Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen Review - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TJ · 06-18-2010, 03:12 PM

Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television (McFarland Publishers, $35.00) is David C. Tucker's look at thirty different sitcoms of the first two decades on television that have, for whatever reason, become "lost." And when they say lost, they really do mean lost. We all remember some of the biggest hits of those decades, such as I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show, and many others. But does anybody truly remember, for example Hennesey or Pete and Gladys, or for that matter, even heard of them? Tucker gives us all of the details of thirty sitcoms that shaped and molded the genre, then completely disappeared, mostly to never be seen again.

Read our review by skees53 here:
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2010/0...hons-blog.html

Purchase the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...daysonline3-20

Marvo301 · 06-18-2010, 06:52 PM

I've heard of many of these shows (mostly from them being referenced in other books)but have only seen one of them. I watched an episode of "He's Dickens, I'm Fenster" on youtube. This sounds like a fascinating book and definitely one I'd love to read!

KurtfromPitts · 06-19-2010, 11:37 AM

Sounds like an interesting read. I may consider buying it.

MickeyMac · 06-19-2010, 02:46 PM

Yeah I have heard and even seen some of those shows listed. The book is probably a good read. Those are shows you probably wont see on TV.

bencasey · 06-27-2010, 11:50 AM

Funny but I have all of them. I have the complete or almost complete runs of:

Angel, How to Marry a Millionaire, It's About Time, Hey Jeannie, Mrs G Goes to College, Bill Dana Show, Wendy and Me, Mr. Terrific, OK Crackerby, Hey Mulligan, Occasional Wife and Margie.

I have at least 10 or more episodes of The Ray Milland Show, Love on a Rooftop, Its a Great Life, Governor and JJ, The Tom Ewell Show, Pete and Gladys, Hennesey, McKeever and the Colonel and I'm Dickens, He's Fenster.

The only ones that I have less than 10 of, are Grindl, The Great Gildersleeve, Happy, Ichabod and Me, The Jim Backus Show and My Hero. And with most of those, its by choice as they aren't very good shows. The only real rarity that he lists among his shows, is Mr. Adams and Eve.

As for lost, well, Hey Jeannie, Mrs G, McKeever and all of the Four Star shows ran in England a few years ago. Hennesey and Dickens/Fenster ran on the Star Network in the early 90s. People's Choice ran on the Nostalgia Channel. It's a Great Life has run to death on the same network. Occasional Wife ran on HA! Bill Dana and Wendy and Me ran on CBN and Wendy ran on Nostalgia as well. Mr. Terrific is out on DVD in Germany. Some of the others have been common on film. I bought about a dozen Governor and JJs on 16mm around 1982. Lost, no, maybe just not widely available.

old grouch · 06-27-2010, 10:15 PM

This would be a fun book to read. That's a cute picture of Barbara Eden wearing glasses on the cover. It's too bad that TV Land is too busy showing reality shows. They could show some of these rare gems. Or maybe somebody could put them on DVD.

dakert · 06-27-2010, 10:22 PM

Where is "The Life Of Riley" starring William Bendix

bencasey · 06-28-2010, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dakert

Where is "The Life Of Riley" starring William Bendix

Buried in Fox's vaults.

sbeamish · 07-04-2010, 09:50 AM

Mr. Terrific but no Captain Nice?

Yes, CN ran in syndication briefly, but, as bencasey pointed out, that would hardly make it unique in this company.

sbeamish · 07-30-2010, 09:14 AM

Disappointing. Well written and pretty well researched and, yet, disappointing.

Let's be honest. I bought this book (or, rather, asked my wife to get it for me as a birthday present) for one reason only: What other book on TV history has devoted this kind of space and attention to Mr. Terrific? - (At this point, I have only read the book's intro and the MT chapter.)

I love this show. I have very little objectivity where it is concerned. I am able to watch the episodes and (for the most part) ignore what is bad about them and simply enjoy the aspects that I do enjoy.

David C. Tucker seemed to watch the show wearing a pair of reverse blinders. He acknowledges the talent of the people involved but can't seem to see anything enjoyable about the series itself, calling it an almost complete creative misfire. He glosses over the fact that the show's ratings dipped without really going into particulars, giving the reader the impression that Mr. Terrific simply fell to an embarrassing level in the Nielsens.

