I remember seeing this great sitcom sometime in the 70's called The mothers in law with Kaye Ballard and I believe Eve Arden. I wish I could see this show again. Anyone remember this show???

Yes, i remember this show. It reran in boston as late as the early 1980s. It has gone. Hasn't been anywhere in years. I don't think there were alot of episode, but enough for reruns. Not sure what happened to it. I would like to see on cable again soon. Maybe tvland could show it if they didn't have to show the beverlyhillbillies 20 times a day.

"The Mothers-in-Law" aired on NBC-TV from 1967-1969. It starred Kaye Ballard and Roger C. Carmel as Kaye and Roger Buell and Eve Arden and Herbert Rudley as Eve and Herb Hubbard. The two couples are great friends and their children, Jerry Buell (Jerry Fogel) and Susie Hubbard (Deborah Walley), married each other.

Roger C. Carmel left the series in a contract dispute and was replaced by Richard Deacon. (Deacon is best known for his roles as Mel Cooley on "Dick Van Dyke Show" and Fred Rutherford on "Leave it to Beaver." )

I remember the show quite well and watched it in syndication during the 1970's. One of my favorite characters was Raphael del Gado (Desi Arnaz), a Mexican bull fighter who had never been gored -- until Roger Buell accidentally gored him during a demonstration in the living room.

Sadly, "The Mothers-in-Law" is rarely aired today, and it should be because Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden were wonderful in the series.

I read elsewhere that "Mothers In Law" is in public domain ( like Dobie Gillis for example ) guess this means nobody owns it.

Surprised this show doesnt air on Vision Network which I get on Dish Network.

About Roger C. Carmel, he ( like Paul Lynde and Bob Crane ) died a rather strange death in 1986. Crack cocane overdose with a male hooker. TV Party.com did a story about this. Still there but you have to pay to read it.

Originally posted by joan davis fan
Surprised this show doesnt air on Vision Network which I get on Dish Network.


That would be a good place for it.

Thanks for the answers. I loved that show. If your listening out there TV LAND or anybody.......... Bring back this funny show!!! :wave:

I'd love to see this show too! Does anyone have it on tape? I do have the opening credits from the first season on a tape compilation of 60s opening credits.

I would to see this show. It sounds funny!

There were 56 episodes total, 30 from the first season (Roger Carmel episodes) and 26 Richard Deacon episodes. The Richard Deacon episodes are not as good as the 1st season.

I have 53 of the 56 made, which I got through Movies Unlimited recently,
also some episodes from a trader in England around 1990 who had it on his Lifestyle Network, which I then had the tapes transferred to US standards,
and someone in Virginia who had it on their local station.

Earlier this year while doing a general web search on the Mothers-In-Law, I discovered that Movies Unlimited had 16 VHS volumes of The M-I-L consisting of 3 episodes each and purchased 3 of the tapes at $14.95 each. They were good quality, HOWEVER, mortystv.com, a classic TV website has recently stated that those tapes were withdrawn from sale because the series, they discovered is NOT in the public domain. I don't know which company owns the rights to it, but Movies Unlimited doesn't sell them anymore. The original company that produced the tapes is/was National Family Video. I'm glad i got the three tapes that I did, cause they had 5 of the episodes I needed.

If anyone is interested in obtaining copies of any of the the 53 I have please e-mail RTususian@aol.com

THANKS.

I have never seen this show before, but I sure would like to.

does anyone know if, or when, this show will come out on DVD? I, too, would LOVE to see this HILARIOUS series again. I remember watching it when I was a kid and laughing my ASS off!!!!

I remember this series well.

I vaguely remember it from it's original network run, but I remember it very well from watching reruns in the early-mid 70s.

I enjoyed this show very much. I think it was actually produced by Desilu Studios, and Desi himself guest starred on a few episodes as Raphael Del Gado, the famous Mexican Bull Fighter...

One episode I particularly remember was on in which Eve and Kay were trying to guess the number of jelly beans contained in a huge jar or barrell...they ended up buying a barrell and enough jelly beans to fill it... but they kept losing track of the count when they would get into the thousands... they even tried tallying them one at a time using an adding machine (one of those old time machines where you crank the handle after every number entered).

I think the Mothers In Law was a very good show... I knew it was only on for two years, but I wouldn't mind seeing this back on TV or out on DVD...

Sometime around 5 years ago, a local station would occassionaly air the Mothers in Law on weekends... but that didn't last very long... that's the only time I'd seen the show since the early 70s.

Yeah it was a great show! And if its free, I'm really surprised it isn't being shown SOMEWHERE?!!! Even Lifetime could run it.

