Seven months later, ABC aired the show's two-part series finale on Sunday, July 8, 1990; a rare occurrence for a cancelled program.

[2] The show stars Christopher Hewett as the title character, a butler for an American family headed by George Owens, played by Bob Uecker.

The series follows posh English butler Lynn Belvedere as he struggles to adapt to the Owens household in suburban Pittsburgh.

Over the course of the series, George becomes a sportscaster (a career shared with Uecker, who balanced his role as the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers while starring in the series), Marsha graduates from law school and starts a career as a lawyer, Kevin leaves for college and gets his own apartment, Heather moves up in high school, and Wesley moves up to junior high.

Being a cultured man with many skills and achievements (having even once worked for Winston Churchill), he also comes to serve as a "counselor" to the Owens clan, helping them solve their dilemmas and stay out of mischief.

A frequent gag on the show involves Heather's air-headed best friend Angela (Michele Matheson), who almost always mispronounces Mr. Belvedere's name (such as calling him "Mr. Bumpersticker", "Mr. Bellpepper", "Mr. Butterfinger" or "Mr. Velveeta").

Yet another recurring gag features George always trying to be initiated into a local charity club, the "Happy Guys of Pittsburgh".

Wesley's highly acrimonious relationship with the never-seen next-door neighbors, the Hufnagels (whose first names all began with the letter H), and the shenanigans he pulls on them is another recurring plot element.

The following year, the title character was portrayed by Clifton Webb in the film Sitting Pretty, which told the story of an arrogant genius who answers an employment advertisement for a babysitter for three bratty kids.

[2] Three previous attempts were unsuccessfully made to adapt the character to television: in 1956 with Reginald Gardiner,[3] in 1959 with Hans Conried[3] and in 1965 with Victor Buono.

The show eventually featured an upper-middle-class family in a highly fictionalized version of the real Pittsburgh suburb of Beaver Falls.

According to Dungan and Stein, Pittsburgh was chosen as the show's setting because "it was either Pittsburgh or Paris, and Paris doesn't have the Penguins... we wanted someplace with seasons and sporting activity... A city kinda going through a resurgence... with character and traditions that is moving into the '80s, a blue-collar community that is moving into the up-and-coming, yet with the traditional spirit of the country.

No scenes from the pilot nor the first season's six episodes were shot on location, but the producers promised that "if we get picked up for fall [1985–86], we'll probably come to Pittsburgh.

Dungan and Stein used it for story ideas during Season 1 after the PMG pitched several studio groups in Los Angeles in January 1985: "The calendar has Pittsburgh scenes for each month.

It was written by Judy Hart-Angelo and Gary Portnoy,[3] who also co-wrote the theme songs to Cheers and Punky Brewster.

Similar to the original unaired pilot, but now with a beige family portrait book, some of the cast pictures changed (most notably, George at his construction job), and Leon Redbone singing the theme.

[18][19] In addition to its existing prime time airings, ABC aired reruns of the first three seasons of Mr. Belvedere on the network's daily daytime schedule from September 7, 1987 to January 15, 1988, filling the gap between the cancellation of the game show Bargain Hunters and the premiere of the talk show Home.

[20] On September 11, 1989 (about the time the show entered its final season), and continuing in sporadically until 1997, it was seen in local syndication on select Fox affiliates.

In December 2009, American Life Network aired both of the series' Christmas-themed episodes, as part of the network's month-long block of holiday-centered episodes of series from 20th Century Fox Television (season four's "Christmas Story" and season six's "A Happy Guy's Christmas").

Around November 2012, Dish Network began broadcasting FamilyNet's successor channel, Rural TV, making the show viewable throughout the U.S. on weeknights (with commercial bumpers intact briefly).

Factory (under license from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) has released the first four seasons of Mr. Belvedere on DVD in Region 1, featuring the original unedited prints of the episodes.

Factory does not have the DVD rights to seasons five and six, and has been involved in protracted negotiations to acquire those remaining episodes (46 in total) for future releases.