It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I remember watching this show for the first time, not really interested in the program (not a wartime/retro buff), but nothing better was on. After watching the episode though, I remember thinking "Wow, that was REALLY GOOD." Never before, nor since then, have I felt that way about any television program. I was hooked on the show, but if I recall correctly, some of the story lines towards the end of the series started becoming too outlandish for my taste. Still, the show had great potential, and was cut off much too soon.It's been too many years since the show was on, but I still remember bits and pieces. Kyle Chandler as "Jeff" and Tammy Lauren as "Ginger" were the most memorable characters for me. I'll have to watch this show again to see if it is still as good as I remember.

This show was one of my all time favorites and one of the best shows ever. Of course, like a number of past shows on the big three networks, it was rewarded for its excellence by cancellation. This show was a wonderful portrait of mid American life in the post world War 2 period. Not a single performance hit a false note, and the scripts captured all of the social changes and cultural trends of the time. I still remember one episode about labor-management conflict. There was a fascinating montage at the end, showing a meeting of managers and business owners in one room and of labor organizers in the other. In each room, there is just one woman present-to serve coffee. Let me speak frankly. It has been said before, but the collective intelligence of most TV programmers and executives is roughly equivalent to that of gnats. A whole TV network could be fashioned just out of brilliant, but canceled shows. The Westerner, Slatterys People,Channing, My Wotld and Welcome To it, The John Larouquette Show, Nichols, East Side West Side, the Rogues, I'll Fly Away,The Adventures of Briscoe County Junior, T.H.E. Cat, and this- and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes, I think TV is a device to make us dumb,and that whenever a good show briefly slips through the cracks, and actually tries to , God help us, provoke thought, it is rapidly canceled, unless the writers come up with a clever enough gimmick, like a mysterious Island, or a suburban Mafia family, or a father and son team of defense attorneys. Ah, there are a half million stories from the annals of network stupidity, and this was one of them.

I love(d) this show and I was way below the demographic when it aired. It was just really good! Okay, parts of it got a little bit boring (Linda and the newspaper but now that i am older maybe not so boring?....)I hated how it got yanked and would even love to see it on TVLand or whatever. Hello???? If I see one more episode of "Bonanza" or "Sanford & Son" listed, I might throw all of the TVs out the window. I understand one or two episodes a day, but must it be practically continuous? I KNOW there are many more old shows to choose from. Seem to have lost my focus. Just love the show, especially Ginger and Jeff. The show could have totally delved into the post-war boom and boomers: Ginger had just pointed out the relevance of TV over radio to her station towards the end. So, there was nothing left to write about, right?! I'm not a baby boomer (and yes, I know, you were all born AFTER the war...) but even I get how much TV-writer-fodder there could have been. And I am only a neuro-surgeon, for fun, so it is not like I know anything, right?

I taught American history when this show was first aired. I used the overall story-line as background material in class. My 13&14 year old boys had much more understanding for the plight of single mothers &minorities from watching this quality drama. In this era when people of religious beliefs are more separate than 40 years ago a program that celebrated the religious diversity in a manner unheard before or since is greatly appreciated. Truly,this program embodied the spirit of freedom of worship. It sadly is missing from today's entertainment. Either it ridicules more conservative beliefs under the misguided idea that all organized religion is intolerant of gay rights, or it believes that the only way to be a Christian is to be a Consertive. This program preached tolerance of religious worship. Gina Sloane was Jewish, The Metcalfs were Catholic , The Davis's daughter was White possibly Catholic while they were Black Baptists. Anne Metcalf married Al Kahn, a Jewish union organizer.The Sloanes,Episcopalian owners of the Steelmill,were not cardboard characters. I became ill during the run of the series. Much of Anne Kahn's struggle mirrored my own struggle to walk and take care of my family. I will definitely buy this series if it ever comes out on DVD. I wish that the actors and actresses had been given the opportunity to do at least another year before it was canceled. ABC are you listening?