I don't remember Desi being in it - I'd really love to see that episode.

It was rerun a lot in the 70s and early 80s, but yeah, haven't seen it in years and it was one of the better one's from the late 60s!

I remember this series well.

I vaguely remember it from it's original network run, but I remember it very well from watching reruns in the early-mid 70s.

I enjoyed this show very much. I think it was actually produced by Desilu Studios, and Desi himself guest starred on a few episodes as Raphael Del Gado, the famous Mexican Bull Fighter...

One episode I particularly remember was on in which Eve and Kay were trying to guess the number of jelly beans contained in a huge jar or barrell...they ended up buying a barrell and enough jelly beans to fill it... but they kept losing track of the count when they would get into the thousands... they even tried tallying them one at a time using an adding machine (one of those old time machines where you crank the handle after every number entered).

I think the Mothers In Law was a very good show... I knew it was only on for two years, but I wouldn't mind seeing this back on TV or out on DVD...

Sometime around 5 years ago, a local station would occassionaly air the Mothers in Law on weekends... but that didn't last very long... that's the only time I'd seen the show since the early 70s.yes, it was made by Desilu Studios (the studio that made "I Love Lucy" and many other shows) and it was also created by Desi Arnez and written by the "I Love Lucy" writers, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, which is why it seemed like a late 60s version of "I Love Lucy". It was set in the suberbs, which is where the final season of "I Love Lucy" was set; as well as "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour".

I used to see this show on television in the mid-80s. I haven't seen it since. It was a funny show. Maybe someday it will get an official DVD release.

... it was also created by Desi Arnez and written by the "I Love Lucy" writers, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, which is why it seemed like a late 60s version of "I Love Lucy". .....

wow, Pugh and Carroll...that explains why the show was so good. Eve and Kaye really did seem like a '60s version of Lucy and Ethel!

I'd love to see this show on again (or better yet, out on DVD)!

Yes Desi Arnez did produce the show...shame it lasted only 2 seasons... Tough deciding whether I preferred Roger Carmel or Richard Deacon's Roger :confused:

Yes Desi Arnez did produce the show...shame it lasted only 2 seasons... Tough deciding whether I preferred Roger Carmel or Richard Deacon's Roger :confused:

I know what you mean. They were actually both good in their own way, although I think they were totally different characters. They pretty much played Roger Buell the same way they played all of the other characters they portrayed on TV in those days. Deacon was a semi-serious straight man for Kaye Ballard, while Carmel was a much 'crazier' and much more 'off the wall'. But I liked them both in their own way. We still see a lot of Deacon in "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Leave it to Beaver", while we don't see Carmel very much except as a guest star on other shows.

there's a good reason (I think) that you don't see Roger Carmel anymore-he died, sometime in the 70s (I think he died).

I remember seeing this great sitcom sometime in the 70's called The mothers in law with Kaye Ballard and I believe Eve Arden. I wish I could see this show again. Anyone remember this show???
i loved that show!!!!!!! i wish i could see it right now!!!!!!

there's a good reason (I think) that you don't see Roger Carmel anymore-he died, sometime in the 70s (I think he died).



You're right. Just saw this at:

http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/cnames-nf/Carmel+Roger+C.

Roger C. Carmel

Info: He played the memorable Harry Mudd in two episodes of the TV series "Star Trek" and played the original Roger Buell in the TV series "The Mothers-In-Law"

Date of Birth: 09/27/1932
Date of Death: 11/11/1986
Age at Death: 54

Cause of Death: Heart failure

You're right. Just saw this at:

http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/cnames-nf/Carmel+Roger+C.

Roger C. Carmel

Info: He played the memorable Harry Mudd in two episodes of the TV series "Star Trek" and played the original Roger Buell in the TV series "The Mothers-In-Law"

Date of Birth: 09/27/1932
Date of Death: 11/11/1986
Age at Death: 54

Cause of Death: Heart failure

I submitted Herbert Rudley's name to that site, as IMDB states that he was born in 1911 and has not yet died, so if he is still living, he is 94 years old now, but the site has not added him yet, although the site includes all the other cast members except for Jerry Fogel. Only Kaye Ballard is still living among the cast members listed on the site.

Herbert Rudley made a couple notable guest appearances late in the runs of at least two sitcoms. He appeared as the father of Wally's date in "The All-Night Party", the third-to-last filmed ep of "Leave It to Beaver", and he played a crook posing as a state senator in "One Jeannie Beats Four of a Kind", the second-to-last-aired ep of "I Dream of Jeannie".

