thirtysomething is an American television drama series created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties who are bonded by their involvement with the peace movement and counterculture of the 1960s during their youth, a past which is in marked contrast to their current, middle-class lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The series aired in the USA on ABC from 29 September, 1987 to 28 May, 1991. There are 85 hour-long episodes in four seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC service in the late eighties and early nineties. It later aired on DStv's M-Net Series channel and on TopTV's Fox Retro channel. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 4 premiered on Fox Retro on Monday 22 August 2011, at 13h25. New episodes broadcast daily, on weekdays. There are 23 episodes in the fourth and final season.
Synopsis
Michael (Ken Olin) and Hope Steadman (Mel Harris) are married with a baby girl. Michael runs an ad agency with his friend, Elliot Weston (Timothy Busfield).
Elliot is married to Nancy (Patricia Wettig), and they have two young children, Brittany and Ethan.
Married life is no peaches and cream and it is made less so when their single womanising friends like Gary (Peter Horton) act as reminders of the good old days before potty-training and vomit-stained clothing.
Life in the advertising world is colourful and stressful but this hardly compares to the struggles that these thirtysomethings go through at home, with each other and with the angst inside their heads.
Seasons
Note: broadcast dates for the original run of the series on the SABC are not available.
Season 1 (21 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 9 Oct 2002 | Finale: 26 Feb 2003 | Wednesdays, 23h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 26 May 2011 | Finale: 23 Jun 2011 | Weekdays, 13h25
Season 2 (17 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 5 Mar 2003 | Finale: 25 Jun 2003 | Wednesdays, 23h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 24 Jun 2011 | Finale: 18 Jul 2011 | Weekdays, 13h25
Season 3 (24 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 2 Jul 2003 | Finale: 10 Dec 2003 | Wednesdays, 23h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 19 Jul 2011 | Finale: 19 Aug 2011 | Weekdays, 13h25
Season 4 (23 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 17 Dec 2003 | Finale: 19 May 2004 | Wednesdays, 23h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 22 Aug 2011 | Finale: 21 Sep 2011 | Weekdays, 13h25