Hotel (American TV series)

Rich aristocrat Victoria Cabot (Anne Baxter) ran the St. Gregory Hotel, assisted by general manager Peter McDermott (James Brolin) and his staff. McDermott and assistant general manager Christine Francis (Connie Sellecca) became romantically involved. Halfway through the series Cabot died, leaving McDermott her share of the St. Gregory Hotel. When McDermott inherited half of the St. Gregory, he ran the hotel and promoted Francis to general manager.

Other staff members included: the charismatic guest relations director Mark Danning (Shea Farrell); ex-conman now head of hotel security, Billy Griffin (Nathan Cook); reception manager Julie Gillette (Shari Belafonte); young couple Dave and Megan Kendall (real life spouses Michael Spound and Heidi Bohay), a bellhop and a desk clerk, respectively; and Harry the bartender (Harry George Phillips). Characters Eric Lloyd (Ty Miller); Cheryl Dolan (Valerie Landsburg) and Ryan Thomas (Susan Walters) were added to the cast during its final season.

Cast members Brolin, Sellecca, Belafonte and Cook appeared in every episode of the series. In later years, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., made numerous guest appearances as an opponent of Victoria Cabot and Peter McDermott who plants his daughter, played by Michelle Phillips, in the hotel staff as the concierge.

Bette Davis appeared in the pilot episode as hotel owner Laura Trent, and publicity for the series indicated that Davis was to be a regular on the program. However, the onset of ill health forced Davis to withdraw from the series and Anne Baxter, who had played her nemesis in the 1950 film All About Eve, was brought in as Victoria Cabot, Mrs. Trent's sister-in-law. When Davis's health improved it was intended to bring her back, however, with Baxter on board fulfilling the series matriarchal role it was decided to make Davis' character an offscreen character, who though mentioned, was never seen. Ironically, Davis would outlive Baxter by four years and the series itself by over a year.[1]

Similar to Spelling's other hit ABC show, The Love Boat, episodes of Hotel relied heavily on the appearance of recognizable guest stars. However, unlike The Love Boat's comedic story lines, Hotel generally broached more serious and controversial subject matter, such as abortion, infidelity, rape, suicide, AIDS, homophobia, spousal abuse, and child molestation.

The theme music used for the opening titles was composed by Henry Mancini, who composed famous songs such as "Moon River", "Charade" and "Days of Wine and Roses".

On July 21, 2009, Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD released Season 1 of Arthur Hailey’s Hotel on DVD in Region 1.[2] The episodes were supposed to be uncut and unedited, as originally broadcast, but some episodes were edited from their original network versions due to using syndication prints instead of the original broadcast masters.

On October 20, 2015, Visual Entertainment released Hotel — The Complete Collection on DVD in Region 1 for the first time in a 29-disc box set.[3]

On December 6, 2016, VEI re-released the complete series in a condensed, 20-disc edition. The discs were all compiled in a single, jumbo DVD case (the original complete series edition was released with each individual season contained in five individual DVD cases). The box claims the discs to be Region 1 protected but actually are region free.

In 2003, Aaron Spelling tried to remake the show, twenty years after the original's premiere. The pilot, which starred Michael Jai White and Christina Vidal, was shot for UPN, who passed on the show.

• Hotel on IMDb
• Hotel DVD review and production history of series