Berrenger's
Encyclopedia
Berrenger's is an American primetime television
soap opera
created by Lynn Marie Latham
and Bernard Lechowick
that aired on NBC
in 1985. The series revolved around the Berrenger family, a New York
dynasty which owned the glamorous department store which bore their name.
Following in the tradition of Dynasty
and Dallas
, Berrenger's played up to the familiar motifs of 1980s soap operas - glamorous and beautiful characters, using money and power in games of love, business and betrayal.
The series was cancelled after 13 one-hour episodes had been produced. In North America, only 11 of the 13 episodes were screened. Because of studio television output deals it was screened in Europe
and Australia
, and has sustained a modest cult following.
The series was made by Warner Bros.
subsidiary Lorimar, who were already producing Dallas, Knots Landing
and Falcon Crest
. The marketing material which accompanied the launch of the series sold it with the line "... elegant clothes... beautiful people ... a powerful clan ...".
Press advertisements said: "Step through the etched-glass, art deco doors of this opulent retailer, where anything and everything can be bought or sold - for the right price - Berrenger's."
). Berrenger had three children - sons Billy (Robin Strand) and Paul (Ben Murphy
) and daughter Barbara (Anita Morris
).
Paul, Simon's eldest son and heir, was unhappily married to nasty New York socialite Gloria Brahms Berrenger (Andrea Marcovicci
) but romantically involved with the department store's merchandising vice-president, Shane Bradley (Yvette Mimieux
). Nasty Gloria had her equally nasty father in-law, Simon, on her side.
Billy, Simon's younger son, was more likable, in that he wasn't scheming, his character was slightly similar to Bobby Ewing.
Paul and Billy's sister Barbara was a reformed New York party girl, an older woman who had - in her father's eyes, at least - failed the family because of her extravagant lifestyle, and her affairs with younger men.
In one of the series few story arcs, Barbara - or Babs, as she was known - was trying to put her life on track and struggling to make it in the fashion business, without her father's money to bankroll her. (Though she was, at the time, involved with a younger man.)
Barbara was divorced, with one adult daughter Melody Hughes (Claudia Christian
), who was married to the ambitious Todd Hughes (Art Hindle
).
The other characters typically worked in or around the department store: junior salesgirl Stacey Russell (Jonelle Allen
) who was promoted to a boutique manager in the first episode, model Laurel Hayes (Laura Ashton) who charms the widowed Simon Berrenger, con man John Higgins (Jeff Conaway
) who has his eye on the needy, vulnerable Barbara, store clerk, Cammie Springer (Leslie Hope
) and designer and entrepreneur Julio Morales (Eddie Velez
) who partners with Barbara in a business venture.
One of the series key figures was the mysterious Danny Krucek (Jack Scalia
), who was involved financially with Simon Berrenger, but romantically interested in Shane Bradley. The series production notes described him as a "Mafia-connected conglomerate chief ... who lives to destroy the Berrenger empire".
Though it was never clarified on air, it was implied that Krucek was the illegitimate son of Simon Berrenger, a story twist which would have made him a legitimate claimant to Paul Berrenger's position as the elder Berrenger's heir.
The location shots of Berrenger's was at the real-life department store, Barneys
in New York.
(Dynasty), David Jacobs
(Knots Landing) and Stuart Sheslow. Its head writer
was Lynn Marie Latham
.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
created by Lynn Marie Latham
Lynn Marie Latham
Lynn Marie Latham is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer. Her initial foray into writing for television was as a story editor for the short-lived series Berrenger's in 1985...
and Bernard Lechowick
Bernard Lechowick
Bernard Lechowick is an American television writer and producer. He grew up in Mentor, Ohio and is a father of two sons, Richard Latham Lechowick and Vincent Latham Lechowick. Lechowick graduated from the University of Notre Dame...
that aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1985. The series revolved around the Berrenger family, a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
dynasty which owned the glamorous department store which bore their name.
Following in the tradition of Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
and Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, Berrenger's played up to the familiar motifs of 1980s soap operas - glamorous and beautiful characters, using money and power in games of love, business and betrayal.
The series was cancelled after 13 one-hour episodes had been produced. In North America, only 11 of the 13 episodes were screened. Because of studio television output deals it was screened in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and has sustained a modest cult following.
