More Insider Trivia

Homefront ’s Origins

• Homefront was created by husband-wife team Bernard Lechowick and Lynn Marie Latham from an idea first conceived in 1983 as a novel and then as a series called War Brides. (Tom Green “Duos Attract Passionate Viewers” U.S.A. Today Mar. 11, 1992)
• River Run and its residents were based on a combination of memories, friends, and relatives from Bernard Lechowick’s hometown of Mentor, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), and Lynn Marie Latham’s hometown of Conroe, Texas. (Mark Dawidziak “Strong ABC Drama Has A Weakness” Akron Beacon Journal Sept. 24, 1991; Eric Gerber “Hitting Close to Home” Houston Post Sept. 24, 1991)
• Latham drew on her memories of war brides who settled in Conroe after World War II: “My best friend’s mom – Jeanne Seniff was from Brussels…. There was a seamstress in town who was an Italian war bride.” (Eric Gerber “Hitting Close to Home” Houston Post Sept. 24, 1991)
• Latham tape-recorded Jeanne Seniff’s reminiscences in the mid-1980s, planning to transform them into a novel. (Brian Donlon “Homefront Rich with Hope” USA Today Oct. 1991)
• The real Mrs. Seniff’s daughter was Latham’s childhood friend and is named Linda. (Brian Donlon “Homefront Rich with Hope” USA Today Oct. 1991)
• Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick began researching the teleplay for Homefront in 1988 during a five-month writers’ strike, which undoubtedly inspired the union storyline that forms the backbone of the series. (Gary Lycan “‘Homefront’ Banking on its Fans’ Loyalty” Orange County Register Mar. 11, 1993)
• The TV script for Homefront was originally titled The View from Kirtland Hill. (“Ask Mimi Kennedy” The Viewer Jan. 1993)
• Latham recalls, “We originally told the network it would be set in a small Texas town but they said that felt too ‘regional.’” (Homefront egroup Apr. 19, 2003)
• The producers planned to take the characters into the late ’40s and through the ’50s. (Mark Dawidziak “Strong ABC Drama Has A Weakness” Akron Beacon Journal Sept. 24, 1991)
• Kirtland Hill, Johnny Cake Ridge, Chillicothe Road, and Acacia Avenue (where Charlie, Caroline, and Gina lived) are all real places in or near Mentor, Ohio. The area also features a Metcalf Road and Ruth Street.

The Struggle to Keep Homefront on the Air

• Homefront was ranked 67^th out of 89 television series during its first season. (Hal Boedeker, “Tonight’s Lost ‘Homefront’ Is Powerful Drama” Baltimore Evening Sun July 28, 1992)
• Homefront had “the largest concentration of female viewers ages 18 to 49 of any current show on television.” (“‘Homefront’ Brings ’40s Back to Life” Indianapolis Star July 28, 1992)

• Homefront’s time slot was moved six times. (Diane Werts “Rumors of ‘Homefront’s’ Demise Could Kill It Off” Newsday Mar. 9, 1993)

• “While ABC was in the process of arranging their fall 1992 television schedule, the April 11, 1992, issue of TV Guide ran an S.O.S (Save Our Shows) campaign to save five shows on the verge of being cancelled. Homefront, Brooklyn Bridge, and I’ll Fly Away were on the ballot, while ABC’s Civil Wars and FOX’s Herman’s Head were the other two shows. Using a special (reduced rate) 900 line, callers were able to vote to keep their favorite show on the air. Out of the five shows up for renewal, Homefront received the most votes, 99,591, and consequently was renewed, along with the other shows.” (Bruce B. Morris Prime Time Network Serials McFarland 1997)
• Dear Abby’s appeal to save the show during Spring 1992 generated 20,000 letters in 14 days. (John Kiesewetter Cincinnati Enquirer 1993)

