[1][2] The show's producer, comedian Alan King, videotaped 10 half-hour episodes before live audiences, to be aired as a Wednesday-night summer-replacement series in 1972.

Gabriel Dell, originally a member of the Dead End Kids, starred as affable New York bartender Harry Grant.

Grant presided over a motley crew of staff members and regular customers: sad-sack 65-year-old waiter Meyer Shapiro (Shimen Ruskin), cook Joe (Joe Keyes, Jr.), kooky waitress Mary Ann (Langhorne Scruggs), tipsy lawyer Phil Bracken (Bill Fiore), roughneck cab driver Fred Costello (J.J. Barry), and flamboyantly gay designer Pete Panama (Vincent Schiavelli), "a dead ringer for Tiny Tim in manner and dress," according to columnist Kay Gardella.

The show was taped in New York City, much to native New Yorker Gabe Dell's regret: his dressing room was robbed while the cast was before the cameras.

"[4] Dell remarked that the name of the corner bar was supposed to be Grant's Tomb, but the sign painter misspelled it "Toomb."

"[8] Columnist Dan Lewis reported that "the audience response was much greater, so don't count The Corner Bar out of future programming at the network.

The Corner Bar is a particular favorite of key network executives, and the people in the series, including producer Alan King, have been alerted to the possibility of it becoming a mid-season replacement.

Gabe Dell wasn't available for the rush assignment, so the tavern was taken over by the building's landlady, now named Mae (Anne Meara) and her late husband's business partner Frank Flynn (Eugene Roche).

Paul Jones of the Atlanta Constitution was a fan, and wrote, "It was hoped by many that ABC would put The Corner Bar in its fall lineup but the series will run only through Sept. 7.

On the positive side, Ron Carey as the actor and Bill Fiore as the lawyer are scene-stealing standouts in a good cast that does its best with a dog of a script.