Marketing
Produced in the mid-1980s, Berrenger's bore all the hallmarks of the genre and the era - a lavish central set (in this case, the department store's main floor) and an expensive wardrobe budget, which dressed the cast, particularly the women, in current designer fashions.The series was made by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
subsidiary Lorimar, who were already producing Dallas, Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
and Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
. The marketing material which accompanied the launch of the series sold it with the line "... elegant clothes... beautiful people ... a powerful clan ...".
Press advertisements said: "Step through the etched-glass, art deco doors of this opulent retailer, where anything and everything can be bought or sold - for the right price - Berrenger's."
Characters
The principal focus of the series was the Berrenger family, headed by widowed patriarch (and somewhat devious) Simon Berrenger (Sam WanamakerSam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London...
). Berrenger had three children - sons Billy (Robin Strand) and Paul (Ben Murphy
Ben Murphy
Benjamin E. Murphy is an American actor. He is known for his role in the ABC television series Alias Smith and Jones, co-starring as Kid Curry, first with Pete Duel and later with Roger Davis.-Early life:...
) and daughter Barbara (Anita Morris
Anita Morris
-Career:Among many roles, Morris's most prominent film role was as Carol Dodsworth, the mistress to Danny DeVito, in Ruthless People and for her sensual performance as Carla in the musical Nine opposite Raul Julia. While nominated for a Best Featured Actress Tony Award as Carla, she lost to Liliane...
).
Paul, Simon's eldest son and heir, was unhappily married to nasty New York socialite Gloria Brahms Berrenger (Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Louisa Marcovicci is an American actress and singer.- Biography :Marcovicci was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Helen , a singer, and Eugen Marcovicci, a physician and internist of Romanian descent. In her teens, she decided that she wanted to be a singer, but instead...
) but romantically involved with the department store's merchandising vice-president, Shane Bradley (Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
). Nasty Gloria had her equally nasty father in-law, Simon, on her side.
Billy, Simon's younger son, was more likable, in that he wasn't scheming, his character was slightly similar to Bobby Ewing.
Paul and Billy's sister Barbara was a reformed New York party girl, an older woman who had - in her father's eyes, at least - failed the family because of her extravagant lifestyle, and her affairs with younger men.
In one of the series few story arcs, Barbara - or Babs, as she was known - was trying to put her life on track and struggling to make it in the fashion business, without her father's money to bankroll her. (Though she was, at the time, involved with a younger man.)
Barbara was divorced, with one adult daughter Melody Hughes (Claudia Christian
Claudia Christian
Claudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
), who was married to the ambitious Todd Hughes (Art Hindle
Art Hindle
Arthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.Hindle was born in Halifax. His family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Although shy as a youngster, he grew to be a rebellious and independent teenager...
).
The other characters typically worked in or around the department store: junior salesgirl Stacey Russell (Jonelle Allen
Jonelle Allen
Jonelle Allen is an American actress, singer, and dancer.Born in New York City, Allen grew up in Harlem's Sugar Hill among neighbors that included Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins, and Johnny Hodges, all of whom had an influence on her career choice...
) who was promoted to a boutique manager in the first episode, model Laurel Hayes (Laura Ashton) who charms the widowed Simon Berrenger, con man John Higgins (Jeff Conaway
Jeff Conaway
Jeffrey Charles William Michael "Jeff" Conaway was an American actor best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the US television series Taxi and Babylon 5. Conaway was featured on the first season of reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew...
) who has his eye on the needy, vulnerable Barbara, store clerk, Cammie Springer (Leslie Hope
Leslie Hope
Leslie Ann Hope is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Teri Bauer in the Fox show 24 where she played the wife of the main character Jack Bauer.-Life and career:...
) and designer and entrepreneur Julio Morales (Eddie Velez
Eddie Velez
Edwin "Eddie" Velez is a Hispanic-American actor who stars in films and on television.-Early life:Velez began acting while in the United States Air Force, when he was stationed in Sunnyvale, California at the Sunnyvale Air Force base.-Acting career:In 1981, he was honorably discharged from the...
) who partners with Barbara in a business venture.
One of the series key figures was the mysterious Danny Krucek (Jack Scalia
Jack Scalia
Jack Scalia is an American actor. He has had many roles in television series , television movies, and feature films.-Early life:...
), who was involved financially with Simon Berrenger, but romantically interested in Shane Bradley. The series production notes described him as a "Mafia-connected conglomerate chief ... who lives to destroy the Berrenger empire".
Though it was never clarified on air, it was implied that Krucek was the illegitimate son of Simon Berrenger, a story twist which would have made him a legitimate claimant to Paul Berrenger's position as the elder Berrenger's heir.
The location shots of Berrenger's was at the real-life department store, Barneys
Barneys New York
Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...
in New York.
Episodes
A total of 11 episodes were screened between January 5, 1985 and March 9, 1985. The episode titles were Overture, For Gloria's Benefit, Of Boardrooms & Bedrooms, Fame & Misfortune, Seduction, Dangerous Ground, Power Play, Best Laid Plans, Roll Tape, Hidden Agenda and Maelstrom.Crew
The serial was produced by Diana GouldDiana Gould
Diana Gould is a screenwriter for television and a short story author.-Positions Held:Berrenger's*Producer & Writer Dynasty*Producer *Story Writer Family*Writer Knot's Landing...
(Dynasty), David Jacobs
David Jacobs (writer)
David Jacobs in Baltimore, Maryland is a writer for television, most memorable for being the creator of the two dramas Dallas and Knots Landing....
(Knots Landing) and Stuart Sheslow. Its head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
was Lynn Marie Latham
Lynn Marie Latham
Lynn Marie Latham is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer. Her initial foray into writing for television was as a story editor for the short-lived series Berrenger's in 1985...
.
Cast
- Stacey Allen ... Jonelle AllenJonelle AllenJonelle Allen is an American actress, singer, and dancer.Born in New York City, Allen grew up in Harlem's Sugar Hill among neighbors that included Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins, and Johnny Hodges, all of whom had an influence on her career choice...
- Laurel Hayes ... Laura Ashton
- Melody Hughes ... Claudia ChristianClaudia ChristianClaudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
- John Higgins ... Jeff ConawayJeff ConawayJeffrey Charles William Michael "Jeff" Conaway was an American actor best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the US television series Taxi and Babylon 5. Conaway was featured on the first season of reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew...
- Max Kaufman ... Alan FeinsteinAlan FeinsteinAlan Shawn Feinstein is an American philanthropist and former mail-order and Internet promoter.-Early years:Feinstein was born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1931. He grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts....
- Todd Hughes ... Art HindleArt HindleArthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.Hindle was born in Halifax. His family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Although shy as a youngster, he grew to be a rebellious and independent teenager...
- Cammie Springer ... Leslie HopeLeslie HopeLeslie Ann Hope is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Teri Bauer in the Fox show 24 where she played the wife of the main character Jack Bauer.-Life and career:...
- Gloria Berrenger ... Andrea MarcovicciAndrea MarcovicciAndrea Louisa Marcovicci is an American actress and singer.- Biography :Marcovicci was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Helen , a singer, and Eugen Marcovicci, a physician and internist of Romanian descent. In her teens, she decided that she wanted to be a singer, but instead...
- Shane Bradley ... Yvette MimieuxYvette MimieuxYvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
- Babs Berrenger ... Anita MorrisAnita Morris-Career:Among many roles, Morris's most prominent film role was as Carol Dodsworth, the mistress to Danny DeVito, in Ruthless People and for her sensual performance as Carla in the musical Nine opposite Raul Julia. While nominated for a Best Featured Actress Tony Award as Carla, she lost to Liliane...
- Paul Berrenger ... Ben MurphyBen MurphyBenjamin E. Murphy is an American actor. He is known for his role in the ABC television series Alias Smith and Jones, co-starring as Kid Curry, first with Pete Duel and later with Roger Davis.-Early life:...
- Rinaldi ... Cesar RomeroCesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
- Danny Krucek ... Jack ScaliaJack ScaliaJack Scalia is an American actor. He has had many roles in television series , television movies, and feature films.-Early life:...
- Billy Berrenger ... Robin Strand
- Julio Morales ... Eddie VelezEddie VelezEdwin "Eddie" Velez is a Hispanic-American actor who stars in films and on television.-Early life:Velez began acting while in the United States Air Force, when he was stationed in Sunnyvale, California at the Sunnyvale Air Force base.-Acting career:In 1981, he was honorably discharged from the...
- Simon Berrenger ... Sam WanamakerSam WanamakerSamuel Wanamaker was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London...