General Facts and Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

• More than seven hundred actors read for the fourteen parts in the Homefront cast with Bernard Lechowick and Lynn Marie Latham personally auditioning four hundred of them. (Diana E. Lundin “Actors on ‘Homefront’ Put the Accent on 1940s Dialogue” Los Angeles Daily News 1992)
• Wendy Phillips (Anne) met Lynn Marie Latham at a party while working on the 1991 movie Bugsy: “It was a wonderful conversation. I couldn’t believe she was a producer. It was more like we were girlfriends.” Phillips auditioned for Homefront while in her ’40s-era Bugsy costume. (Jerry Buck “Wendy Phillips Finds Job on ‘Homefront’” Everyday Magazine Jan. 2, 1992)
• Out of all the actors waiting to audition for Mike Sloan, Ken Jenkins was asked by Mimi Kennedy (who was there to audition for Ruth) to help her practice her lines. (Yuki Yasui “Museum of Television & Radio Induction” Mar. 13, 1993)
• Kyle Chandler originally read for the role of Hank. (Glenn Esterly “A True Romantic” TV Guide Canada Nov. 28, 1992)
• Mimi Kennedy (Ruth) originally read for the role of Anne Metcalf.
• A publicity lunch for journalists to promote Homefront was held in July 1991 at Los Angeles’s Union Station, where the pilot episode’s train station scenes were filmed. (Ron Miller “Hollywood on the ‘Homefront’” San Jose Mercury News July 26, 1991)
• Homefront originally aired Tuesdays at 10:00 and returned to this time slot on Mar. 9, 1993, for its final episodes.
• The characters of the Sloans and the Davises were originally budgeted for only half a season.
• Ruth was originally imagined as an older woman and was planned to be written out during the first season. (“Ask Mimi Kennedy” The Viewer Jan. 1993)
• Ruth was originally going to commit suicide, presumably due to grief over Mike Jr.’s death. (James Zanewicz Homefront egroup May 18, 2001)
• Wendy Phillips (Anne) stated in an interview that “Anne is a woman who has been a widow for five years,” though this is never established in the series. (Jerry Buck “Wendy Phillips Finds Job on ‘Homefront’” Everyday Magazine Jan. 2, 1992)
• According to Lynn Marie Latham, “When [Kyle Chandler and Tammy Lauren] started working together, we asked them to come into the office and look at Preston Sturges’s films. We asked Kyle to look at Cary Grant and David Niven, and asked Tammy to look at Barbara Stanwyck, and how the timing was in the ’40s…. They came back with this incredible comedic timing. I knew they were wonderful actors. Now I think they’re brilliant actors.” (Mark Lorando “3-night Stand Becomes Homefront Romance” Newhouse News Service 1992)
• According to Homefront camera intern Dena Thompson, “Kyle studied Jimmy [Stewart’s] acting closely and modeled some of his mannerisms after him (as well as his stammering). Jimmy was Kyle’s favorite actor, and he often imitated him on the set.” (Homefront egroup June 12, 2000)

• To prepare for her role, Jessica Steen (Linda) interviewed her relatives regarding their World War II experiences and modeled Linda after her great aunt, a “single woman who worked for many, many years and never married.” (Claire Bickley “The Present of her Past” Sunday Sun Television Magazine Sept. 29, 1991)
• Jessica Steen (Linda) claimed in an interview that she didn’t know if her character Linda was a virgin: “That was a question when Mike Sloan Jr. was killed how involved were they before he got involved with Gina? That was a personal choice of my own that nobody knows whether they did or didn’t.” (Irene S. Krause “An Unmarried Woman” Soap Opera Weekly Oct. 20, 1992)

• Alexandra Wilson (Sarah) was a longtime history buff, and World War II was one of her favorite eras. (Lisa Backus, “Alexandra Wilson: On the Homefront” 1991)
• Mimi Kennedy (Ruth) worked as a writer, story editor, and actor for Lechowick and Latham’s previous series Knots Landing. (“Ask Mimi Kennedy” The Viewer Jan. 1993)
• Giuliana Santini mimicked her father’s accent when playing Gina. (Yuki Yasui “Museum of Television & Radio Induction” Mar. 13, 1993)
• Wendy Phillips (born 1952) is only 13 years older than Kyle Chandler (born 1965), who plays her youngest child.

