The Famous Teddy Z

7.2
198930m

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.

Production

Logo for Columbia Pictures Television

Trailers & Videos

Thumbnail for video: CBS TV Promo - Famous Teddy Z - Jon Cryer

CBS TV Promo - Famous Teddy Z - Jon Cryer

Seasons

20 Episodes • Premiered 1989

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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 1: Pilot

1. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 2: What's an Agent to Do?

2. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 3: Bobby the Chimp

3. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 4: Teddy Goes to Malibu

4. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 5: Teddy Makes $50,000 ... in One Day

5. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 6: Teddy Gets Fired

6. 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...

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 7: Teddy Falls in Love

7. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 8: Teddy Sells His House

8. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 9: A Case of Murder

9. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 10: Teddy Gets a House Guest

10. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 11: Season's Greetings From Al Floss

11. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 12: Grandma Goes to Work

12. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 13: Teddy Meets His Hero

13. 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

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 14: Teddy Gets a Better Offer

14. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 15: Agent of the Year

15. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 16: Teddy Goes to the Awards

16. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 17: How to Make a Television Show

17. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 18: Al Tells the Truth

18. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 19: Teddy's Big Date

19. 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.

Still image for The Famous Teddy Z season 1 episode 20: Teddy Gets a Guru

20. 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.

Cast

Photo of Jon Cryer

Jon Cryer

Teddy Zakalokis

Photo of Jane Sibbett

Jane Sibbett

Laurie Parr

Photo of Milton Selzer

Milton Selzer

Abe Werkfinder

Photo of Erica Yohn

Erica Yohn

Deena Zakalokis

Photo of Alex Rocco

Alex Rocco

Al Floss

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