Uncle Arthur Plays House: A Look at THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW

[upperco]

http://jacksonupperco.com/2015/03/18...ul-lynde-show/

[TV_on_the_Porch]

I have seen most episodes of The Paul Lynde Show as well. All I can say is the author has vastly different taste/perception than I! He singles out seven episodes as the best and gives honorable mention to five more--and none of them are episodes that I would have considered the best or funniest. Episodes such as 'The Congressman's Son' with guest star Tom Bosley and 'Out Of Bounds' which changes up the formula, allying Howie with Paul against obnoxious neighbors, and even 'Whose Lib?' with Howie finally landing a job--as Paul's secretary--are at least equal to the best episodes he lists.

'Unsteady Going' is not on the particular bootleg set I ended up with, but a color clip featuring the first 7 minutes has been available on the Daily Motion site for years. The setup for the situation--Paul's daughter runs away from home after her dad forbids her to see her boyfriend--is hilarious, so I long wanted to see the rest of the show. When somebody finally uploaded the complete ep (in black & white) to YouTube, it kinda made sense why somebody might only think the first part of the show was worth seeing. The resolution of the conflict touches, in turn, on themes of sadistic coercion and hebephilia. Well, to be fair, the latter was depicted as a practical joke. Ha. Ha. Ha? I also found the Bob & Madelyn-penned 'P.S. I Loathe You' to be strained and trite, much more typical of their contemporary work on Here's Lucy than what they had done in the 50s...although unlike 'Unsteady Going' I didn't feel in need of a shower at the end.

[upperco]

Hi, TV_on_the_Porch! Thanks for reading and commenting.

Interesting how much our opinions differ -- further proof of the subjective nature of comedy. Of the three episodes you mentioned as your favorites, none of them have ever struck me as particularly excellent, primarily because I found them comedically inferior to other installments.

The series is far from stellar, and being a fan of the show requires enjoying it in spite of its menagerie of shortcomings -- chief of which, I feel, is the underdevelopment of the supporting cast. My dissatisfaction with the renderings of Barbara and Howie (who plays larger roles in the three episodes you mentioned above), whose characterizations never really improved, necessitates focusing on the series' one strength: the unique comic stylings of Lynde. Therefore, I'm most partial to episodes that grant him moments to shine (like "P.S. I Loathe You," which I agree is cartoonish and trite, but operates within the series' modus operandi and meets its laugh quotient).

But, different strokes for different folks. Hopefully those non-circulating episodes come to light and we can complete our collections!

[Evil Zebra]

I was a personal friend of Paul Lynde, but never a fan of the "Paul Lynde Show"
prolly one of his worst decisions ever to do...... and he knew it!

That being said, I did not read the article, do to the fact that I never enjoyed that show (and Paul knew that! lol) BUT.... if you are a fan of Paul Lynde, make sure you get a copy of this book about Paul that was written by another personal friend of Paul..... my friend, Cathy Rudolph.. Tell her that Evil Zebra sent you!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-...25442364188384



Paul Lynde and Evil Zebra @ the Valley Forge Music Fair Theatre


Take it,
EZ

[king of comedy]

Is it out now?

[Evil Zebra]

Originally Posted by king of comedy

Is it out now?

It sure is....... check this site:

http://www.paullyndeabiography.com/

Tell Cathy that Evil Zebra Sent you........
also if you use facebook you can give this page a "LIKE"

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-...25442364188384



ENJOY!!!!


Take it,
EZ

[TMC]

THE BOOTLEG FILES: “THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW”

One of the most popular titles on today’s bootleg video circuit is, ironically, one of the least popular titles of the 1970s: “The Paul Lynde Show,” a sitcom which limped its way unloved through a single season but which somehow gained a cult following thanks entirely to the posthumous gay icon stature of its zany star.

“The Paul Lynde Show” was created in 1972 by producer William Asher, whose long-running hit “Bewitched” was finally wrapping up. ABC needed a replacement show from Asher and he recommended a sitcom starring Paul Lynde, who had a recurring role on “Bewitched” as the wacky warlock Uncle Arthur. For Lynde, the chance to star in his own show was a career dream come true. Prior to this, he was relegated to supporting roles in movies and guest appearances on TV shows. The highest profile he enjoyed came as a panelist on the “Hollywood Squares” game show, where he dished out risque (and well-scripted) one-liners. But while Lynde was the funniest member of the “Hollywood Squares” cast, he was still one out of nine performers on the program’s daily line-up.

“The Paul Lynde Show,” as proposed by Asher, was basically a retread of an early pilot called “Howie” that Lynde shot in 1962. In that proposed program, Lynde played a conservative, put-upon lawyer whose daughter marries a laid-back slacker. According to the upcoming biography “Center Square: The Paul Lynde” by Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski, “Howie” was meant to replace the low-rated sitcom “The Dick Van D**e Show.” But that program got a last-minute reprieve and “Howie” never became a series.

