The NOT Danny Thomas Show

[LittleRickyII]

I caught part of a S10 episode today on Cozi, and Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were nowhere to be seen. The show revolved around José, the Halpers, and the kids. Other than the brief period that Carroll O'Connor was off of All in the Family due to a contract dispute, I've never heard of a show where the main star was completely absent from episodes. What was going on with that? Was Danny Thomas trying to set up these other characters for spinoffs by giving them their own platform? I know that Bill Dana did get his own show the following season playing the José character, but were there plans for a series for Sid Melton and Pat Carroll?

[Ronny G]

I watched that episode yesterday, too! I don't know the answer to your question, but I suspect Danny wanted to lighten his workload and have some time off?

Anyway, it's a treat we to watch these "lost" episodes. It feels like a different show to me because they filmed "on-location" in London, plus the kids are growing up. I guess that's why they were withheld from the syndication package for the past few decades.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Ronny G

I watched that episode yesterday, too! I don't know the answer to your question, but I suspect Danny wanted to lighten his workload and have some time off?

Anyway, it's a treat we to watch these "lost" episodes. It feels like a different show to me because they filmed "on-location" in London, plus the kids are growing up. I guess that's why they were withheld from the syndication package for the past few decades.

This comes on at a bad time for me. I work early so I have to go to bed early, and 4:00 is gym time, then dinner then bed. I wish it were on a couple hours later so I could check out these episodes. I saw the beginning of one of the England episodes and yes, the on location, no studio audience aspect gives it a very different feeling. As do the episodes back in the apartment where there are no parents! You may be right that Danny was trying to lighten his load. But I'm surprised CBS went along with allowing the show to go on without its star.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I caught part of a S10 episode today on Cozi, and Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were nowhere to be seen. The show revolved around José, the Halpers, and the kids. Other than the brief period that Carroll O'Connor was off of All in the Family due to a contract dispute, I've never heard of a show where the main star was completely absent from episodes. What was going on with that? Was Danny Thomas trying to set up these other characters for spinoffs by giving them their own platform? I know that Bill Dana did get his own show the following season playing the José character, but were there plans for a series for Sid Melton and Pat Carroll?

According to Wikipedia (as also stated in another post here) Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord wanted to lighten thier workload. Also, I guess, it provided an opportunity to do some traveling in Europe. It's unusual for a multi-camera sitcom to go on location but that they did. I notice later in S10 there is a return to NY episode.

My hunch is that Danny planned for S10 to be the end, and CBS talked him into an 11th season.

By the way I don't see any reason that these episodes were never syndicated. They just never made Make Room For Daddy syndication prints for them.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I caught part of a S10 episode today on Cozi, and Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were nowhere to be seen. The show revolved around José, the Halpers, and the kids. Other than the brief period that Carroll O'Connor was off of All in the Family due to a contract dispute, I've never heard of a show where the main star was completely absent from episodes. What was going on with that? Was Danny Thomas trying to set up these other characters for spinoffs by giving them their own platform? I know that Bill Dana did get his own show the following season playing the José character, but were there plans for a series for Sid Melton and Pat Carroll?

Danny and Marjorie spent the summer of 1962 going to Europe to film some episodes for that season. They were shown every few episodes only and the show had to continue production at Desilu so they had the regular characters "beefed-up" to play MORE of a role than usual!

[Howard]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

This comes on at a bad time for me. I work early so I have to go to bed early, and 4:00 is gym time, then dinner then bed. I wish it were on a couple hours later so I could check out these episodes. I saw the beginning of one of the England episodes and yes, the on location, no studio audience aspect gives it a very different feeling. As do the episodes back in the apartment where there are no parents! You may be right that Danny was trying to lighten his load. But I'm surprised CBS went along with allowing the show to go on without its star.

Why not do what I do; simply record (dvr/vcr them) to watch ata later time and then u can zap thru the commercials! I am so happy that SFM ( the distributor) finally decided to show these last 2 seasons probably cause I was constantly bugging them to!!!

[mets82]

I noticed the samething. I wondered why Danny and Majorie were not on the show. I will say I caught an episode in London, I think, where Danny got arrested for hunting animals. He was talked into it by somebody. I wasnt really paying attention as I thought the episode was bad.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Howard

Why not do what I do; simply record (dvr/vcr them) to watch ata later time and then u can zap thru the commercials! I am so happy that SFM ( the distributor) finally decided to show these last 2 seasons probably cause I was constantly bugging them to!!!

