Karen
Tile #281 on the Studio City Walk of Fame

Half-hour situation comedy television series.

Aired January 30, 1975 to May 8, 1975

Broadcast on ABC

CAST: Karen Valentine, Charles Lane, Dene Dietrich, Aldine Kine, Will Seltzer, Oliver Clark, Alix Elias

SYNOPSIS: Set in Washington D.C., Karen Valentine stars as 'Karen Angelo' a dedicated, intelligent young woman who works for Open America, a citizens action organization as a lobbyist. Assisting Karen expose corrupt politicians and lobby for citizens' legislation is the cantankerous Open America's founder Dale Busch (Lane), the group's cynical office manager, Dena Madison (Dietrich) and a young student working for the organization Adam Cooperman (Seltzer). 

Karen lives in Georgetown with her roommate, FBI Agent Cissy Peterson (King) and Oliver Clark and Alix Elias played her neighbors Jerry and Sheryl Siegel. 

Denver Pyle played 'Dale Busch' in the pilot and was replace by Charles Lane. A mid-season replacement, Karen lasted only 13 episodes before being canceled for low ratings.

This series is not to be confused with an earlier series called 'Karen' (1964) which starred Debbie Watson as Karen Scott.

The M*A*S*H Connection
Karen was created by Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H), William Christopher (Father Francis Mulcahy) guest starred as 'Andrew' and Edward Winter (Colonel (CIA) Sam Flagg) had a recurring role as 'Senator Robert Hartford' in 5 episodes.

Gene Reynolds is an award-winning writer, director and producer. Reynolds began directing television shows in 1958 and became a producer a decade later. In 1972 he created M*A*S*H, which he based on Robert Altman's adaptation of Richard Hooker's satirical novel. He and writer Larry Gelbert produced the show for its first four years and then Reynolds served as co-executive producer with Gelbert for the fifth year and then left the series to executive produce Lou Grant (1977).

Reynolds has been nominated for twenty-four Emmy Awards and won six times. He was elected President of the Directors Guild of America in 1993, a post he held for four years.

Larry Gelbart (1928-2009) was an Emmy-award winning writer, producer, and director, whose career began with the Golden Age of radio.

Gelbart wrote the screenplay for Tootsie (1982) and received an Academy Award nomination and he also received an Academy Award nomination for his original screenplay for Oh, God! (1977).

In 1997, Gelbart published his memoir, Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God! and a Few Other Funny Things.

In a May 26, 1998 interview with Gelbart, Dan Harrison asked what represents to him the "best" of television, Gelbart said “When it unites us, as it has in the past, I think it serves a tremendous function-- turning the country into a family.”

Karen Valentine
Karen Valentine is her real name; her Portuguese grandfather had Anglicized his surname of Valentin before Karen was born.

Born on a chicken farm in Sebastopol, California, Valentine started out as a contestant on the Miss Teenage America Pageant when she was 16 years old. Ed Sullivan saw her comical song-and-dance number and said, "I want that girl on my show"! Sullivan phoned during the ceremonies and invited her to appear on his iconic variety show the following week.

Her quirky personality landed her the role on the 1969 acclaimed television series Room 222 and in 1970 she won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of teacher 'Alice Johnson'. She was nominated for the Emmy the following year.

For more information, please visit the SCIA website Walk of Fame pages.

SOURCES
ABC, Absolute Astronomy, TV Guide, Television Obscurities, The Los Angeles Times and Archive of American Television