Love, American Style is an hour-long television anthology which was produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974. For the 1971 and 1972 seasons it was a part of an ABC Friday prime-time lineup that also included Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple.

Each week, the show featured different stories of romance, usually with a comedic spin. All episodes were unrelated, featuring different characters, stories and locations. The show often featured the same actors playing different characters in many episodes. In addition a large and ornate brass bed was a recurring prop in many episodes. Charles Fox's delicate yet hip music score, featuring flutes, harp, and flugelhorn set to a contemporary pop beat, provided the "love" ambiance which tied the stories together as a multifaceted romantic comedy each week.

For its first season, the theme song was sung by the family group "The Cowsills ".

Starting in the second season, the theme song was sung by John Bahler, Tom Bahler, and Ron Hicklin, (billed as "The Charles Fox Singers"), and was carried on for the remainder of the series, as well as on all episodes in syndication.

The original series was also known for its 10-20 second drop-in silent movie style "joke clips" between the featured vignettes. This regular troupe featured future Rockford Files cast member, Stuart Margolin, future Vega$ leading lady Phyllis Davis, and a young character actor, James Hampton (F Troop, The Longest Yard).

A decade later, a new version premiered on ABC's daytime schedule in 1985 entitled New Love, American Style but was cancelled after a few months due to low ratings against The Price is Right on CBS. A third edition, starring Melissa Joan Hart among others, was shot as a pilot for the 1998-1999 television season but was not ordered into a series. Nevertheless, ABC aired the pilot on February 20, 1999 http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C50373%7C1%7C,00.html.

The episode titled "Love and Happy Days" (25 February 1972) was the birth of the hit show "Happy Days" (1974) and featured eventual cast members Ron Howard (I), Anson Williams and Marion Ross.

This series had more direct and indirect spin-offs than any other American TV series. The following series can trace their roots back to this show (most via the episode "Love and Happy Days"): - "Barefoot in the Park" (1970) - "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" (1972) - "Happy Days" (1974) - "Laverne & Shirley" (1976) - "Laverne & Shirley with Special Guest Star the Fonz" (1976) - "Blansky's Beauties" (1977) - "Mork & Mindy" (1978) - "Out of the Blue" (1979) - "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, The" (1980) - "Laverne & Shirley in the Army" (1981) - "Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour" (1982) - "Joanie Loves Chachi" (1982) - "New Love, American Style" (1985) - and possibly others.

Other series that had their pilots shown on this series were "Barefoot in the Park" (1970) and "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" (1972).

The major sponsor of "Love American Style" was Oscar Mayer.