Filthy Rich: Michael Lombard and Dixie Carter - Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries

Filthy Rich aired from August 1982 until June 1983 on CBS.

Filthy Rich was an unabashed sendup of the Dallas/Dynasty/Falcon Crest/ school of prime-time soap opera about the machinations of the unscrupulous rich. The founder of the family fortune, Tennessee land baron Big Guy Beck ( Slim Pickens), was dead , but he still controlled the lives of his heirs. Before dying, and being cryogenically frozen, he had produced a living will on videotape and each week another section of it was played for the family. The terms of the will were hardest on socially prominent elder son Marshall ( Michael Lombard) and his equally status-conscious wife Carlotta ( Dixie Carter). They were forced to welcome Big Guy's illegitimate son , Wild Bill Weschester ( Jerry Hardin), and Bill's flaky wife, Bootsie ( Ann Wedgeworth), into the family mansion, Toad Hall. For the simple Weschesters this was paradise, but for the Becks it was humiliating. Big Guy's greedy social-climbing , sexy young widow, Kathleen ( Delta Burke), was looking for a new meal ticket, while his first wife, elderly Mother B( Nedra Volz), belied her age by repeatedly escaping from the nursing home where she was living. Only Big Guy's younger son, Stanley( Charles Frank), who was independently wealthy seemed to be normal. He was considerate and charming, and spent much of his time foiling the devious plans of Marshall and Carlotta to rid themselves of both the Weschesters and the constraints of the will. George Wilhoit( played by David Healy in the pilot and Vernon Weddle in the series), was the attorney who administered Big Guy's taped will.

When this limited run series returned to the air in October 1982, Forrest Tucker was seen as Big Guy in the tapes , since actor Slim Pickens had died after the first few episodes had been produced.

Filthy Rich was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason in her first collaberation with Dixie Carter and Delta Burke. The 3 would later work together again on Designing Women.

A Review of Tucker's Witch and Filthy Rich from The New York Times

TV: CBS ADDS NEW GIMMICK TO DETECTIVE SERIES

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: October 6, 1982

STILL another team of husband-and-wife private detectives makes its debut tonight, on CBS-TV at 10, in the new weekly series called ''Tucker's Witch.'' The gimmick in this instance is that Amanda Tucker (Catherine Hicks) has special psychic powers, not unlike those possessed by young Matthew Star (Peter Barton) on a new NBC series. The added twist is that Amanda's special talents are unpredictable, sometimes working, sometimes not. This leaves her husband Rick (Tim Matheson) shaking his head in wonder or bemusement much of the time.

At home, the Tuckers live with Amanda's mildly eccentric mother, played by Barbara Barrie, who seems to be evolving into television's mother for all seasons and situations, and a cat named Dickens. The cat is a key character in that it serves as a sort of furry crystal ball through which Amanda receives her psychic fixes. She is always saying something like, ''Rick, I just flashed on the name Frank.'' The cat purrs ominously.

There is nothing terribly objectionable about ''Tucker's Witch'' except that the producers do seem to be uncertain about settling on a cohesive tone. Is it serious or comic? Is it meant to be daffy or tongue-in-cheek? For the premiere, the Tuckers take on a case involving the murder of several married women by the manager of a video dating service. The killer is revealed in the opening moments (he's played by Ted Danson, star of the new series ''Cheers''), putting the burden for the rest of this ''fanciful mystery'' on Amanda's tricks. There's a runaway-car scene, of course, and, for good measure, Dickens the cat is employed to turn on a tape recorder at a key point. None of this, including the performances, is very convincing.

Immediately preceding ''Tucker's Witch,'' at 9:30, CBS has a situation comedy that was introduced in three episodes over the summer. ''Filthy Rich'' has the distinction of being the most vulgar and most raunchy new show of the season. In the grand tradition of such low-comedy series as ''Lotsa Luck,'' which starred Dom DeLuise, it can also be hilarious, depending on your tolerance for broad humor, in every sense of the term.

A old Southern codger has died, leaving his fortune and mansion to his previously unknown illegitimate son, Wild Bill Westchester (Jerry Hardin), and his fluffy and adoring wife, Bootsie (Ann Wedgeworth). This does not amuse, among others, his curvacious widow, Kathleen (Delta Burke), or his daughter, Carlotta (Dixie Carter). But the dizzily friendly Westchesters move into the family manse, and the rest is insult humor.

After being kept awake half the night by lusty whooping coming from the Westchesters' bedroom, Carlotta announces that ''I'm going to call the animal shelter and have them taken away.'' She is also unimpressed with Kathleen's complaints: ''Spare us the histrionics - if sex were fast food, you'd have an arch over your bed.''

Along the way, there is a visit to Bootsie's bedroom, the appointments of which include large posters of Tom Selleck and Billy Graham. Tonight's plot is constructed around a scheme to break up the marriage of Wild Bill and Bootsie. It's about as serious and uplifting as an average installment of ''The Benny Hill Show.'' The series is produced by Linda Bloodworth, who also wrote this episode.

For a Biography of Slim Pickens go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Pickens