Characters and Cast of "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd"

Here's a good reason to check your answering machine on a regular basis

Also, she is heard but not seen in:

Here's why it's tough to sell watermelons after midnight

Fred Dodd
(William Converse-Roberts -- IMDB)

TBD

Fred is in too many episodes to list by name (31, roughly half), so here they are by number:

Nina Beth Shapiro
(Maureen Anderman -- IMDB)

TBD

Nina appears in the following episodes (14, surprisingly few considering her importance in Molly's life, but she is always there for the milestones -- birthdays, funerals, baby showers):

Here's why a torch is too heavy to carry in a purse

Here's why it's good to have a cake burning in the refrigerator

Here's why Henry David Thoreau chose the pond

Here's why good guys sometimes wear black

Here's why you shouldn't get too attached to your cat

Here's a message from your local bag lady

Here's what happened to that earring you lost

Here's a major organ interlude

Here's why you shouldn't get too attached to your cat

Detective Nathaniel (Nate) Hawthorne
(Richard Lawson -- IMDB)

TBD

Nate appears in the following episodes (22):

Here's what happened to that earring you lost

Here's a reason to keep your goats in the barn

Here's a clever yet practical gift idea

Here's why you should always make your bed in the morning

Here's an unexpected twist on the old biological clock

Here's why pink isn't necessarily a girl's favorite color

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Here's a perilous research project

Here's something I forgot to mention

Here's another lost weekend

Here's a neat way to tie up the loose ends

Here's why you shouldn't get too attached to your cat

Here's a pregnant pause

Moss Goodman
(David Strathairn -- IMDB)

TBD

Moss appears in the following episodes (20):

Here's a side effect of serious moonlight

Here's a little known Ingrid Bergman incident

Here's who ordered the pizza

Here's a reason to keep your goats in the barn

Here's that old shadow on the wall

Here's why you should always make your bed in the morning

Here's a rough way to learn a foreign language

Here's an unexpected twist on the old biological clock

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Here's something I forgot to mention

Here's why you shouldn't talk to strangers in the park

Even in the company of the amazing cast of actors listed above and below, David Strathairn shines. Any episode in which he appears is guaranteed to have at least one interesting element.

Edgar Bickford
(Richard Venture -- IMDB)

Molly's father, TBD

Edgar appears in the following episodes (8 total):

Here's why it's not good to stare at people in restaurants

Here's why you've gotta bake a batch of cookies every once in a while

then we just hear his voice in:

and he returns as a "ghost" (and/or in Molly's imagination) in:

Here's a neat way to tie up the loose ends

Maimie Bickford Grulnick
(Sandy Faison -- IMDB)

Molly's younger sister (by four years), and Dwight's twin. She is married to Len Grulnick, who is much-discussed but never seen; he is, as Maimie always insists, not merely a dentist but an endodontist. Maimie is a flighty ... TBD

Maimie appears in the following episodes (8):

Here's why it's tough to sell watermelon after midnight

Here's why good guys sometimes wear black

Here's a message from your local bag lady

Here's a little known Ingrid Bergman incident

Here's what happened to that earring you lost

Here's why cosmetics should come in unbreakable bottles

Her two children, Jason and Tiffany, are also seen briefly in two of those episodes (205 and 210), and heard but not seen in the last one (212). Unfortunately, Maimie disappears after the second season, either because she moves to Vermont or because the actress was no longer available, depending on how you look at it. (Sandy Faison appeared instead in the first season of Anything But Love, starring Jaimie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis, a moderately good show but certainly not in the same league with Molly Dodd.)

Dennis Widmer
(Victor Garber -- IMDB)

TBD

Dennis appears in the following episodes (10):

Here's why there are instances when vegetables aren't necessarily good for you

Here's why Henry David Thoreau chose the pond

Here's a side effect of serious moonlight

Here's a reason to keep your goats in the barn

Here's why you order from the Spanish side of the menu

Here's why you should always make your bed in the morning

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Here's how to break the other leg

Victor Garber is one of those superb New York character actors, like Nathan Lane, John Glover, John Pankow and J. Smith-Cameron, not to mention Blair Brown, who is always excellent in whatever role he performs.

Nick Donnatello
(Jay Tarses -- IMDB)

TBD

Jay Tarses not only plays Nick, he is also the creator of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and wrote and directed many of the episodes; he is clearly a major talent!

Nick appears in the following episodes (10 total):

Here's why you should stay out of coffee shops if you don't drink coffee

Here's why you should never wear high heels to the bank

Here's that old shadow on the wall

Here's a major organ interlude

Here's a good reason to check your answering machine on a regular basis

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Jay Tarses also shows up, presumably because Molly has dredged Nick's image up out of her subconcious, as Gary, the gay football player who is one of the "fantasy children" that she imagines in:

Arthur Feldman
(George Gaynes -- IMDB)

TBD

Arthur appears in the following episodes (17):

Here's why you order from the Spanish side of the menu

Here's A Little Night Music

Here's a clever yet practical gift idea

Here's a leisurely stroll through the park

Here's why you can never have too much petty cash

Here's are a couple of games you've probably played

Here's are some things that go bump in the night

Here's a new way of looking at Cappuccino

Here's one way to fill every waking moment

Here's how to break the other leg

Here's how to put an egg in your shoe and beat it

Here's why you shouldn't talk to strangers in the park

Mike & Bonnie Sayles
(John Glover & Constance Shulman -- IMDB; IMDB)

Mike is Molly's 2^nd cousin from Baltimore, which he pronounces in the native dialect as something like "Baldimer." He is always telling embarrassing stories about Molly's childhood visits with him and "Aunt Mim;" of which Molly has no recollection whatsoever. In fact, Molly has no idea who he is when she first runs into him at Edgar's funeral; but this does not deter him from inviting himself to stay at Molly's place whenever he is in town. On his second visit, he brings along his wife Bonnie, a West Virginian; their relationship is very intense and quite volatile. Molly has to absent herself from her own apartment several times because they are either fighting or "making up."

Cousin Mike appears on his own in (3??, 5 total):

Here's a side effect of serious moonlight

Here's A Little Night Music

and with Cousin Bonnie in (2??):

Here's why you should lock your bathroom door

John Glover is another one of those superb New York character actors, and Constance Shulman makes him an excellent sparring partner. (Regrettably, I've never seen her in anything else.)

Sarah Reddick
(Jennifer van Dyck -- IMDB)

Molly's young, enthusiastic boss at her publishing job. Molly is initially reluctant to even go on the interview, especially since it was set-up by Arthur, who as a theatrical producer has connections in the publishing world. (Sarah even tells Molly that Arthur is the godfather of "Zacharino," Sarah's baby son.) Sarah mostly treats Molly pretty well, and is remarkably tolerant of Molly's many delays in starting work, but she has a very brusque manner and bosses Bryce around mercilessly, at least until she gets her comeuppance.

Sarah appears in (6):

Here's why pink isn't necessarily a girl's favorite color

Here are a couple of games you've probably played

Here's an expensive item with no returns, refunds or exchanges

Incidentally, Jennifer van Dyck attended Brown University, where she acted with my brother Jim in Steven Sondheim's A Little Night Music and a musical version of P.G. Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters; she was very talented even back then.

Bryce
(Drew McVety -- not found in the IMDB)

Bryce starts out in publishing as just a temp working for Sarah; but, aided by the Yale old-boy network (he is a former Whiffenpoof), he rises rapidly. Bryce is very ambitious, rather devious, and a bit mysterious; fortunately, he likes Molly. He is aparently gay and dating Trent, though this is never stated explicitly.

Bryce appears in (10):

Here's why pink isn't necessarily a girl's favorite color

Here are a couple of games you've probably played

Here's an expensive item with no returns, refunds or exchanges

Here are some things that go bump in the night

Here's a good reason to check your answering machine on a regular basis

Here's a new way of looking at Cappuccino

Here's a pregnamt pause

Here's why you can never have too much petty cash

Ron & Ramona Locasey
(John Pankow & J. Smith-Cameron -- IMDB; IMDB)

Molly's new neighbors, who move in after the death of Ron's mother, Mrs. Locasey, who appears twice in the second season. Molly is initially put off by having neighbors who actually want to socialize (they are from a remote land known as Queens, and do not understand the customs of Manhattan life); but she gradually grows quite fond of them. They are an infertile couple, so they have profoundly ambivalent feelings about Molly's situation, mixing great joy with envy.

Ron and Ramona appear together in (7, 13 total):

Here are a couple of games you've probably played

Here's a new way of looking at Cappuccino

Here's how to put an egg in your shoe and beat it

Here's why you shouldn't talk to strangers in the park

Here's a good reason to check your answering machine on a regular basis

Ron appears without Ramona in (1):

and Ramona appears without Ron in (5):

Here's something I forgot to mention

Here's an expensive item with no returns, refunds or exchanges

Here's one way to fill every waking moment

Jimmy M^cQuinn
(James Gleason -- IMDB)

Davey's son, an out-of-work actor who finds work in his father's current profession, as a doorman. (Finally, Davey does not have to work 24 hours a day!) He bears almost no resemblance to the tall tales that Davey tells Molly about him before they meet. Jimmy appears in (8):

Here are some things that go bump in the night

Here's a neat way to tie up the loose ends

Here's one way to fill every waking moment

Here's how to put an egg in your shoe and beat it

Here's a perilous research project

Detective Uribé
(Shawn Elliott -- IMDB)

Nate's partner, who becomes rather protective of Molly. Detective Uribé appears in (4):

Dwight Bickford
(Darrell Larson -- IMDB)

Molly younger brother (by four years); he is Maimie's twin, but also her polar opposite, even more so than Molly. Whereas Maimie's life is stable and settled and reliable but superficial (at least when we first meet her), Dwight's is unstable and unsettled and unreliable but deeply committed to helping humanity. He has a long, braided pony tail and lives on an Indian reservation in Arizona (??), where he works as a paralegal. Though he rarely sees her, he seems to have a good relationship with Molly, and also with ex-brother-in-law Fred. It seems that Dwight and Gail and Molly and Fred, and probably also Nina and Robin, used to hang out together a lot, back in the "good old days."

The only reason Dwight returns to New York is for his father's funeral (for which he is late), so he unfortunately appears only in (2):

Here's a little known Ingrid Bergman incident

"The Guys:" Larry, Sherman, Chuck, and John B.
(Larry Farrow, Sherman Ferguson, Chuck Findley, and John B. Williams)

The former members of Fred's old band, "The Fred Dodd Quintet." Alex is the white guy playing the trumpet in one episode:

Here's why you should never wear high-heels to the bank

but in other episodes this role is filled by Chuck. This can be viewed as a minor inconsistency, or can be explained away by saying that there are two different trumpet players that Fred sometimes hires, which is not unreasonable, especially given Alex's difficulties. The other episodes that the guys (including Chuck) appear in are (6 in all):

Here's why there are instances when vegetables aren't necessarily good for you

Here's why you should stay out of coffee shops if you don't drink coffee

Here's why they call the little one a jingle and the big one the blues

Here's why cosmetics should come in unbreakable bottles

John B., the black string-bass player with the shaved head, is missing from the last of these: instead we see a white guy playing bass, who is not named or credited. Larry is the tall black piano player, and Sherman is the bearded black drummer. Given their comfort with their instruments and their relative awkwardness with their few lines, I have long suspected that the guys are the actual musicians used by composer Patrick Williams to produce Fred's music (and perhaps other incidental music as well), but that is just speculation on my part.

Birmanyi, aka "Bill"
(Kabir Bedi -- IMDB)

A wealthy Indian man who is initially a Real Estate customer of Molly's, and later goes on a couple of dates with her. Molly has difficulty pronouncing "Birmanyi," so he suggests that she call him "Bill," which she does. Birmanyi appears in (3):

Here's why there are instances when vegetables aren't necessarily good for you

Here's another bedtime story

Blake Novak
(Charles Frank -- IMDB)

A pilot that Molly dates briefly, including a couple of awkward run-ins with her father. Blake appears in (2):

Here's why it's not good to stare at people in restaurants

Here's why it's tough to sell watermelon after midnight

Charles Frank is perhaps best known for his role as Scott Carpenter in The Right Stuff (he looks much younger in that picture than he did on Molly Dodd).

Dr. Judith Lichfield
(Christine Healy -- IMDB)

Molly's psychotherapist, recommended to her by Nina. Molly's sessions with her are frequently interrupted by phone calls from her friends Kenny and Sally. She seems to have ample problems of her own. (I won't spoil it by being specific, so that you can enjoy it for yourself.) Dr. Lichfield appears in (3):

Here's why a torch is too heavy to carry in a purse

Here's why it's good to have a cake burning in the refrigerator

Christine Healy does a superb job with this small but fascinating role.

Robin
(Robin Pearson Rose -- IMDB)

Molly's and Nina's old friend, who has settled down, gotten married (to Russ), had kids, and moved to New Jersey. Not to be confused with Gail, another old friend. Robin appears in (2):

Here's why there are instances when vegetables aren't necessarily good for you

Like Maimie, she disappears after the second season, though she is not as sorely missed as Maimie.

Kirsten Haaken
(Mary Stavin -- IMDB)

Fred's fiancé, the Swedish cross-country skier. She appears in (2):

Here's another bedtime story

Randy
(Gina Gershon -- IMDB)

Fred's girlfriend, and the guitar player in his new band, "New York Subway System," as Molly dubs it (not to be confused with Fred's old band, "The Fred Dodd Quintet"). Randy, played by a young Gina Gershon, appears in (3):

Here's A Little Night Music

Here's a clever yet practical gift idea

Here's a leisurely stroll through the park

and the rest of the new band appears in the first two of those.

Bing Shalimar
(Nathan Lane -- IMDB)

Bing Shalimar, "like the crooner and the perfume," owner of the "It Would Be Our Pleasure [To Do It For You] Agency", where Molly interviews for a job. Just to prove that he really does do everything, later in the series, he even takes on the dreaded task of... babysitting! Very humorously played by Nathan Lane before he hit it big in The Bird Cage, Bing regrettably appears only in (3):

Here's why you order from the Spanish side of the menu

Here's a leisurely stroll through the park

Here's how to break the other leg

Nathan Lane also shows up, presumably because Molly has dredged Bing's image up out of her subconcious, as Herman, one of the "fantasy children" that she imagines in:

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Sylvia & Bernie
(Mary Joy & Lewis Black -- IMDB; IMDB)

Molly's coworkers in publishing, who constantly bicker but are actually, without even realizing it themselves, in love; this is perhaps the only really lame story lines in the series, but it is mercifully brief. Sylvia and Bernie appear only in (5):

Here's an expensive item with no returns, refunds or exchanges

Here are some things that go bump in the night

Here's a good reason to check your answering machine on a regular basis

Here's a pregnamt pause

Here are just a few things that could possibly go wrong

Dr. Kim Rosenthal
(Mia Korf -- IMDB)

Molly's obstetrician. When they first meet, Molly tells the very young, pretty doctor that she expected someone named "Dr. Rosenthal" to be an older Jewish man; Dr. Rosenthal replies that this sounds rather like her husband, however, "he would not be much help in this situation, since he's a dentist." She appears in (2):

Dr. Rosenthal's receptionist (Francine Beers) also appears briefly in both of these episodes, and a nurse named Courtney (Ann Dowd) appears in the latter one.

Emily (Dodd?)

Molly's baby girl, whose paternity is such a vital question throughout season four; it is not clear whether her last name is Dodd or Bickford or that of her father (I won't give away whether that is Goodman or Hawthorne). Molly does not mention where the first name came from, but given Molly's interest in poetry it seems a reasonable guess that she is named after Emily Dickinson. She finally makes an appearance in:

about 19 or 20 months after her conception, if you are going by airdates (which are evidently not a good measure of the passage of time in Molly's universe). Emily is much-discussed in the few remaining episodes, and is actually seen in (4):

Here's why you shouldn't talk to strangers in the park