Kate & Allie is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from March 19, 1984, to May 22, 1989, starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced mothers who decide to live together and raise their children in the same home.

[2] The show stars Susan Saint James as the free-spirited Kate McArdle and Jane Curtin as her more conservative childhood friend, Allie Lowell.

The show also starred Ari Meyers as Kate's daughter Emma, and Frederick Koehler and Allison Smith as Allie's children Chip and Jennie.

[5] At the beginning of the series, Kate was a travel agent and Allie worked to care for household's domestic needs and returned to college to complete the degree she had abandoned during her marriage.

This plot development, frequently cited as one of the canonical examples of a television show jumping the shark, led viewers to lose interest[6] and CBS chose not to renew Kate & Allie for a seventh season.

Notable guest stars included Ben Stiller, Kelsey Grammer, William H. Macy, Lindsay Wagner, Mercedes Ruehl, Ricki Lake, Dick Cavett, Patricia Richardson, Barbara Barrie, Paul Gleason, Rosemary Murphy, Andrea Martin, John Heard, Debra Jo Rupp, Marilyn Cooper, Susie Essman, Joe Namath, Christa Miller (star Susan St. James' real-life niece), and Peggy Pope.

[11][12] Based on the similarly named Season 3 episode that guest starred Lindsay Wagner, the series was scrapped the day before its January 19, 1987, debut, which was an encore presentation of its backdoor pilot.

[15] Cold opening dialog sequences between Saint James and Curtin documenting city life were featured, shot on location in Manhattan with no laugh track.

The episode was prompted by the likely absence of Saint James, who had been hospitalized due to kidney stones, and featured Allie struggling to find a way home after accidentally leaving her keys and money in a taxi.

The extras include a blooper reel, a six minute interview with Bill Persky and Susan Saint James and a bonus episode from Season Two.