Recently, I was wandering through Wikipedia — something I do in the off season — when I came across an entry for Park Street Under, a weekly half-hour sitcom produced by WCVB (Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate) from September, 1979 through June, 1980. Wikipedia makes a passing reference to this TV footnote, but the entry is at least 90 per cent inaccurate, which makes me doubt Wikipedia’s expertise. I should know because I was the head writer for all 36 episodes.

Allow me to set the record straight.

A locally produced sitcom is as rare as a pharmaceutical ad that doesn’t list “death” as a possible side effect. But back in 1979, executives at WCVB decided they didn’t need a ton of money to crank out a decent weekly sitcom, given that they weren’t dealing with the same union powers out in L.A. and New York. They also realized there was a talent pool shimmering in their own backyard. Boston had its share of good actors and the best and brightest of Manhattan were only a train ride away.

So a production team was employed with me as head writer. This meant I was not only drafted to write scripts but also charged with hiring and overseeing other writers, so we could stay three scripts ahead in our show schedule. A cast was assembled. Table readings happened every Wednesday. Each show was shot on a Saturday before a live audience at the television station. And on Mondays at 7:30 p.m., Park Street Under, entertained greater Boston’s viewing audience for nearly a year.

Each episode focused on the fables and foibles of the characters who frequented a tavern called Park Street Under, supposedly located in a cellar near the so-named MBTA station. The principals included the bartender-owner, an ex-athlete who once had a drinking problem, a sharp blonde waitress with a photographic memory, an absent-minded cook, a ditsy helper and an assortment of funny customers. Not to mention stories told with a Boston accent.

Sound familiar? Two years after our show went off the air, Cheers reared its head. Ever see the pilot of NBC’s hit series? If you didn’t, but saw the pilot of Park Street Under, you didn’t miss much. They were teeth-gnashingly similar.

A fan of Park Street Under who also happened to be a friend at NBC saw the Cheers pilot and gagged. He smuggled out a video copy and sent it to me. I watched, gulped and called Robert Bennett, WCVB’s enterprising president at the time. As he watched the Cheers show with a few of us employees, I saw his complexion blend into his maroon tie. I saw many things dance through his mind. Doubt was not one of them.

After teeth gnashing usually comes saber rattling or lawsuit threatening. But in TV you can’t go very far with such antics. Not if you want to stay in TV. If your first step is hiring a lawyer, your second step is looking for another job. This is a business that really hates a troublemaker. Nobody will hear or read any great idea unless one agrees, for all practical purposes, to disown it. You have to sign a disclaimer saying you will not sue if something smacking of your idea ends up on TV without you. In other words, you must give them the right to rip you off. Where appropriation is appropriate, there are no lawsuits.

So much for one of my forays into TV — where everybody knows your name, and if you’re not looking someone may even borrow it for a while, just long enough to make a few bucks.

And if you look it up in Wikipedia, bring a grain of salt with you.

Arnie Reisman and his wife, Paula Lyons, regularly appear on the weekly NPR comedy quiz show, Says You! He also writes for the Huffington Post.