| Genre: | Sitcom |
| Director: | Hollingsworth Morse Joshua White Carl Gottlieb |
| Starring: | Brian Patrick Clarke Gary Cookson Susanna Dalton Peter Fox Stephen Furst Wendy Goldman Peter Kastner Bruce McGill Josh Mostel Richard Seer John Vernon James Widdoes Lee Wilkof |
| Theme Music Composer: | Tony Hendra |
| Opentheme: | "Delta House" performed by Michael Simmons |
| Composer: | Dick DeBenedictis |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
| List Episodes: |
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| Executive Producer: | Ivan Reitman Matty Simmons |
| Producer: | Elias Davis David Pollock |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Company: | Matty Simmons-Ivan Reitman Productions Universal Television |
| Channel: | ABC |
Delta House is an American sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House. The series aired from January 18 to April 21, 1979 on ABC.
Cast members reprising their roles from Animal House included John Vernon (Dean Wormer), Stephen Furst (Flounder), Bruce McGill (D-Day), and James Widdoes (Hoover).Priscilla Lauris, who played Dean Wormer's secretary in the movie, also returned to reprise her role, and her character was given a name (Miss Leonard).Josh Mostel was cast as Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky, brother of Bluto, the character played in the film by John Belushi.[1] Despite Bluto's absence (it is revealed in the pilot episode that he was expelled from college, and had been drafted into the U.S. Army), the scriptwriters made running references to his character throughout the series. In one episode, Blotto announced that he had received a letter from his brother Bluto, prompting a Delta brother to respond, "I didn't know Bluto could write," and another Delta brother to riposte, "I didn't know Blotto could read!"
Delta House also served as an early vehicle for Michelle Pfeiffer, who played "The Bombshell".[2] She appeared in all of the episodes, with the exception of the pilot. She referred to the show as good exposure and a foot in the door. The series did not last, but she was noticed by a lot of Hollywood executives and her career picked up and she became a star soon after.
Because of television Standards and Practices, most of the raunchy humor, sexual references and foul language featured in Animal House did not survive the transition to TV. As a result, Delta House suffered in comparison. That it aired during the so-called "family hour" (8:00 PM on Saturday nights) led to even more watering down.
In addition, the other two broadcast networks rushed onto the airwaves their own sitcoms that were "inspired" by Animal House: NBC's Brothers and Sisters and CBS' Co-Ed Fever.
Delta House initially did well in the ratings. However, executive producers Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman's constant fights with ABC over content led the network to cancel the show after 13 episodes.
The theme song was written by Jim Steinman to lyrics written by Lampoon editors Tony Hendra and Sean Kelly.[3] Steinman later reworked the melody into the song "Dead Ringer for Love", made famous by Meat Loaf and Cher from the album Dead Ringer, and a portion of the lyrics into the song "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" from the movie Streets of Fire (incidentally, Meat Loaf had been an alternate choice for the role of Bluto in Animal House had John Belushi dropped out).
In the episode "Campus Fair", the song "Pizza Man" was performed during a beauty pageant talent showcase. It was taken from National Lampoon's Off-Broadway sketch revue Lemmings, a send-up of the Woodstock Festival, where it was originally sung by actress Alice Playten.[4]