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The Flying Nun

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TV Series

The Resume

    (September 7, 1967-September 18, 1970)
    ABC sitcom (82 episodes)
    Based on the book 'The Fifteenth Pelican' by Tere Rios
    Sally Field as Sister Bertrille (Elsie Ethrington)
    Marge Redmond as Sister Jacqueline
    Madeleine Sherwood as Reverend Mother Superior Plaseato
    Alejandro Rey as Carlos Ramirez
    Shelly Morrison as Sister Sixto
    Linda Dangcil as Sister Ana
    Premise: Nuns of the Convent San Tanco in San Juan, Puerto Rico welcome newbie Sister Betrille - a 90 pound nun with the power of flight (due to starched headgear and laws of aerodynamics completely ignored)

Why The Flying Nun might be annoying:

    The show could easily have been subtitled 'Gidget Gets Her Wings.'
    Patty Duke was first choice but turned it down, as Sally Field initially did before reconsidering.
    Sister Bertrille once explained, 'When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly' - Sir Isaac Newton may have taken issue with this theory.
    In every episode she needed to point out that part of her ability to fly was her 90 pound pipsqueak frame.
    How the heck did script writers manage to pair a Puerto Rican playboy like Carlos Ramirez with a group of nuns in every episode?
    The show was savaged by critics and scoffed at by a slew of Roman Catholic nuns.

Why The Flying Nun might not be annoying:

    With its ridiculous premise and universal disdain heaped on it by critics it somehow managed to stay on the air for three years, two more than 'Gidget.'
    It offered some nice aerial shots of San Juan.
    Redmond did manage to get one Emmy nomination for her role.
    In one episode Sister Bertrille was watching home movies of herself as a teen - it was actual footage of Field in her 'Gidget' role.
    The show pulled in good ratings enough for it to continue, but writers simply ran out of ideas to keep Sister Bertrille in the air.
    Perhaps not so coincidentally, hang gliding took off as a hot recreation after the series ended.

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 42 Votes: 61.90% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 19 Votes: 63.16% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 64.29% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 58 Votes: 65.52% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 57 Votes: 43.86% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 26 Votes: 65.38% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 75 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 141 Votes: 48.23% Annoying