Following the death of her husband, Theresa Fanelli (
Ann Morgan Guilbert) is prepared to sell the
family business (a
funeral home) to her son Anthony (
Ned Eisenberg) and move from
Brooklyn to
Florida. Thwarting her plans are the arrival of her younger sons Ronnie (Andy Hirsch), who had just dropped out of school, and Frankie (
Chris Meloni), whose
engagement has just been broken. Another brother, the slightly disreputable Dom (
Joe Pantoliano), is between
hustles. Anthony learns that the funeral home is about
$25,000 in
debt, which he had not counted on. Soon, all of the boys are back at home with their mom, just like the old days. Advising the family, somewhat dubiously, are Theresa's brother, a
Catholic priest known as "Father Angelo" (
Richard Libertini), and
fortune teller Philomena (Vera Lockwood).
The Fanelli Boys showed fairly strong
Italian-American ethnic
stereotyping; there was even an
Italian flag in the program's
logo. The series garnered low ratings; in an October 5, 1990, interview,
NBC executive
Warren Littlefield said it could be cancelled as soon as the ratings for episode 5 came in. He added that the show is in "good shape creatively but we need to market it better. What we don't want to do is panic and say too quickly that it's not working and say goodbye to a
Cheers or
Family Ties," referring to NBC sitcoms that started slowly but became long-running hits.
The Fanelli Boys was cancelled in February 1991 after airing nineteen episodes. ==Cast==