• The photograph of Mike Jr. was not a picture of a young Ken Jenkins (Mike), as some have theorized. According to Jessica Steen (Linda), it was the son of the production manager on Homefront. (http://www.jessicasteen.com/askjess_061099.html)

• According to Thompson, “These actors behaved like schoolboys over [Kelly Rutherford]. I’ve never seen anything like it, especially since there were so many beautiful actresses around. Kyle made such a fool out of himself on that occasion, it was painful to watch.” (Homefront egroup May 24, 2000)
• According to Thomspon, “The main difference between Jeff and Kyle is that Kyle had a devilish streak. Whereas Jeff was so honorable, Kyle could look at you with such mischief and say things to you that would knock a lot of women off their feet. Tammy had to be pretty strong to resist laughing, or crumbling. I remember one afternoon shooting for [episode #23] ‘Spanish Moss,’ where Kyle and Tammy were sitting on the bed discussing patterns for china or silverware, or something. Kyle was leaning in, giving her this look, while he teasingly said over his shoulder to a crew member, ‘She is a dish, isn’t she?’ He was a terrible flirt!” (Homefront egroup July 28, 2000)
• Regarding Hank’s (David Newsom) departure from the series, Lynn Marie Latham explains, “It was a very large cast and we didn’t seem to generate as many stories for Hank. That’s why he was eventually written out of the series.” (Homefront egroup Apr. 19, 2003)
• According to Thompson, “My sound crew friends often played vintage music during set ups to keep us all in the mood.” (Homefront egroup May 23, 2000)
• According to Thompson, “The ladies were always complaining about the abuse to their hair. Tammy told me it was hard to keep her hair in healthy condition with all that teasing and spraying (and coloring). The stylists were very talented, though.” (Homefront egroup Mar. 21, 2003)
• ABC and Homefront’s producers supposedly decided to place more focus on the younger characters during the second season, but this isn’t necessarily evident in that season’s storylines. (“Ask Mimi Kennedy” The Viewer Jan. 1993)
• Mimi Kennedy wished she had had more scenes with Wendy Phillips. (“Ask Mimi Kennedy” The Viewer Jan. 1993)
• According to Thompson, “Charlie and Caroline’s apartment was so tiny, it was quite easy to hit your head in there! Very few people could fit at one time. It was pretty interesting to see how all of the sets were positioned on the soundstages. Strangely, Charlie and Caroline’s was several steps away from Jeff’s bedroom attic interior. Not exactly like a regular house…. The exterior of [Jeff’s attic] room was in another area completely. There must have been a couple of steps outside the doorway to the attic, but honestly I don’t remember! The logistics were kind of weird. Different rooms to the same house (Metcalf) were sometimes scattered a couple of sound stages away from each other. We (the crew) would sometimes have this caravan of rolling carts outside the warehouses when changing interiors. I always thought that was kind of funny. It was a short hike!” (Homefront egroup Aug. 1, 2000)
• According to Thompson, “The ‘real’ Metcalf house was in Pasadena, California. An actual family lived there and rented it out to the Homefront production.” (Homefront egroup Oct. 18, 2002)
• Homefront’s second season was shortened to only 18 episodes (rather than the standard 24) due to its hiatus and eventual cancellation.
• Homefront ended production in mid-January 1993, though the final episode did not air until Apr. 26, 1993.
• Episode #35 – “On The Rebound” – never aired in the United States during the series’ original network run. It did, however, air in the Philippines. The episode was eventually broadcast for the first time in the U.S. during the TVLand rerun marathon in April 2000.
• During the early days of the Internet, several Homefront fans kept in touch through “Prodigy.com” newsgroups while the show was on and “for the year or so after it was cancelled.” Some of these fans were active in the development of the current Homefront egroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homefront/). (Tamara Homefront egroup Dec. 11, 1998)
• After a seven-year absence, Homefront reemerged in reruns on TV Land April-July 2000, beginning with a marathon broadcast of all 42 episodes. About five minutes from each episode were cut for the TV Land broadcast to make more room for commercials.
• Since May 2002, Homefront reruns have aired weekly on the Good Life TV cable network.

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