As I understand it, the truth is that Mr. Terrific's killer time slot never really allowed the ratings to fall below a certain level, and MT's Nielsen position would have, at worst, been a head scratcher for executives looking at most shows. (The same is true of Run, Buddy, Run. That's the show that Terrific replaced and Tucker similarly dismisses.)

Tucker seems to be somewhat intimate with at least some of the episodes. As far as I know, this is only possible due to the fact that the series has found its way into the collector's market. And this is due to the fact that the series is remarkably popular in Germany. Even in the last decade it has garnered new fans over there. Since this is, apparently, a primary source of Tucker's research, I find not mentioning this to be a glaring omission.

Is it that he can't find, or simply chooses to ignore, anything to recommend the show?

Still, Tucker and I are allowed to disagree. In his position, as it happens, his opinions will be read with a greater tinge of prestige. Well, that's just the way things are.

But, in Tucker's introduction, he asserts that his purpose is not to "jeer" at the shows he profiles. He has inserted "a little critical commentary here and there," but he didn't intend to "overburden" the book with his own opinions:

"I'll let readers judge for themselves."

If that was his intent, then the "Mr. Terrific" chapter marks this book a distinct failure.

TV Knowledge Fan · 07-31-2010, 03:17 AM

....most people don't know "MR. TERRIFIC" had the disadvantage of appearing directly opposite "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" on NBC and '"THE IRON HORSE" on ABC- each of which had its own loyal following, yet both moved to different nights the following fall- and there simply wasn't enough of an audience to keep "TERRIFIC" on the air as far as CBS was concerned [just because a series were scheduled inbetween "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND" and "THE LUCY SHOW" in 1966-'67 didn't automatically guarantee it would be a success, too].

Still, you should be thankful Tucker reviewed the series as he did, 'sbeamish'. I'm sure you've read Rick Mitz's take on it in "The Great TV Sitcom Book": he virtually dismissed it in just a few paragraphs, and probably didn't even bother to see one episode, preferring to "crib" information about the show from Vince Terrace's and Brooks & Marsh's reference books. He wasn't even aware of {and never even mentioned} the original Alan Young pilot...did Tucker?

sbeamish · 07-31-2010, 07:36 AM

Yes, in fact, though Tucker certainly seems to have watched the Stephen Strimpell version, he talks about the Alan Young pilot in far greater detail than he gives any Strimpell episode. And he repeats the oft quoted lament that the original premise for Mr. Terrific held far more promise than the actual aired series.

But that too is opinion. And I didn't set Tucker's ground rules. He did.

So, no, I'm not happy. I WAS happy, when I saw Mr. Terrific was chosen to be profiled in this book. Now I wish Tucker had focused on Captain Nice or, better yet, completely ignored the super-hero sitcoms and expanded on his unfounded rant against Run, Buddy, Run. (I loved that show, when I was a kid, but I have no special affection for it now.)

If Tucker had just said the show was bad while discussing the episodes in greater detail, I would have grumbled but not have been surprised. But here he lends credence to the old "Nielsen flop" theory.

Stephen Strimpell, who was not exactly thrilled to be working on this series, said the CBS execs had it in for the show almost from the beginning. But I take that with a grain of salt as well. (Even though it is well known that they hated being associated with their HIT Gilligan's Island.)

The clearest picture as to why Mr. Terrific was cancelled can probably be garnered by looking at the Spotlight posted on the TVobscurities website.

There, the NY Times is cited; calling Mr. Terrific "one of the more successful mid season programs." The Times conclusion is that CBS felt the show had "reached its peak audience with children" and was "not likely to pick up steam."

Arnold Becker, Director of Audience Measurement for CBS, is quoted as saying, "everyone knows they want Lucy back. Everyone knows the shows at the bottom of the ratings are going off. It's the marginal shows - the Mr. Terrifics of the world - we quibble about."

There's none of this in Tucker's book. Only the same old fandom theories: "Nielsen flop," "Nice funnier," "Young good. Strimpell bad."

