Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Phyl & Mikhy: Murphy Cross and Rick Lohman

Phyl & Mikhy aired from May until June 1980 on CBS.

Phyllis Watson ( Murphy Cross) and Mikhail Orlov( Rick Lohman) were two young track stars who fell in love and wanted to get married. There were complications. Mikhail was a Russian, so he had to defect to the United States. Since the newlyweds had no money, they moved in with Phyl's widowed father Max ( Larry Haines), who was somewhat dubious about his new Russian son-in-law. Mikhy, for his part, had to learn to cope with the strange American lifestyle-not to mention all the unfamiliar appliances in the kitchen. They all had to put up with Gimenko ( Michael Pataki), a representative of the Russian government who kept trying to get Mikhy to return to Mother Russia. Truck Morley ( Jack Dodson) was Max's boss and Connie ( Deborah Pratt) was a friend of Phyl's.

Phyl & Mikhy was originally intended as a topical series to be broadcast prior to coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics from Moscow, on NBC. But when Russia invaded Afghanastan, the U.S. withdrew its team and Olympic coverage was canceled. CBS considered dropping this series ( which it had already paid for) but finally decided to run the six episodes it had. It didn't get much of an audience.

Rick Lohman and Larry Haines had both been on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow , where Lohman played Haines's grandson.

For more on the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_boycott_of_the_1980_Summer_Olympics