The series starred
Robert Loggia as Ben Benedict, a widowed 56-year-old businessman in
Long Island who falls in love with a 30-year-old lawyer, Thelma Todd "TT" Fagori (
Teri Hatcher). Being true to Lear fashion, the situation of Ben and TT's age difference was an issue in itself, but the show also tackled other environmental and social issues in the way that his earlier shows (
All in the Family,
Maude, etc.) did, with a dose of spirituality. Ben's kids, who were all around TT's age, resented her involvement with their father, except for beloved son Kenneth (
Patrick Breen), a real estate agent on the fast track, who seemed to root them on. The cast also included
Marian Mercer as Ben's sister Martha Benedict, who had been living with Ben's family since the death of his wife. Ben's daughters were airheaded Diana (
Kari Lizer), who worked in fashion design, and forthright intellectual Vicky (
Martha Gehman), a
microbiologist, who was back living at home after her divorce, along with her precocious young daughter, Rachel (
Shiri Appleby). In every episode, some stressful confrontation or incident between TT and the Benedicts would occur. These situations were usually the result of Diana and Vicky's feeble attempts to undermine Ben and TT's romance. They refused to get past the surface image of TT being "just another bimbo" who, despite being in a well-paying profession herself, may have only been after an older man for his money. At every situation's climax, TT would retreat to a private corner and address "The Chief", engaging in a one-sided talk with
God about her issues. Lear insisted on making TT a devout
Catholic as well as an environmentalist, to further reflect the study of spirituality up against politics and
American family values in the series. In fact, the format for
Sunday Dinner was based upon Lear's marriage to his third wife Lyn, who was considerably younger than he was. ==Cast==