One In A Million is an American television sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 that aired on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 for one season in 1980. The show was developed as a starring vehicle for comedienne Shirley Hemphill

Shirley Hemphill

Shirley Ann Hemphill was an American stand-up comedian and actress. She was best known for her role on the television situation comedy What's Happening!!, which ran from 1976 to 1979.-Career:...

 after the success of What's Happening!!

What's Happening!!

What's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. The show premiered as a summer series. With good ratings and reviews, and after the failure of several other shows on the network, What's Happening!! returned in November 1976 as a weekly...

(1976–79) in which she played a supporting role. The show was not a success and was cancelled after just 13 episodes.

The series centers around Shirley Simmons (Hemphill), a sharp-tongued taxicab driver who inherits controlling interest in the multimillion dollar conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

 Grayson Enterprises at the death of its founder, Jonathan Grayson, one of Shirley's regular fares. Gleefully assuming her position as CEO, she declares war on 'pompous stuffed shirts', especially company vice president Roland Cushing (Keene Curtis

Keene Curtis

Keene Holbrook Curtis was an American character actor.-Film career:Curtis made his film debut in the 1948 Orson Welles adaptation of Macbeth...

). She finds an ally in Nancy (Dorothy Fielding), Grayson's secretary. The series was set in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

The cast included several well-known character actors including Richard Paul

Richard Paul

Richard Paul was an American actor.He was born in Los Angeles, California. He was able to imitate most American and many foreign dialects. He had a tenor voice and trained with Lee Sweetland....

 as Mr. Grayson's nephew and Carl Ballantine

Carl Ballantine

Carl Ballantine was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go...

 (McHale's Navy

McHale's Navy

McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...

) as the owner of Shirely's favorite deli.

Cast

• Shirley Hemphill
  Shirley Hemphill
  Shirley Ann Hemphill was an American stand-up comedian and actress. She was best known for her role on the television situation comedy What's Happening!!, which ran from 1976 to 1979.-Career:...
  
   (Shirley Simmons)
• Richard Paul
  Richard Paul
  Richard Paul was an American actor.He was born in Los Angeles, California. He was able to imitate most American and many foreign dialects. He had a tenor voice and trained with Lee Sweetland....
  
   (Barton Stone)
• Billy Wallace
  Billy Wallace
  William Joseph Wallace , usually known as Billy Wallace, was a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks. Wallace won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia...
  
   (Dennis)
• Carl Ballantine
  Carl Ballantine
  Carl Ballantine was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go...
  
   (Max Kellerman)
• Ralph Wilcox
  Ralph Wilcox (actor)
  Ralph Wilcox is an African American actor born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who has appeared in movies and television shows dating back to the 70's. Some of his most memorable roles include "Jammin' Jim" Jenkins on the Emerald Cove segments of The Mickey Mouse Club, Mason Freeman in seaQuest 2032 and...
  
   (Duke)
• Mel Stewart
  Mel Stewart
  Milton "Mel" Stewart was an American character actor, television director, and musician who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known for playing Henry Jefferson on the popular television series All in the Family...
  
   (Raymond Simmons)
• Keene Curtis
  Keene Curtis
  Keene Holbrook Curtis was an American character actor.-Film career:Curtis made his film debut in the 1948 Orson Welles adaptation of Macbeth...
  
   (Mr. Cushing)
• Ann Weldon (Edna Simmons)
• Dorothy Fielding (Nancy Boyer)

Episodes

1. Chairman of the Board

First broadcast: 1/8/1980


2. Executive Dad

First broadcast: 1/15/1980


3. Shirley's Prince of a Guy

First broadcast: 1/26/1980


4. On the Cuff

First broadcast: 2/2/1980


Guest star: Ellen Bry (Joanie)


5. Lost Weekend

First broadcast: 2/9/1980


6. Stone vs. Simmons

First broadcast: 2/16/1980


7. The Chairman Babysits

First broadcast: 2/23/1980


8. Suddenly Single

First broadcast: 3/1/1980


9. Cushing Quits

First broadcast: 3/8/1980


10. Max Falls in Love

First broadcast: 3/15/1980


11. Over the Hill

First broadcast: 3/22/1980


12. The Committee

First broadcast: 3/29/1980


13. The Italian Connection

First broadcast: 4/5/1980