# Sister Kate (TV series)

Sister Kate is an American sitcom created by Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, and Tony Sheehan, that aired on NBC from September 16, 1989, to July 30, 1990, during the 1989–1990 television season.

## Synopsis

The series stars Stephanie Beacham as Sister Kate, a nun who in the pilot episode is transferred to Chicago to run an orphanage, where she is put in charge of a septet of unwanted orphans whose scheming ways have already run off three priests. Storylines involved Sister Kate matching wits with the kids, and the kids' potential adoptions.
Sister Kate premiered on Saturday, September 16, 1989 at 9:30 EST as a sneak preview, and aired regularly at 8:00 EST on Sundays. The low-rated series was canceled after 19 episodes.

## Cast

* Stephanie Beacham as Sister Katherine "Kate" Lambert
* Jason Priestley as Todd Mahaffey
* Erin Reed as April Newberry
* Hannah Cutrona as Frederika "Freddy" Marasco
* Penina Segall as Hilary Logan
* Harley Cross as Eugene Colodner.
* Alexaundria Simmons as Violet Johnson
* Joel Robinson as Neville Williams
* Mike Williams as Mr. Beard
* Gordon Jump as Lucas Underwood
Guest Stars
* Robert Guillaume in episode "Neville's Hired Hand"
* Marion Ross in episode "The Nun"
* Dan Hedaya in episode "Father Christmas"
* Milli Vanilli in episode "Eugene's Feat"
* Sally Struthers in episode "Sweet Sixteen"

## Guest appearances

Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan appeared as Milli Vanilli in the January 7, 1990 episode "Eugene's Feat", speaking a few lines in their natural voices before (what was later revealed to be) lip-synching their hit "Blame It on the Rain".

## Theme song

The series theme song, "Maybe An Angel", was written by Brian Rawlings and Mason Cooper and performed by Contemporary Christian Music pop star Amy Grant.

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | "Pilot" | Noam Pitlik | Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein & Tony Sheehan | September 16, 1989 (1989-09-16) |
| 2 | "Freddy's Bad Habit" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | September 21, 1989 (1989-09-21) |
| Sister Kate goes to extraordinary measures to break Freddy's smoking habit; Neville gets upset when someone wants to adopt Violet. |||||
| 3 | "Eugene's Secret" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein & Tony Sheehan | September 24, 1989 (1989-09-24) |
| Sister Kate announces that everyone will be moving into shared bedrooms in an attempt to save money on heating costs. As a result, Eugene is fearful that a long-kept secret will get out while new roommates Freddy and April constantly quarrel with each other. |||||
| 4 | "Freddy's Date" | Jeff Melman | William C. Kenny & Brenda Hampton | October 1, 1989 (1989-10-01) |
| Freddy has a crush on the rich kid in her auto-shop class; Neville can't decide which musical instrument to play for his music class. |||||
| 5 | "Eugene's Model" | Jeff Melman | Tony Sheehan | October 15, 1989 (1989-10-15) |
| Violet becomes jealous of the amount of time Neville spends with Sister Kate; Eugene takes up drawing and searches for a nude female model. |||||
| 6 | "Neville's Hired Hand" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | October 22, 1989 (1989-10-22) |
| Neville is so taken with a vagrant who stops for food that Kate hires him to be both a cook and handyman, on the condition that he continues to stay off the booze that he claimed to stop drinking. |||||
| 7 | "Hilary's Date" | Phill Lewis | Chuck Lorre | October 29, 1989 (1989-10-29) |
| Hilary is somehow able to keep her wheelchair a secret from a boy she likes; Neville gives Kate the silent treatment after she scolds him for his language. |||||
| 8 | "Violet's Friend" | Jeff Melman | Brenda Hampton & William C. Kenny | November 5, 1989 (1989-11-05) |
| Violet's friend visits and puts the gang in an uproar and she gets upset and runs away. Later, Sister Kate gets a phone call from a local hospital informing her that Violet is there. |||||
| 9 | "Kate's Baby" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | November 19, 1989 (1989-11-19) |
| 10 | "Kate's Furnace" | Jeff Melman | Unknown | November 26, 1989 (1989-11-26) |
| 11 | "The Nun" | John Sgueglia | Tony Sheehan | December 3, 1989 (1989-12-03) |
| 12 | "April in Paris" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | December 10, 1989 (1989-12-10) |
| 13 | "Father Christmas" | John Sgueglia | William C. Kenny & Brenda Hampton-Cain | December 17, 1989 (1989-12-17) |
| 14 | "Eugene's Feat" | Phil Ramuno | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | January 7, 1990 (1990-01-07) |
| 15 | "Kandid Kate" | John Sgueglia | Unknown | January 21, 1990 (1990-01-21) |
| 16 | "Sweet Sixteen" | Unknown | Unknown | July 16, 1990 (1990-07-16) |
| 17 | "Bingo" | Michael Zinberg | Brenda Hampton-Cain & William C. Kenny | July 23, 1990 (1990-07-23) |
| 18 | "Todd's Cheap Date" | Jeff Melman | Frank Dungan & Jeff Stein | July 30, 1990 (1990-07-30) |
| 19 | "Underwood Underfoot" | Unknown | Unknown | September 1, 1990 (1990-09-01) |

## Award nominations

| Year | Award | Result | Category | Recipient |
| 1990 | Golden Globe Award | Nominated | Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical | Stephanie Beacham |
| 1990 | Young Artist Awards | Nominated | Best New Television Series | – |
| 1990 | Young Artist Awards | Nominated | Best Young Actor Supporting Role in a Television Series | Harley Cross |
| 1990 | Young Artist Awards | Nominated | Best Young Actor Supporting Role in a Television Series | Jason Priestley |