Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series, Hardin as Baby is learning to dance.
Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series, Hardin as Baby is learning to dance.

Dirty Dancing 1988 TV Show: Revisiting Kellerman’s Before the Remake

While audiences anticipate returning to the beloved Kellerman’s resort with ABC’s remake of Dirty Dancing, starring Abigail Breslin, many may not realize that this isn’t the first time television has revisited the iconic Catskills setting. Long before this new adaptation, CBS premiered a Dirty Dancing series way back on October 29, 1988, just over a year after the original Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey film captivated moviegoers.

This short-lived Dirty Dancing 1988 tv show featured Melora Hardin, later known for her Emmy-nominated role in Transparent, as Baby Houseman. However, this Baby was slightly different. In this iteration, Frances “Baby” Houseman is the 18-year-old daughter of Max Kellerman (played by McLean Stevenson of M*A*S*H fame), the owner of Kellerman’s. Set in the summer of 1963, the series follows Baby’s return to Kellerman’s before starting college at Mount Holyoke. She aims to reconnect with her father, from whom she had become estranged after his divorce from her mother years prior. Initially hoping for a waitress position, Baby is instead appointed talent coordinator by Max, a role previously held by dance instructor Johnny Castle (portrayed by Patrick Cassidy), a 23-year-old from New Jersey who works as a mechanic during the off-season.

Thirty years after the dirty dancing 1988 tv show aired, Melora Hardin’s memories of the single-season series are admittedly hazy, though she does possess the entire series on DVD. Hardin credits producer Steve Tisch, who previously worked with her on the 1986 film Soul Man, for her casting in the half-hour Dirty Dancing series. As she recalls, “I feel like he kind of just decided I was going to be Baby.”

This casting choice was particularly fitting given Hardin’s extensive dance background. Growing up as a dedicated dancer, she earned a scholarship to the prestigious Joffrey Ballet in New York at the young age of 13. Adding to the serendipity, Hardin had a prior connection with Patrick Swayze himself. In her youth, the ballet studio in Toluca Lake, California, where she trained, introduced a jazz class taught by a pre-fame Swayze. “I think he taught for at least six months or a year. Always arriving on his motorcycle,” Hardin reminisces. “I just remember the tight jeans — tight in the front and the back, I will just point out. His long ’70s hairdo. He just was so sexy and so warm and sweet. I remember being like, ‘Oh my God.’ I think my tongue was out of my mouth the entire class. What a lovely, lovely guy he was. Even then, he was with Lisa [Niemi], his wife [until his death in 2009]. They stayed together forever, and she was also a wonderful dancer and would come sometimes.”

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Although Patrick Swayze wasn’t involved in the dirty dancing 1988 tv show, Hardin was delighted that Kenny Ortega, the choreographer from the iconic film, was part of the television adaptation. However, her dance expertise presented a slight challenge. “I was really a better dancer than Patrick [Cassidy] was. That was kind of hard for me to play down, at first,” she admits, “just because I really wanted to dance.”

Ultimately, Hardin embraced the acting challenge of portraying a less experienced dancer. In the series premiere, Johnny suggests Baby participate in the staff dance number for an upcoming show, intentionally placing her in a rehearsal to highlight her initial lack of rhythm. “There’s a whole section where everyone’s dancing and I’m trying to catch the steps and I’m totally out of rhythm — everyone’s going down and I’m standing up. It’s fun when you actually do have rhythm to try not to have rhythm,” Hardin explains. Her approach was rooted in character immersion: “Just like anything in acting, you have to think the way the character thinks and believe what the character believes,” she says. “I think people can’t hear the rhythm because they’re in their head too much. It’s just like there’s a whole school of thought, which I think is really true, that everybody is born able to sing. The reason they can’t sing is because someone’s told them along the way that they can’t carry a tune, or they can’t sing, or they shouldn’t sing. I think it’s the same thing with dancing; everyone’s got rhythm, they just have to feel it.”

Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series, Hardin as Baby is learning to dance.Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series, Hardin as Baby is learning to dance.

