Adapted from a Broadway play, in which the roles of Norman and Ethel were played by Tom Aldredge and Frances Sternhagen. The stage production of "On Golden Pond" opened at the New Apollo Theater in New York City, New York on February 21, 1979 and ran for one hundred twenty-six performances.
This was telecast live on CBS, which was rare for a television theatrical presentation after the invention of videotape in the late 1950s. It was performed on the same Television City stage in Los Angeles, California that was home to The Carol Burnett Show (1967).
Previously filmed as On Golden Pond (1981) starring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon and Dabney Coleman.