Caroline in the City


Caroline in the City is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network. It stars Lea Thompson as cartoonist Caroline Duffy, who lives in Manhattan. The series premiered on September 21, 1995 in the "Must See TV" Thursday night block between Seinfeld and 'ER'. The show ran for 97 episodes over four seasons before it was cancelled; the final episode was broadcast on April 26, 1999.

Summary

Caroline Duffy, a cartoonist who lives in Manhattan, spends a lot of time with dates and lovers, and meddles in the lives of her friends and neighbors. In the pilot episode, she has broken up with Del Cassidy, who quickly finds another date. She hires Richard Karinsky to be her new colorist, and he pretends to be her new boyfriend during a dinner to prevent her from being embarrassed over Del's moving on. During the first season, Richard develops feelings for Caroline.
Caroline's success as a cartoonist is displayed throughout the ; her cartoon character gets a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, she has a park dedicated to her in her native Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and she even has an offer for a cereal brand. When she was a child, she drew violent pictures of her brother Chris, and after dropping out of college, she started doodling at a copywriting job. It took less than five years for her cartoon to become nationally syndicated, and she even appeared on The Today Show.
Towards the end of season one, Del proposes to Caroline. Richard is distressed by this, and searches for a new job. Although Richard has kept his feelings secret, their friends Annie and Remo figure out that he loves Caroline. The day before the wedding, Richard writes her a love letter where he asks Caroline to meet him at Remo's if she loves him. He leaves the letter in a pile of wedding thank-you cards. Caroline arrives at Remo's but does not mention the letter, and continues with the wedding plans. Richard decides to leave Manhattan. When Caroline and Del call off the wedding, Caroline visits Richard's apartment but he has left.
In the, Richard returns to Manhattan after having been in Paris where he had tried to sell paintings. Caroline gives the thank-you cards to a friend; Richard tries to find and destroy the love letter; he tosses it out of the window, only to have Annie find it. He resumes his old job as Caroline's colorist. Later, Caroline discovers that she has feelings for Richard, however Richard has reunited with his former girlfriend Julia, whom he met in Manhattan. Caroline leaves a message on his answering machine telling him that she loves him, but Julia discovers it and erases it.
Richard and Julia get married which prompts a bitter love triangle among the three. Richard eventually splits with Julia.
Caroline and Richard eventually become a couple, however, they split after arguing over whether to have children; Richard learned that Julia had a child. In the final episode, Caroline is about to marry Randy, when Richard shows up at the wedding.

Characters

Main

This is a list of the notable guest stars in the series. Some of them appear as their characters from related NBC series that aired around the same time.
ActorCharacterEpisodeNotes
Matthew PerryChandler Bing"Caroline and the Folks"Crossover appearance. Annie meets Chandler at the video store. The same night, Thompson appeared as Caroline in the November 2, 1995 Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus."
Jean StapletonMary Kosky"Caroline and the Opera"Stapleton plays Caroline's aunt in the episode.
Jane LeevesDaphne Moon"Caroline and the Bad Back"Frasier cameo crossover appearance at the end of the episode, as Daphne and Niles read a "Caroline In The City" comic in Frasier's Seattle apartment.
David Hyde PierceNiles Crane"Caroline and the Bad Back"Frasier cameo crossover appearance at the end of the episode.
David Hyde PierceJimmy Callahan"Caroline and the Cat Dancer"Pierce plays an IRS agent who hopes to win a role alongside Annie in Broadway's Cats. Minor appearances were also made by Frasier actors Dan Butler and Harriet Sansom Harris, but none of them appeared as their characters from the show.
Sharon LawrenceMaddie"Caroline and the Proposal"
John LandisHimself"Caroline and the Movie"
Florence HendersonHerself"Caroline and the Balloon"
Elizabeth AshleyNatalie Karinsky"Caroline and Richard's Mom"
"Caroline and the Bad Trip"
Ashley plays Richard's mother in these episodes.
Morey AmsterdamVic Stansky"Caroline and the Watch"Alumnus from The Dick Van Dyke Show appeared with Stella Dawson as an elderly married couple. Amsterdam died later that year, making the episode his last television appearance.
Rose MarieStella Dawson"Caroline and the Watch"
"Caroline and the Kept Man"
Alumna from The Dick Van Dyke Show appeared with Vic Stansky as an elderly married couple.
Phil HartmanHost "Caroline and the Letter"In a parody of The Twilight Zone, the host describes the viewers entering the "Caroline Zone"
Thomas GibsonWilliam Stevens"Caroline and the Nice Jewish Boy"Gibson plays Caroline's old boyfriend.
Julie AndrewsHerself"Caroline and Victor/Victoria"Andrews has an audio cameo in this episode.
Andrea BendewaldLeslie"Caroline and Victor/Victoria"
French StewartStu"Caroline and the Long Shot"Stewart plays a reporter who covers Richard in this episode.
Debra Jo RuppMelody"Caroline and the Red Sauce"Rupp plays Richard's boss in this episode.
George SegalBob Anderson"Caroline and the Buyer"
Brian GeorgeMr. Tedescu"Caroline and the Ombudsman"George plays Caroline's super in the episode.
Shadoe StevensHimself"Caroline and the Wayward Husband"Stevens inspires Annie to go to Los Angeles to try to become an actress.
Judd HirschBen Karinsky"Caroline and the Comic"Hirsch plays Richard's father in the episode.
Jay LenoHimself"Caroline and the Bad Trip"
J.C. WendelCandy"Caroline and Richard & Julia"
Marvin HamlischHimself"Caroline and the Bitter Beast"

Episodes

Background/production

The show was filmed at the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, California.

Broadcast

Reception

Ratings

Home media

released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2008/2009. A decade later, the remaining two seasons were both released in Region 1 on August 6, 2019.
In Region 2, Revelation Films released all four seasons on DVD between August 2005 and June 2006.
In Region 4, Visual Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia.