Originally doctor to Franny, the temperamental middle child who is the most obviously traumatized by her mother's death, Murray eventually treats Sam, the children's father, also suffering from the loss of his wife. Murray Rubinstein, an unpretentious beachside psychiatrist.
One of the more distinctive aspects of the "The Byrds of Paradise" was the role of Dr. Topics such as teenage pregnancy and underage drinking featured as usually presented in a television show with teens as central characters. This tendency includes the romantic interests of the Byrds, who are local characters (played by local actors) rather than mainland transplants. All of the Byrds interact with local characters, some of whom speak pidgin (performed with varying degrees of authenticity) and reflect a far more realistic portrait of Hawaii's culture than usually shown in film and television depictions of Hawaii. Sam Byrd, the family's father, accepts a headmaster's position at a private school in Hawaii, which his children attend along with local students. Much of the show dealt with the titular Byrd family adjusting to their lives in an entirely new environment as they recovered from their loss, similar to the premise of the later " Everwood."įilmed on location in the state of Hawaii, "The Byrds of Paradise" was unique in the inclusion of the local culture of Hawaii in the lives of the originally mainland Byrd family, rather than their maintaining a lifestyle nearly indistinguishable from that on the mainland with Hawaii's tropical scenery serving primarily as an attractive background. The show was an hour-long drama centering on a father and his three children, abruptly relocated to Hawaii from New Haven after the sudden death of the children's mother.
While the finished episodes were not aired in their entirety on the mainland, one of the sole season's last episodes, entitled Twelfth Night o' Whatevah, featuring a school production of Shakespeare presented entirely in pidgin, was aired in Hawaii."The Byrds of Paradise" is an American television series that ran during the 1993-94 season on the ABC television network. The doctor's residence is destroyed, prompting him to continue his practice on chairs in the sand while he is rebuilding his house. A voice of reason who counsels his patients with an unconventional bedside manner, the doctor makes significant progress with Franny and Sam.Īgain in a more realistic rather than idealized representation of Hawaii, a tsunami strikes mid-season, threatening the lives of several characters. One of the more distinctive aspects of The Byrds of Paradise was the role of Dr. This tendency includes the romantic interests of the Byrds, who are local characters rather than mainland transplants. All of the Byrds interact with local characters, some of whom speak pidgin and reflect a far more realistic portrait of Hawaii's culture than usually shown in film and television depictions of Hawaii.