Something interesting about the ages of the actors on the show. Jerry Fogel was just a little over three years younger than Roger C. Carmel, who played his dad. Both men were in their thirties when they were on the sitcom.

...Something interesting about the ages of the actors on the show. Jerry Fogel was just a little over three years younger than Roger C. Carmel, who played his dad. Both men were in their thirties when they were on the sitcom.


Wow! I had no idea... I never thought about Fogel's age, but as a kid, he seemed like he could have been Roger and Kaye's son... If I ever get a chance to see the show again, I'll have to take another look...

That's GOT to be a record for a TV father/son being the closest in real-life age... I heard or read that on "The Cosby Show", Cliff's 'Dad' is only 10 years older than Cosby himself in real life... But this totally shatters THAT record...

Pretty amazing that Herb is still alive, if he indeed is... I'm guessing that when he passes away, a whole lot of people will say they had no idea he was still alive...

I loved this show, too bad it only lasted two seasons.

...and if it wasn't for Procter & Gamble, the show would have never seen the light of a TV tube, much less survive its two brief seasons. Desi Arnaz originally produced the pilot episode for CBS-they rejected it. Procter & Gamble had already committed themselves as the sole sponsor of the series (very rare in 1967!), and WANTED it on the air, not because of Desi's track record at DESILU, but because they thought it was a damn funny pilot! Well, P & G had a time period they "owned" on NBC: 8:30-9pm(et) on Sunday nights; had it since 1961. They liked following "WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR", that's why they "bought" that half-hour. And P & G decided that "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" would be perfect to follow the Disney show in the fall of '67 (a much better prospect than their previous offering, "HEY, LANDLORD!"). And the show managed to defend itself against "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" on CBS and "THE FBI" on ABC quite well..
until NBC wanted to cancel it after its first season. Procter & Gamble still had faith in the show, and said it would move it to ABC for season two. NBC didn't quite like THAT idea {"what if it turns out to be a hit against one of OUR lousy shows??"}, and quickly agreed to clear the time for another season...
and that everyone involved would continue working without a raise in their salaries [out went Roger C. Carmel, in came Richard Deacon]. This time, the ratings didn't hold up...and P & G replaced "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" with "THE BILL COSBY SHOW" {"The Chet Kincaid Chronicles"} in the fall of 1969.

As for "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW", IT'S STILL A DAMN GOOD SHOW!!!!

I have all 56 episodes on DVD, contact me if anyone is interested.
Richard

...and if it wasn't for Procter & Gamble, the show would have never seen the light of a TV tube, much less survive its two brief seasons. Desi Arnaz originally produced the pilot episode for CBS-they rejected it. Procter & Gamble had already committed themselves as the sole sponsor of the series (very rare in 1967!), and WANTED it on the air, not because of Desi's track record at DESILU, but because they thought it was a damn funny pilot! Well, P & G had a time period they "owned" on NBC: 8:30-9pm(et) on Sunday nights; had it since 1961. They liked following "WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR", that's why they "bought" that half-hour. And P & G decided that "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" would be perfect to follow the Disney show in the fall of '67 (a much better prospect than their previous offering, "HEY, LANDLORD!"). And the show managed to defend itself against "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" on CBS and "THE FBI" on ABC quite well..
until NBC wanted to cancel it after its first season. Procter & Gamble still had faith in the show, and said it would move it to ABC for season two. NBC didn't quite like THAT idea {"what if it turns out to be a hit against one of OUR lousy shows??"}, and quickly agreed to clear the time for another season...
and that everyone involved would continue working without a raise in their salaries [out went Roger C. Carmel, in came Richard Deacon]. This time, the ratings didn't hold up...and P & G replaced "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" with "THE BILL COSBY SHOW" {"The Chet Kincaid Chronicles"} in the fall of 1969.

As for "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW", IT'S STILL A DAMN GOOD SHOW!!!!

Well, this opens up a whole stream of thoughts here...

It's interesting that P&G "owned" that particular time period. (I wonder for how long.) I once studied the history of this time period on NBC from 1961 to 1972, which is the whole period that it was the time between Disney (moving to NBC in 1961) and Bonanza (which moved to Tues. night for its last half-season in 1972). This should have been a great time period for NBC, but no show in that period lasted longer than 2 seasons, though a few of them are still memorable:

1961-63: Car 54, Where Are You?
1963-64: Grindl (Imogene Coca played a maid in this sitcom; this show competed against The Beatles' premiere on Ed Sullivan.)
1964-1/65: The Bill Dana Show (cancelled midyear in its 2nd season, 1st season was just before Disney at 7 PM)
1/65-1966: Branded
1966-67: Hey Landlord
1967-69: The Mothers-In-Law
1969-71: The Bill Cosby Show
1971-72: The Jimmy Stewart Show

I wonder how long P&G had that timeslot. It would be strange if it moved Bill Dana to the timeslot fall 1964 then cancelled it 4 mos. later for Branded. I've actually seen Branded a few times, as it used to air very late night Sat./Sun. morning along w/ The Guns of Will Sonnett. Chuck Connors played Jason McCord, similar-sounding to Lucas McCain, and Johnny Crawford, his son Mark from Rifleman, played a young deputy in the premiere ep as well.

