Failed Rhoda Spinoff Carlton Your Doorman Premiered 41 Years Ago Today

It must have sounded like a good idea at one point. Two years after CBS canceled the Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off Rhoda, the network brought back the show's unseen doorman Carlton in the pilot episode for what was conceived to be a weekly animated prime time series.

Lorenzo Music, who had voiced Carlton for five years on Rhoda, reprised his role for the animated comedy, which envisioned the sardonic-voiced doorman as a blonde, mustached and long-haired younger man.

Carlton Your Doorman aired only once — on May 21st, 1980 —  never to be seen again until it was included as a bonus feature on a 2017 Rhoda DVD release, after which it was uploaded in its entirety to YouTube:

The premise would appear to be that trouble follows the well-intentioned Carlton everywhere he goes. The pilot sees Carlton seeking a replacement for his boss's wife's dog, Punkin, who dies while in his care.

The show featured an animation style very much of its time. The animation studio behind it (Murakami-Wolf-Swenson) had previously produced two Puff the Magic Dragon TV specials and contributed segments to the groundbreaking 1974 ABC special Free to Be... You and Me. Carlton the Doorman would go on to win the 1980 Emmy award for Outstanding Animated Program.

Lorenzo Music would go on to provide the cartoon voice of Garfield from 1982 until his death in 2001.

Jed Rosenzweig is the Founder and Publisher of Primetimer.