Before going on to become household names on other shows, hyphenates Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Courtney Thorne-Smith starred in the sitcom Day By Day. When yuppie couple Kate and Brian Harper could no longer handle their high-pressure careers, they opened up a day-care center in their St. Louis home in order to spend more time with their children. Assisting them was their teenage son Ross, who was only too happy to help out the beautiful day-care aide Kristin (Thorne-Smith). Louis-Dreyfus played Eileen Swift, who had been a colleague of Brian’s when he was a stockbroker. Eileen would stop by to look down her nose at the Harpers and their new lifestyle.
At least two episodes of the show referenced other popular sitcoms. In “Trading Places,” Michael Gross and Brian Bonsall appeared as their Family Ties characters, Steven and Andrew Keaton. And in the episode “In Brady Dimension,” Ross dreamt that he was part of The Brady Bunch. Ann B. Davis, Florence Henderson, Robert Reed and Barry Williams all appeared as their former Brady selves. Six years later, in an ironic twist of fate, the actor who played Ross, C.B. Barnes appeared in The Brady Bunch Movie as oldest son Greg. Weird…
Anyway, Day By Day went off the air after one season, but as you’ve already read above, most of the cast ended up none the worse for the wear.
production details
USA / NBC / x25 minute episodes / Broadcast 29 February 1988 – 25 June 1989
cast
Linda Kelsey as Karen Harper
Doug Sheehan as Brian Harper
C.B. Barnes as Ross Harper
Courtney Thorne-Smith as Kristin Carlson
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Eileen Swift
Thora Birch as Molly
Chris Finefrock as Justin
J.P. Dizon as Dana
Pippa Parthree as Martha
Jack Blessing as Kevin
Leslie Nielsen as Jack Harper
T.W. Henning as Taylor Conroy
