Mothers-in-Law Boned the Fish When... [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC

02-26-2014, 07:16 PM

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225141752/http://jumptheshark.com/

Other Thoughts:

It was evident from the "Lucy" style gags that this was a Desilu production ( producer Desi even made a couple of cameos as a bullfighter). A lot of great character actors (Eve Arden, Roger C. Carmel, Richard Deacon) were wasting their time here. Oh well, at least it kept Deborah Walley working.
A classic actor switch--Richard Deacon for Roger Carmel as Kaye Ballard's husband. Heck, the character was even named Roger, so it was even more noticeable! At least the two Dicks/Darrens bore a passing resemblance. This one wasn't even close!
I love The Mothers-In-Law. And I use the present tense because a local channel here in Alexandria, Va is re-runing that classic little show. In fact I'm recording the program for my personal video library (because, with only about 52 eps in the can it's not reran very often). Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden made great foils. In fact, Kaye Ballard was the best one in the cast. I think everyone did a fine job, but Ms Ballard was the stand out (for me anyway). Unfortunately In-Laws did jump big time with some re-hash "Lucy-ish" scripts, the wrong time slot and replacing Roger Carmel with Richard Deacon. But I don't blame Mr.Carmel, the head brass at NBC wouldn't give any of the actors raises because they weren't convinced the show was strong enough to continue. ABC caught wind of this and wanted the series for their network. Afraid of losing out to ABC, NBC decided to renew MIL for a second season, but refused the actors raises. This infuriated Carmel and he walked. This forced Desi's hand and he re-cast Carmel with Deacon. Now I like Richard Deacon. Loved his Mel Cooley. I even liked him on Leave it to Beaver as Lumpy's father, BUT HE WAS ALL WRONG FOR THE ROGER BUELL CHARACTER! Oh well. It's all history now. If only NBC had been smart and worked with the MIL producers, given those actors their well deserved raises and moved it to a better time slot, Mothers-In-Law might have been on for five or six years. But alas, it was never meant to be. Thank God, (oh and Desi Arnaz) for the rerun!
This show was great. I loved when Desi Arnaz would guest star. This show did have a lot of Lucy overtones. Eve Arden was Desi's first choice for Ethel. Wilber Hatch did all the music. The writers were Bob Carroll Jr and Madelyn Pugh, all I Love Lucy writers. Roger C. Cormel wanted too much money for the 2nd season and was turned down. Roger had a big cocaine addiction, which he later overdosed on and died. Richard Deacon was a closet homosexual, he is dead too.
Marriage episode between the kids and birthin' episodes are already well on the downward spiral. Roger Carmel leaving for Richard Deacon was THE JTS episode. Deacon was still typecast from Dick Van Dyke days & Carmel was fun, especially as "Lord Mud" on Star Trek.
This has got to be the worst show ever that made it more than one season (it did, didn't it?). Just plain awful. I think I stopped watching television after this crap appeared. I like Robin Williams, but even he couldn't turn this show into anything more than the garbage it was. It made Gilligan's Island look like Casablanca or something.
There are a few cases in which I can remember the exact time a show jumped the shark. For the Mothers-in-Law, that minute was when Richard Deacon showed up on the opening credits. He was such an obvious mismatch for the part that is was obvious from this short shot of him. Deacon was excellent in several classic TV roles over his career, most notably as Mel Cooley. Roger Deacon was at his best as Mel Cooley, the target of contempt of both members of his staff and his brother-in-law boss. Roger Buell was an entirely different role that required an aggressive, loud, actor who could be a little crude, like Roger Carmel. Carmel left because the network didn't come through with promised raises for the second season. This was typical of the way the network mistreated this show, which could have been long-term hit, with a little TLC. But then again, the season NBC subbed Richard Deacon for Roger Carmel, it was busy killing another show the network brass didn't care for either that featured Carmel a couple of times: Star Trek. The 1968-69 season was the last season for both shows.
Ah, the early "All Fall Down" episode. I remember as a lad perfecting self pleasure with visions of Eve and Kaye in bed together, their legs in casts, wiggling their plump toes, licking ice cream cones
An old friend of mine is an avid collector of rare TV appearances by '60's rock bands and about the funniest thing I ever saw in my entire life was the episode of this show that guest-starred The Seeds. The boy and girl decided they wanted to be the managers of a rock and roll band and asked the fathers to "put up the bread" for the time in the recording studio, and all kinds of generation-gap hilarity ensued. The best part was when The Seeds 'performed' Pushin' Too Hard in Eve Arden's living room and the girl was flailing around and head-banging behind the couch and Sky Saxon is looking like he dropped about fifteen Quaaludes, jumping around with a tambourine in this kind of psychedelic Superman cape-outfit. In the end, the grown-ups wanted The Seeds to make too many changes to their appearance and music, so they refused to record the album. Since the grown-ups had already paid for the studio time, they decided to cut a record themselves. They sang Some Enchanted Evening but the only musicians they could find were a marching band. Oh man, I nearly split my gut laughing. Of course, we'd been hitting the bong pretty heavily.
I was absolutely thrilled to find this show listed on the site. I was crazy about THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW when I was a kid. It came on Sunday nights on NBC and I think ran for three seasons if I'm not mistaken. The show starred the brilliant Eve Arden and the outrageous Kaye Ballard as in-laws. Eve's daughter (Deborah Walley) was married to Kaye's son (Jerry Fogel). Eve's husband was played by Herbert Rudley and Kaye's husband was played Roger C. Carmel and Richard Deacon. I thought this show was one of the funniest things on TV. This show was laugh out loud funny every week and Eve's dead pan, Beatrice Arthur-like delivery of a line was the perfect counterpoint to the bombastic style of Ballard. Walley and Fogel were a snooze but the husbands were amusing and Eve and Kaye got in and out of a lot of funny and silly situations. I remember one episode where Eve and Kaye messed up and promised their husbands they would do something if they did indeed mess up. The next scene you see Eve and Kaye walking down the street, ringing a large bell and chanting, "Eve and Kaye made fools of themselves....Eve and Kaye made fools of themselves..." I will never forget that as long as I live. I thought this show was hysterically funny and wasn't on the air long enough to jump the shark.
What I vividly remember most about this show was Kaye Ballard biting her hand whenever she was upset. As stated above, Richard-for-Roger was the defining shark moment. The change of Kaye Ballard's husband from an equally loud and obnoxious person to a milquetoast klutz (see opening segment) ruined the chemistry the show had going for itself. Kaye Ballard Rocked!