with the acting from Stapleton and 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.