Personally, I don't really agree with any of them. The jokes on Captain Nice are constructed better, but they're still just the poor cousins of the jokes on Get Smart. And Alan Young (an actor who could not exactly be classified as "limited" in his range) gives us a Stanley H. Beamish who is virtually indistinguishable from Wilbur Post. And whether or not the Young premise held more promise will always just be opinion.

And what about Mr. Terrific's cult status in Germany?

Would it have killed Tucker to mention that one of the shows in his book is popular somewhere? Or would it just have killed him to say it about this show?

Robert 13 · 08-05-2010, 10:31 AM

I was thinking about getting this book. Now, I'm having second thoughts. Does he just slam these shows or actually give some insight into them? I'm interested in what is in the book about Imogene Coca and "Grindl"?

sbeamish · 08-05-2010, 06:58 PM

I've only read the Mr. Terrific and I'm Dickens, He's Fenster chapters. (Also pretty much read through The People's Choice and part of Occassional Wife.)

He only really slams Mr. Terrific of these 4. He's fairly objective with the others and seems to almost go out of his way to shed a slightly more favorable light on Dickens/Fenster.

If I get a chance, I'll take a look at Grindl and let you know.

sbeamish · 08-06-2010, 09:26 AM

Just read the Grindl chapter. I'm not sure if I ever saw this show; have no conscious recollection of it. Naturally, I'm not approaching this part of the text in the same way as I did Mr. Terrific: a show with which I am very familiar.

Seems to be a much, MUCH more balanced profile. Tucker doesn't fawn over the series, but he sure doesn't slam it either. Pretty much only positive reviews are quoted. (Of course, positive reviews of MT were very few and far between.) And Tucker gives equal time to indications that ratings for Grindl were faltering and those that implied the audience was still strong. (No such fairness for MT.)

No room for much depth, since the chapter's only 6 pages long. A lot of focus on Imogene's career. Still some interesting facts about the show: originally a pilot starring Mary Grace Canfield (Ralph Monroe from Green Acres).

Thanks to the Internet, I was able to contact Tucker. He apologized for inadvertently trampling on a show that had meaning for me. Then he referenced the article that pointed to MT as a ratings failure. But he never explained why he disregarded information like the quote from CBS Director of Audience Measurement Arnold Becker. He comes right out and says the cancellation of Grindl was a point of contention; again, no such fairness for MT.

In the book, he makes a point of mentioning that I'm Dickens, He's Fenster still has many loyal fans. No mention of the many fans that MT has in Germany: so many that the show actually has a DVD release. And this DVD was also lapped up by a lot of American old timers like me.

I guess I wouldn't go so far as to recommend you don't buy this book, unless you're a fan of Mr. Terrific.

06-18-2010, 03:12 PM	#1
TJ Site Owner Administrator Forum Star Join Date: Feb 03, 2000 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 10,648	Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen Review Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television (McFarland Publishers, $35.00) is David C. Tucker's look at thirty different sitcoms of the first two decades on television that have, for whatever reason, become "lost." And when they say lost, they really do mean lost. We all remember some of the biggest hits of those decades, such as I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show, and many others. But does anybody truly remember, for example Hennesey or Pete and Gladys, or for that matter, even heard of them? Tucker gives us all of the details of thirty sitcoms that shaped and molded the genre, then completely disappeared, mostly to never be seen again. Read our review by skees53 here: http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2010/0...hons-blog.html Purchase the book here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...daysonline3-20

06-18-2010, 06:52 PM	#2
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,450	I've heard of many of these shows (mostly from them being referenced in other books)but have only seen one of them. I watched an episode of "He's Dickens, I'm Fenster" on youtube. This sounds like a fascinating book and definitely one I'd love to read!
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