I wonder if the MiL cast actually made less $ the 2nd season, since they didn't get raises, but there were only 26 2nd season eps, as opposed to 30 eps from season 1. BTW, the last original MiL ep aired on 4/13/69, against a CBS special which preempted Ed Sullivan that night, Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman, which starred Dick w/ Mary Tyler Moore. Her performance in this special was said to have inspired CBS to offer her her own sitcom, which of course became the Mary Tyler Moore show.

As a final thought here, I've noticed that season 1 of The Bill Cosby Show is coming out on DVD soon. I've seen one ep before that I can remember, and it was a fun sitcom. Funny that Cosby appeared in 3 sitcoms w/ his name in them but never played a character named Bill, instead going from Chet to Cliff to Hilton.

yea, "THE BILL COSBY SHOW" WAS pretty good. I remember watching it sometimes when I was growing up, and later, in the 70s channel 11 in New York used to show the reruns on weekday afternoons.

We used to live in Philidelphia at the time, but after we got a new TV antenna about 74 or 75 we were able to pick up some New York stations as well as the Philadelphia ones. I remember, they always showed a lot of reruns that the Philadelphia ones hardly ever showed, for some reason. They showed "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" (3 episodes a day, a black-and-white one in the morning, and back-to-back color ones in the late afternoons), "BEWITCHED" (Philadelphia showed that too, though), "THE FUGITIVE" (that too), "I LOVE LUCY" (that too) "THE LUCY SHOW", "PETTICOAT JUNCTION", "F TROOP", "GET SMART", "BONANZA", "THE MOTHERS IN LAW", "THE BILL COSBY SHOW", "THAT GIRL", "THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIES FATHER", "THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW", "THE ABBOTT & COSTELLO SHOW" that's all I can remember.

sorry to go off topic, but it's just that this thread opened back up all those memorys!!

"THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" was "A Desi Arnaz Production" (in association with United Artists Television), but it WAS filmed AT DESILU {yes, Desi rented space at his old studio which was owned by his EX-wife!!}. Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. were working exclusively for Desi at that time (they were dismissed from "THE LUCY SHOW" at the end of the 1963-'64 season after a misunderstanding between them and Lucy), and Elliott Lewis, Desi's producer, had filled the same job on "THE LUCY SHOW" during its first two seasons! That's why the show had a certain "Lucy-esque" flavor to it......

....Sunday night schedule was theirs from September 1961 [the beginning of "CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?"] to August 1972 [the end of "THE JIMMY STEWART SHOW"]. They relinquished that half-hour because NBC had scheduled their "SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE" from 8:30-10:30pm(et) in the fall of '72.

I believe P & G also "owned" the 7pm Sunday night slot on NBC between 1962 and 1964- this is probably why "THE BILL DANA SHOW" moved "up" to 8:30pm
in its short-lived second season ('64-'65). Too, "PROFILES IN COURAGE" took up that early-evening time period [6:30-7:30] in the fall of '64, 'jehobden'.
And don't forget the "summer replacement" shows P & G occasionally presented from time to time during that time period---especially "LET'S MAKE A DEAL" in '67 [I remember seeing a "Head & Shoulders" i.d. during the show one evening!].

Procter & Gamble had clout. In fact, when they learned that NBC wasn't too keen on renewing "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW" for a second season, they not only thought about placing the show on ABC....they also threatened to move ALL of their advertising (and their daytime soap opera "ANOTHER WORLD") off NBC! Since P & G was one of the network's biggest advertisers (AND CBS'...still are!), naturally they reconsidered their decision.

Earlier this year while doing a general web search on the Mothers-In-Law, I discovered that Movies Unlimited had 16 VHS volumes of The M-I-L consisting of 3 episodes each and purchased 3 of the tapes at $14.95 each. They were good quality, HOWEVER, mortystv.com, a classic TV website has recently stated that those tapes were withdrawn from sale because the series, they discovered is NOT in the public domain. I don't know which company owns the rights to it, but Movies Unlimited doesn't sell them anymore. The original company that produced the tapes is/was National Family Video. I'm glad i got the three tapes that I did, cause they had 5 of the episodes I needed.