For the new show, Lynde reprised the conservative, put-upon lawyer character. Former MGM star June Allyson was considered to play his wife, but at Lynde’s recommendation the role went to Elizabeth Allen, who starred with him in several regional theater productions. The slacker son-in-law role went to blonde newcomer John Calvin. But for the new show, the son-in-law character’s importance was scaled back as more emphasis was placed on Lynde’s off-beat delivery of one-liners and zingers; in several episodes, the son-in-law was barely present.

Many people viewing the show today claim “The Paul Lynde Show” was doomed to failure because Lynde was not credibly cast as a married man and a father. While Lynde’s sexuality was never a secret during his lifetime, the problem was not with the star’s off-screen sexuality. If anything, Lynde was perfectly cast – the character was a variation of his most famous role of Harry MacAfee, the harried patriarch at a loss with the younger generation in the stage and film versions of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Lynde doesn’t play the role as a stereotypical homosexual, so the suggestion he couldn’t act “straight” is absurd.

The problem with “The Paul Lynde Show” was that it was a lopsided lump. Plain and simple, Lynde had all of the genuinely funny lines, which he shamelessly milked in his trademark snide delivery and sing-song voice. All of the characters seemed to exist as a vehicle to feed him set-ups for punchlines; in Allen’s case, she greeted him with martinis when his character arrived home at day’s end. Yet the material Lynde was given was among the weakest and most contrived of his career. A typical flat joke: when a hippie girl offers a plateful of brownies with the claim it was her grandmother’s recipe, Lynde peers at her suspiciously and declares, “Who was your grandmother, Alice B. Toklas?” Or when his wife Martha gets a rare comeback on his sarcastic observations, Lynde retorts: “Watch it, Martha. I hear mistresses are ‘in’ this year.”

According to biographers Wilson and Florenski, Lynde tried to rewrite much of the dialogue to get some genuine laughs. But there was a major problem here: ABC was much stricter in its standards and practices than CBS (home of “All in the Family,” against which this show was unfairly judged), so any controversial material relating to social issues was verboten. Thus, what could have been a pungent commentary on the contemporary youth culture and the older generation’s bafflement at changing mores became a standard parents-vs.-kids sitcom. It also didn’t help that the show’s youthful characters (the son-in-law, Lynde’s married daughter and a younger teen daughter) were basically good kids and not the counterculture freaks that would’ve made the situations truly comic.

Inevitably, “The Paul Lynde Show” fell into a pattern of plotlines where the adults misunderstood the kids’ actions and get into chaos. Whether Lynde is neurotically fussing about his teen daughter’s first attempts at dating or whether he is anxiously trying to recover a nude painting of his older daughter, the stories were contrived and stale. The presence of a swimming pool in the characters’ backyard was inevitably used for the fully-clothed descent of someone (usually Lynde) into its chlorinated waters – and that joke got old very quickly.

Complicating matters was timing: “The Paul Lynde Show” was slotted against “Adam-12” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” Ratings were dismal from the get-go and “The Paul Lynde Show” limped through its 26-show season before ABC cancelled it. For all of his labors, Lynde received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series; when he lost to Redd Foxx, he became so angrily disruptive during the award ceremony that security guards had to escort him from the event.

Since “The Paul Lynde Show” was a single-season flop, the program never found its way into the rerun culture. Over time, it became quickly forgotten while Lynde continued to find appreciative audiences in more successful endeavors (most notably in his long-running “Hollywood Squares” gig and his memorable voice characterization of Templeton the Rat in the animated film “Charlotte’s Web”).

But in the years since his 1982 death, Lynde’s star has ascended as the gay community rediscovered his comedy. His wicked “Hollywood Squares” zingers have been credited with introducing gay humor to mainstream America, and his unwillingness to hide his sexuality was seen in retrospect as being among the earliest attempts by a Hollywood star not to hide in the closet (when a fan once asked Lynde why he never married, the funnyman asked the fan if he lived in a cave!). In 2001, I hosted a one-time screening of “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special” at the Two Boots Den of Cin in New York and the venue sold out within five minutes; subsequent screenings of other Lynde-relating programs also drew large audiences.

Two decades after passing away, Lynde’s star is brighter than ever. One might think this retro interest in Lynde would encourage “The Paul Lynde Show” to be repackaged for commercial DVD – despite its less-than-sterling content, the show might have collector value today with gay audiences. But to date, the program has never been made available for home entertainment release. Bootleg episode collections (including some episodes in black-and-white) have circulated on video for years, and more recently bootlegged DVD anthologies are making the circuit.

If Lynde were alive today, he’d probably be shocked and appalled that people are seeking out bootlegs of his failed sitcom (he actively hated the show during its run and never spoke kindly of it afterwards). While it is not representative of his talents, it nonetheless offers a diverting curio treat for Lynde’s still-loyal fans.