It's a little complicated. My DVR device is from the cable company and only works for channels I get through cable. I get Cozi over the air, so that won't work. I have a recordable DVD player hooked up to that television, but it's old and there no longer seem to be recordable DVDs that work on that machine. So . . . I can only watch if I happen to be at home when it's on.

Originally Posted by mets82

I noticed the samething. I wondered why Danny and Majorie were not on the show. I will say I caught an episode in London, I think, where Danny got arrested for hunting animals. He was talked into it by somebody. I wasnt really paying attention as I thought the episode was bad.

I saw part of that episode, and I've seen a couple of the S10 episodes back in NY without Danny and Kathy. I have to agree that these are not up to par. At best, they're just bland. I watched an episode a few days ago from the Jean Hagen era and it was one of the rare times I've laughed at this show. It was a very cute episode. I think by the time Marjorie Lord joined the show it was starting to lose its heart. This is no reflection on her; it's more about the direction they took for the show. It became less about Danny and his family life and more involved with these side characters like the Halpers, and guest stars (perhaps why they changed the title?). I'm surprised it made it to an eleventh season and stayed so popular because it just wasn't funny anymore by this point. It's such a contrast with those two other shows Danny Thomas was involved with at this point: The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Originally Posted by stevea

According to Wikipedia (as also stated in another post here) Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord wanted to lighten thier workload. Also, I guess, it provided an opportunity to do some traveling in Europe. It's unusual for a multi-camera sitcom to go on location but that they did. I notice later in S10 there is a return to NY episode.

Thanks. I actually stumbled across that Wikipedia information a day or two ago.

Originally Posted by stevea

My hunch is that Danny planned for S10 to be the end, and CBS talked him into an 11th season.

That makes sense. Maybe he struck a deal that he'd come back if they'd allow him to work less.

Originally Posted by stevea

By the way I don't see any reason that these episodes were never syndicated. They just never made Make Room For Daddy syndication prints for them.

Really? I think the fact that so many don't feature Danny Thomas might be a reason they didn't include them.

[Benno123]

I wonder if Danny's working with launching St. Jude's Hospital also was another reason for being MIA during this time? I do not know exactly when it was built and launched but in his autobiography he talked about all the traveling and fundraising he did as well as meetings, etc. before and after it opened. I think he had more on his plate than just his TV show and producing others as well.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Benno123

I wonder if Danny's working with launching St. Jude's Hospital also was another reason for being MIA during this time? I do not know exactly when it was built and launched but in his autobiography he talked about all the traveling and fundraising he did as well as meetings, etc. before and after it opened. I think he had more on his plate than just his TV show and producing others as well.

That's a very good point. The hospital was in the in the planning and building stages for several years (which I'm sure kept him busy), then opened in 1962. It would seem that once it officially opened, it would not have consumed as much of his time, but that might not be the case. The fact that it's located in Memphis, far from where he filmed his show, had to make things extra difficult because of logistics.

[LittleRickyII]

This article pretty much answers the question. His work as a producer was consuming so much time, he had been trying for years to cut back on his work on the show by bringing other folks into the cast to carry the weight. Desi Arnaz had a similar problem. Whereas his solution had been to change the format of his show from weekly to monthly and bi-monthly, Danny's solution was to bring in new cast members to carry certain episodes.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...pg=3762,881507

[Howard]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I caught part of a S10 episode today on Cozi, and Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were nowhere to be seen. The show revolved around José, the Halpers, and the kids. Other than the brief period that Carroll O'Connor was off of All in the Family due to a contract dispute, I've never heard of a show where the main star was completely absent from episodes. What was going on with that? Was Danny Thomas trying to set up these other characters for spinoffs by giving them their own platform? I know that Bill Dana did get his own show the following season playing the José character, but were there plans for a series for Sid Melton and Pat Carroll?

Actually season 10 started to b filmed in MAY of 1962 ( the Europe episodes) b 4 the start of production of that season's regular studio shows at Desilu and Danny took a rest/ break and then started DIRECTING a lot of the shows season 10 which in season 11 now airing he's the director in almost ALL EPISODES! FYI; Next week they're (Cozi) will start way back to the 4th season b 4 he met Kathy (1956-57)