The Building is an American sitcom television series with dramatic elements created, written by and starring Bonnie Hunt that aired on CBS from August 20 to September 17, 1993. Although it was praised by critics, it earned low Nielsen ratings and was canceled after only five episodes, leaving one episode unaired.

Premise

Bonnie Kennedy, a commercial actress who was jilted by her fiancé, returns to Chicago to start a new life in an apartment across from Wrigley Field. The story focuses on Kennedy's struggles and the characters who live in her apartment building.

Production notes

Bonnie Hunt created the show, wrote four of the five broadcast episodes and starred as Bonnie Kennedy.

Making heavy use of the Second City alumni, the show had a theatrical sensibility and minor mistakes, accidents and forgotten lines were included in the aired episodes, with a loose improvisational feel to certain scenes. The Building was the first sitcom production of David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company. Letterman appears (unbilled) in a character role in the second episode. A sixth episode was produced, but did not air.

Two years after the show was canceled, cast members Hunt, Don Lake, Tom Virtue and Holly Wortell reunited in the series The Bonnie Hunt Show. Hunt and Wortell also starred in Life With Bonnie. Both The Bonnie Hunt Show and Life With Bonnie retained many of the distinguishing characteristics of The Building, including the Chicago setting, an improvisational/theatrical feel and the nature of the characters' relationships.

Cast

• Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Kennedy, a struggling actress, best known as the "Randolph Carpet Girl" in a series of local ads.
• Holly Wortell as Holly, Bonnie's best friend and fellow actress.
• Don Lake as Brad, who lives downstairs. Brad often visits to for coffee and food.
• Tom Virtue as Stan, an actor and Brad's roommate. Tom and Bonnie are attracted to each other.
• Richard Kuhlman as Big Tony, who is rough around the edges but generally decent and friendly, Big Tony lives upstairs and maintains the building. His wife Antionette is often heard yelling loudly offstage but is never seen.
• Mike Hagerty as Finley, a former firefighter who runs the nearby bar called G&L Fire Escape.
• Andy Dick as Joe Devane, a talkative casting agent.

Episodes