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The Famous Teddy Z
"Just call up the famous Teddy Z."
Overview
A mailroom clerk becomes a top agent at a Hollywood talent agency after he impresses a notoriously self-centered client. The series was inspired by an actual 1940s encounter involving Marlon Brando.
Status
Ended
Created By
Hugh Wilson
Network
CBS, Comedy Central
Seasons & Episodes
Season 1
Theodore "Teddy" Zakalokis, a young man working in a Hollywood talent agency in order to avoid being stuck in his Greek-American family's bakery. When Hollywood star Harland Keyvo (a caricature of Marlon Brando) meets Teddy Z, he is so impressed by his honesty that he makes him his new agent.
Episodes
Pilot
Teddy goes to the airport a mail room clerk and winds up becoming a Hollywood agent for a big star, when he refuses to take any grief from that star.
What's an Agent to Do?
Teddy tells his grandmother about his new job at the agency, he also fires Laurie when she resents him bringing her along to be his secretary. He rehires her as he begins to learn what an agent's job calls for.
Bobby the Chimp
Fearing there is not much for him to do, Abe gives Teddy a client from a retiring agent. While appearing on Entertainment Tonight Teddy makes an appeal for this new client, Bobby the Chimp, who's been fired by Landon Tarmac.
Teddy Goes to Malibu
The entire family joins Teddy when he must check the dog and plants at the home of one of Al's clients. Disaster abounds at the house when the bathroom overflows, the dog escapes, the neighbor comes over; you get the idea.
Teddy Makes $50,000 ... in One Day
Teddy meets his first studio head and stands to make $50,000 for Harland's latest movie deal, Dark Closet, that is until Harland decides that ""acting is dumb"" because of the position of Pluto.
Teddy Gets Fired
Al gives Teddy a script to read, unknown to both, it is a slightly modified version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington which Al's client is passing to all the top agents for an article he is writing on Hollywood agents. Teddy takes the script to a studio to try to get it made and is fired by Abe, until...
Teddy Falls in Love
Teddy meets newly separated movie star, Esther Luna, who takes him home with her and together they really ""cook,"" much to Al's disbelief.
Teddy Sells His House
After someone bids on a price that he was just fishing with, Teddy tries to save the family house. Al who claims to never makes mistakes cuts the deal of the lifetime for a client who is dead.
A Case of Murder
Teddy gets Harland to join his other client, Bobby the Chimp, in Bobby's first film. There is trouble on the set when Harland discovers that Bobby's trailer is much bigger than his, that doesn't bother him a much as the monkey does. Someone tries to murder Bobby on the set.
Teddy Gets a House Guest
A method actor moves in with the Zakalokis family to become prepared for his next role as a Greek-American who has an affair with an older relative.
Season's Greetings From Al Floss
Al is haunted by the ghost of his former boss, in the style of ""A Christmas Carol,"" after he makes Teddy and Laurie work for him on Christmas Day.
Grandma Goes to Work
To help alleviate her fears, Teddy invites his grandmother to come down to the agency to see what he does. Once she understands what is going on, she has some ideas to make him a bigger player.
Teddy Meets His Hero
Teddy is excited when he meets his favorite childhood TV host and then he crusades to bring him to an all new generation. The gap between generations is big but there may be
Teddy Gets a Better Offer
Harland sends Teddy to talk to another talent agency where he gets a better offer which him in a precarious position.
Agent of the Year
Al considers his nomination for ""Agent of the Year"" the death knell for his career. He discovers the nomination was engineered by his rival, Eileen Meisner.
Teddy Goes to the Awards
Harland, nominated for Best Actor, is out in the jungles of New Guinea and directs Teddy to accept an award in his absence, should he win. Harland turns up before the awards and shows a nervous Teddy how to deliver his acceptance speech that features a can of beans.
How to Make a Television Show
Two writers, one a friend of Laurie's, pitch an idea for a television series featuring a white and a Hispanic CIA agent in Nicaragua. Teddy learns the ins and outs of trying to launch a pilot for television series, when the network turns the show into a half hour comedy, featuring two female FBI agents with three kids and one the kids has an invisible friend who's an angel.
Al Tells the Truth
Al and Teddy are at lunch where they are witness to a big shot producer slapping a man who bumped into him. When the man turns around and sues this big shot, the producer wants Al to lie in his favor, Teddy is in favor of the truth.
Teddy's Big Date
Teddy plans to take Laurie to a movie screening and when he picks her up, he meets her mother. He invites her to join them for dinner where she drinks too much, passes out and makes for a memorable evening.
Teddy Gets a Guru
Teddy gets an opportunity to sign Donna Gates, a star who's spiritual in the Shirley MacLaine sense of the word. Al tries to get her by faking levitation.
Top Cast
Jon Cryer
Teddy Zakalokis
Jane Sibbett
Laurie Parr
Milton Selzer
Abe Werkfinder
Erica Yohn
Deena Zakalokis
Josh Blake
Aristotle Zakalokis
Alex Rocco
Al Floss