Baby begins to learn (Photo: CBS)

Baby’s dance skills improve quickly, and Hardin recalls network concerns regarding the sensuality of the “dirty dancing” in the show. “I think it’s really the first scene where Baby and Johnny dance together. I come in, in that pretty, flowy little dress. I remember loving that dress. And the dancers were all dancers that I took classes with, and it was pretty raunchy. They were, like, in there,” she laughs. “They were grinding and dancing, and even the stuff Patrick and I did was pretty sexy.”

While Baby and Johnny’s on-screen chemistry was undeniable, even sharing a kiss in the second episode as Johnny attempts to dissuade Baby from leaving Kellerman’s after a disagreement with her father, Baby initially resists a romantic connection. At the end of the second episode, following her return to participate in the group dance, they find themselves dancing in the staff quarters when Johnny inquires about a potential future for them. Baby’s response is firm: “I told you, all I wanted to do was learn how to dance,” she states, leaving Johnny in that moment.

This declaration reflects Baby’s immediate priorities. “I come out, and I’m kind of just in that kind of revelry of feeling good and dancing, and I do this big kick, and I’m wearing a beautiful dress and the dress goes up,” Hardin recounts, highlighting one of her favorite moments from filming the dirty dancing 1988 tv show. Interestingly, she doesn’t recall performing the iconic lift with Cassidy during the series. She believes that honor was reserved for Constance Marie, who played Johnny’s dance partner Penny, a character seemingly more possessive of Johnny than in the original movie. “They ended up dating in real life for quite some time after that,” Hardin notes.

Melora Hardin in a scene from the Dirty Dancing 1988 TV show, celebrating a dance move.Melora Hardin in a scene from the Dirty Dancing 1988 TV show, celebrating a dance move.

Baby celebrates (Photo: CBS)

Expectations were high for the dirty dancing 1988 tv show debut. “Everyone thought this was going to be a huge series,” Hardin says. However, it only lasted a single season. The reasons for its cancellation remain somewhat unclear. “I don’t know. I remember one critic not liking that I was not ‘Jewish-looking,’ because she’s supposed to be Jewish. I don’t know if that was the thing. I mean, I think the series was good. … Who knows why these things do catch on or don’t,” she reflects. Hardin draws a parallel to another short-lived but well-received series she starred in early in her career, The Family Tree. She suggests that the television landscape of the late 1980s, pre-streaming era, played a role. “I just think the business was really different. We didn’t have things streaming, you know? Everything came out on the time that it came out, and you either watched it or you didn’t.”

Paul Feig as Norman Bryant in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series on CBS, playing a bellboy character.Paul Feig as Norman Bryant in the 1988 Dirty Dancing TV series on CBS, playing a bellboy character.

Paul Feig as bellboy Norman Bryant (Photo: CBS)

Looking back on her experience with the dirty dancing 1988 tv show, Hardin fondly remembers the talented individuals she collaborated with, the friendships she forged (including with Paul Feig, later known for Freaks and Geeks and Bridesmaids, who played bellboy Norman), and the overall enjoyable atmosphere on set. She even brought her kitten to work daily, who became a remarkably social cat due to his unusual set socialization.

Since then, Hardin has enjoyed a successful television career with notable roles in series like The Office and Transparent. Currently, she stars in Freeform’s The Bold Type, portraying Jacqueline, the editor-in-chief of Scarlet magazine, a character inspired by former Cosmo editor Joanna Coles. Hardin emphasizes the importance of portraying empowering female figures in media, stating, “A lot of times on television, when you have a woman of power, they’re synonymous with ‘b***hes.’ That’s how people play women of power, and that’s because it’s been such a male-dominated medium,” and adding, “I think the only way women’s stories are going to get told is for women to be telling those stories.”

The 1988-’89 Dirty Dancing TV series remains unavailable on DVD in the U.S. ABC’s Dirty Dancing remake is anticipated, and The Bold Type continues to air on Freeform.

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