07-31-2010, 03:17 AM	#11
TV Knowledge Fan Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 29, 2006 Location: Long Branch, N.J. Posts: 2,577	You have a point, 'sbeamish'... ....most people don't know "MR. TERRIFIC" had the disadvantage of appearing directly opposite "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" on NBC and '"THE IRON HORSE" on ABC- each of which had its own loyal following, yet both moved to different nights the following fall- and there simply wasn't enough of an audience to keep "TERRIFIC" on the air as far as CBS was concerned [just because a series were scheduled inbetween "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND" and "THE LUCY SHOW" in 1966-'67 didn't automatically guarantee it would be a success, too]. Still, you should be thankful Tucker reviewed the series as he did, 'sbeamish'. I'm sure you've read Rick Mitz's take on it in "The Great TV Sitcom Book": he virtually dismissed it in just a few paragraphs, and probably didn't even bother to see one episode, preferring to "crib" information about the show from Vince Terrace's and Brooks & Marsh's reference books. He wasn't even aware of {and never even mentioned} the original Alan Young pilot...did Tucker?

08-05-2010, 10:31 AM	#13
Robert 13 Member Senior Member Join Date: May 10, 2006 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,521	I was thinking about getting this book. Now, I'm having second thoughts. Does he just slam these shows or actually give some insight into them? I'm interested in what is in the book about Imogene Coca and "Grindl"?
	__________________ Com'è straordinaria la vita, che un giorno ti senti come in un sogno e poi ti ritrovi all'inferno - Dolcenera

06-19-2010, 11:37 AM	#3
KurtfromPitts Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 10, 2006 Location: Carnegie PA Posts: 1,530	Sounds like an interesting read. I may consider buying it.

06-19-2010, 02:46 PM	#4
MickeyMac Member Forum Star Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan Posts: 19,004	Yeah I have heard and even seen some of those shows listed. The book is probably a good read. Those are shows you probably wont see on TV.

06-27-2010, 11:50 AM	#5
bencasey Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: Long Beach Posts: 1,692	Funny but I have all of them. I have the complete or almost complete runs of: Angel, How to Marry a Millionaire, It's About Time, Hey Jeannie, Mrs G Goes to College, Bill Dana Show, Wendy and Me, Mr. Terrific, OK Crackerby, Hey Mulligan, Occasional Wife and Margie. I have at least 10 or more episodes of The Ray Milland Show, Love on a Rooftop, Its a Great Life, Governor and JJ, The Tom Ewell Show, Pete and Gladys, Hennesey, McKeever and the Colonel and I'm Dickens, He's Fenster. The only ones that I have less than 10 of, are Grindl, The Great Gildersleeve, Happy, Ichabod and Me, The Jim Backus Show and My Hero. And with most of those, its by choice as they aren't very good shows. The only real rarity that he lists among his shows, is Mr. Adams and Eve. As for lost, well, Hey Jeannie, Mrs G, McKeever and all of the Four Star shows ran in England a few years ago. Hennesey and Dickens/Fenster ran on the Star Network in the early 90s. People's Choice ran on the Nostalgia Channel. It's a Great Life has run to death on the same network. Occasional Wife ran on HA! Bill Dana and Wendy and Me ran on CBN and Wendy ran on Nostalgia as well. Mr. Terrific is out on DVD in Germany. Some of the others have been common on film. I bought about a dozen Governor and JJs on 16mm around 1982. Lost, no, maybe just not widely available.

06-27-2010, 10:15 PM	#6
old grouch Member Senior Member Join Date: May 13, 2010 Location: montana Posts: 1,877	This would be a fun book to read. That's a cute picture of Barbara Eden wearing glasses on the cover. It's too bad that TV Land is too busy showing reality shows. They could show some of these rare gems. Or maybe somebody could put them on DVD.

06-27-2010, 10:22 PM	#7
dakert Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: May 10, 2007 Location: Altoona PA Posts: 3,410	Where is "The Life Of Riley" starring William Bendix

07-04-2010, 09:50 AM	#9
sbeamish Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2004 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 296	Mr. Terrific but no Captain Nice? Yes, CN ran in syndication briefly, but, as bencasey pointed out, that would hardly make it unique in this company.

