Kate & Allie
The Nightmare Before Christmas
TV Flash files “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as hour 88 of 122 in the TV Flash guide — Kate & Allie (1984–1989) on CBS, season 5, episode 12, aired 1987-12-14, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E12: listed hour 88 of 122 in the Kate & Allie guide, hour 12 of 24 in season 5. It aired 1987-12-14 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Triangle Has Four Sides” (S05E11). Next is “A Catered Affair” (S05E13).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Nightmare Before Christmas sit in the Kate & Allie guide?
S05E12 is listed hour 88 of 122 — hour 12 of 24 in season 5, season 5 episode 12.
When did Kate & Allie S05E12 air?
The Nightmare Before Christmas aired 1987-12-14 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is there a will-they with new husbands?
The engine is not a husband hunt. Two divorced moms, logistics of starting over, friendship as the sitcom. Chemistry is the architecture; the brownstone is the workplace.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Two divorced moms, one Greenwich Village brownstone, and Jane Curtin's Emmy-caliber deadpan opposite Susan Saint James's sunniness. Female friendship as sitcom engine — not a husband hunt, not a workplace, just the logistics of starting over. Mainstreamed single motherhood as a double act; the chemistry is the architecture.
The brownstone is the silhouette. CBS, 1984–1989: two divorced moms, one Greenwich Village address, Jane Curtin's Emmy-caliber deadpan opposite Susan Saint James's sunniness. Kate & Allie is Sherry Coben's female-led domestic hit — Ari Meyers and Allison Smith as the daughters, childhood friends pooling resources after their marriages end. *Deadpan versus sun as a two-woman carpet, urban sisterhood as the stage, not a husband hunt.* Style is the plot. If you only listen to the logistics of starting over, you are…
Filed against
- Jane Curtin as Allie Lowell
Jane Curtin’s deadpan outlasted three decades of network weather — Saturday Night Live’s original-class frost, Kate & Allie’s Greenwich Village restart opposite Susan Saint James, and 3rd Rock from the Sun’s earthly straight woman to…
- Susan Saint James as Kate McArdle
Susan Saint James’s Sally McMillan did the smarter half of the sleuthing beside Rock Hudson’s martini commissioner — NBC Mystery Movie jewel, San Francisco gloss — then sunned Kate & Allie’s Greenwich Village brownstone opposite Jane…
- Ari Meyers as Emma McArdle
Ari Meyers’s Emma McArdle watched Kate & Allie turn divorced-mom logistics into a Greenwich Village sitcom engine — Jane Curtin’s deadpan, Susan Saint James’s sunniness, no husband hunt, no workplace crutch. Mainstreamed single motherhood…
- Allison Smith as Jennie Lowell
Allison Smith played Jennie Lowell on Kate & Allie — the daughter in a Greenwich Village brownstone where two divorced moms made friendship the sitcom engine, not a husband hunt. Jane Curtin’s deadpan, Susan Saint James’s sunniness,…