Since I saw a United Artists logo at the end of the show, I would assume that Sony, after buying MGM/UA, would own this show now. United Artists also took part in producing Gilligan's Island and The Patty Duke Show.

The Samuel Goldwyn Company owns the rights to "THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW"- their logo was featured at the end of every episode when last seen in syndication (instead of the original UA logo)....and The Samuel Goldwyn Company just happened to be acquired by SONY within the past year!! So, 'jehobden', the situation is still the same- Sony Pictures Television is just "sitting" on the show until there's a demand for it.........

You can get several volumes of the show on vhs, from moviesunlimited.com if they still have them.

www.nostalgiafamilyvideo.com released the set, and the volumes are still available on their website.

You can also get the complete series from iOffer.com

Yes Desi Arnez did produce the show...shame it lasted only 2 seasons... Tough deciding whether I preferred Roger Carmel or Richard Deacon's Roger :confused:

On a related note, fans of this show can see the two future Roger Buells together on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which I have on DVD now. On the 4th season ep "It Wouldn't Hurt Them to Give Us a Raise", Roger Carmel plays Alan Brady's accountant, Doug Wesley. While Wesley is handing Rob Petrie flowers to show how a corporation is composed of parts of various companies, Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley does a fast walk across Wesley's office and mutters "I've been up here a thousand times, you've never given me any flowers!". The DVD also has a still pic of both of them w/ Dick Van Dyke in that office.

Pretty amazing that Herb is still alive, if he indeed is... I'm guessing that when he passes away, a whole lot of people will say they had no idea he was still alive...

Well, he was and now he no longer is. The main board posted this note, which mentions Herb Rudley's passing:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/2006/09/tv-land-to-add-that-girl-mash.html

95 years is a good long life though.

Very interesting information on this thread about "The Mothers In Law" and it's positioning in that awkward 8:30 to 9 pm slot on Sundays, since it had little in common with either DISNEY or the show that followed it, BONANZA, and I always wondered why it wasn't moved to another slot for Season 2. Now I know!

When I would spend time with my grandmother as a child in the early 1970s, we used to watch this every nite after dinner on one of our local stations. I can still see her, rocking in her chair while knitting and chuckling at Eve and Kaye as they unveiled their latest adventure. I have not actually seen TMIL on TV since that time, although I was able to purchase 16 episodes on VHS format from EBAY a few years ago. So many people seem to fondly remember this series...it seems to have almost a cult following. Will it ever see an official DVD release? Why doesn't TV Land or Nick At Nite show it as at least a holiday marathon?

On a related note, fans of this show can see the two future Roger Buells together on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which I have on DVD now. On the 4th season ep "It Wouldn't Hurt Them to Give Us a Raise", Roger Carmel plays Alan Brady's accountant, Doug Wesley. While Wesley is handing Rob Petrie flowers to show how a corporation is composed of parts of various companies, Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley does a fast walk across Wesley's office and mutters "I've been up here a thousand times, you've never given me any flowers!". The DVD also has a still pic of both of them w/ Dick Van Dyke in that office.

Thanks to YouTube, I can now link to this scene w/ the two Roger Buells. I hope you like it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1nyAcdnBqc

Uh-oh, looks like that clip's been TOSsed!

Herbert Rudley appeared in a Green Acres episode called "Exodus to Bleedswell", where Hooterville forces the government to honor a contract to manufacture a WW1 airplane. He played a military type in Washington.

OK everyone. Listen up. I have good news for you. If you want to see this show and watch complete episodes, please click here:

http://www.tv4u.com/show-video.asp?cid=2&sid=398&vid=794&t=Show%201&cat=Comedy

thanx for that link! I just finished watching an episode of the show. That was GREAT!!!! I hadn't seen that in over 30 years!!!

If anyone else goes to that site though; bad news-the shows are edited. The one I watched was only 23 minutes. And the quality's nothing to brag about.

Wow! What a great link! There were shows on that site that I had heard of but never seen; I easily spent three hours watching old classics.

So what if the quality isn't DVD level? Just being able to see these old series was thrill enough. I thought The Mothers In Law looked pretty good to be 40 years old. Fans of the old classics will enjoy this.

The next time I go to the Museum of Radio and Television in New York, I'm going to check the archives for this show. And if they have it I'm going to watch an episode. (See my post abt the Museum on the O&H board!)

He also plays the psychiatrist on The Beverly Hillbillies in season 1.