Book Review - George Burns Television Productions: The Series and Pilots, 1950-1981

[TJ]

George Burns Television Productions: The Series and Pilots, 1950-1981 (McFarland, $39.95) takes a deeper look at the George Burns that we all know and love. Many know Burns as the comedic actor who appeared on The Burns and Allen Show, alongside wife Gracie Allen, but he was much more than an actor. He was also a producer, who produced The Burns and Allen Show, along with several other comedies and even dramatic series. Author Richard Irvin, who found his inspiration for learning more about George Burns (the producer) through watching reruns of The Burns and Allen Show on Antenna TV, makes the producer career the focus of this book.

The fourth chapter of the book switches to another completely different series that McCadden Productions produced, and one that actually turned out to be just as successful as The Burns and Allen Show, The Bob Cummings Show. Debuting in the middle of the 1954-1955 season on NBC (and also making history as the first mid-season replacement series), the series ran for five seasons and 153 episodes. Once again, the book goes into a season-by-season look at the series in general, and talks about the production changes made throughout the series.

Read our review here:
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2014/0...rge-burns.html