Pearl (TV series)

This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Pearl (disambiguation).

Pearl
Created by	Don Reo
Starring	Rhea Perlman Kevin Corrigan Carol Kane Malcolm McDowell Dash Mihok Lucy Liu
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Junger Witt Rhea Perlman Tony Thomas
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Impact Zone Productions Witt/Thomas Productions Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 16, 1996 (1996-09-16) – June 25, 1997 (1997-06-25)

Pearl is an American television sitcom which aired on CBS from September 16, 1996 until June 25, 1997. The series starred Rhea Perlman, in what was her return to television after the conclusion of her long-running series Cheers three years earlier. Don Reo created the series, and Perlman served as an executive producer alongside Reo, Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas and Gary S. Levine. Pearl was produced by Impact Zone Productions and Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Plot

Pearl Caraldo (Rhea Perlman), a middle-aged widow was the loading dock manager for University Electronics but who wanted to achieve a higher level of education. She was accepted as a night student at the prestigious Swindon University. By contrast, her 20-year-old son, Joey (Dash Mihok), a single father with no apparent ambition, was disappointed that his mother would no longer be readily available as a live-in babysitter for his infant daughter. Also less than thrilled was Pearl's sister-in-law Annie (Carol Kane), who was concerned that with her greater educational attainment, Pearl would become another "one of them intellectuals." A professor of a required course, Stephen Pynchon (Malcolm McDowell), further complicated matters by his belief that higher education was for a cultured elite, not working-class people like Pearl, and set out to embarrass and belittle her whenever possible in hopes that she would withdraw from the university.

Cast

Actor	Role
Rhea Perlman	Pearl Caraldo
Kevin Corrigan	Franklin 'Frankie' Spivak
Carol Kane	Annie Caraldo
Malcolm McDowell	Prof. Stephen Pynchon
Dash Mihok	Joey Caraldo
Lucy Liu	Amy Li

References

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• Pearl at IMDb
• Pearl at TV.com