07-30-2010, 09:14 AM	#10
sbeamish Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2004 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 296	Disappointing. Well written and pretty well researched and, yet, disappointing. Let's be honest. I bought this book (or, rather, asked my wife to get it for me as a birthday present) for one reason only: What other book on TV history has devoted this kind of space and attention to Mr. Terrific? - (At this point, I have only read the book's intro and the MT chapter.) I love this show. I have very little objectivity where it is concerned. I am able to watch the episodes and (for the most part) ignore what is bad about them and simply enjoy the aspects that I do enjoy. David C. Tucker seemed to watch the show wearing a pair of reverse blinders. He acknowledges the talent of the people involved but can't seem to see anything enjoyable about the series itself, calling it an almost complete creative misfire. He glosses over the fact that the show's ratings dipped without really going into particulars, giving the reader the impression that Mr. Terrific simply fell to an embarrassing level in the Nielsens. As I understand it, the truth is that Mr. Terrific's killer time slot never really allowed the ratings to fall below a certain level, and MT's Nielsen position would have, at worst, been a head scratcher for executives looking at most shows. (The same is true of Run, Buddy, Run. That's the show that Terrific replaced and Tucker similarly dismisses.) Tucker seems to be somewhat intimate with at least some of the episodes. As far as I know, this is only possible due to the fact that the series has found its way into the collector's market. And this is due to the fact that the series is remarkably popular in Germany. Even in the last decade it has garnered new fans over there. Since this is, apparently, a primary source of Tucker's research, I find not mentioning this to be a glaring omission. Is it that he can't find, or simply chooses to ignore, anything to recommend the show? Still, Tucker and I are allowed to disagree. In his position, as it happens, his opinions will be read with a greater tinge of prestige. Well, that's just the way things are. But, in Tucker's introduction, he asserts that his purpose is not to "jeer" at the shows he profiles. He has inserted "a little critical commentary here and there," but he didn't intend to "overburden" the book with his own opinions: "I'll let readers judge for themselves." If that was his intent, then the "Mr. Terrific" chapter marks this book a distinct failure.

07-31-2010, 07:36 AM	#12
sbeamish Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2004 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 296	Yes, in fact, though Tucker certainly seems to have watched the Stephen Strimpell version, he talks about the Alan Young pilot in far greater detail than he gives any Strimpell episode. And he repeats the oft quoted lament that the original premise for Mr. Terrific held far more promise than the actual aired series. But that too is opinion. And I didn't set Tucker's ground rules. He did. So, no, I'm not happy. I WAS happy, when I saw Mr. Terrific was chosen to be profiled in this book. Now I wish Tucker had focused on Captain Nice or, better yet, completely ignored the super-hero sitcoms and expanded on his unfounded rant against Run, Buddy, Run. (I loved that show, when I was a kid, but I have no special affection for it now.) If Tucker had just said the show was bad while discussing the episodes in greater detail, I would have grumbled but not have been surprised. But here he lends credence to the old "Nielsen flop" theory. Stephen Strimpell, who was not exactly thrilled to be working on this series, said the CBS execs had it in for the show almost from the beginning. But I take that with a grain of salt as well. (Even though it is well known that they hated being associated with their HIT Gilligan's Island.) The clearest picture as to why Mr. Terrific was cancelled can probably be garnered by looking at the Spotlight posted on the TVobscurities website. There, the NY Times is cited; calling Mr. Terrific "one of the more successful mid season programs." The Times conclusion is that CBS felt the show had "reached its peak audience with children" and was "not likely to pick up steam." Arnold Becker, Director of Audience Measurement for CBS, is quoted as saying, "everyone knows they want Lucy back. Everyone knows the shows at the bottom of the ratings are going off. It's the marginal shows - the Mr. Terrifics of the world - we quibble about." There's none of this in Tucker's book. Only the same old fandom theories: "Nielsen flop," "Nice funnier," "Young good. Strimpell bad." Personally, I don't really agree with any of them. The jokes on Captain Nice are constructed better, but they're still just the poor cousins of the jokes on Get Smart. And Alan Young (an actor who could not exactly be classified as "limited" in his range) gives us a Stanley H. Beamish who is virtually indistinguishable from Wilbur Post. And whether or not the Young premise held more promise will always just be opinion. And what about Mr. Terrific's cult status in Germany? Would it have killed Tucker to mention that one of the shows in his book is popular somewhere? Or would it just have killed him to say it about this show?

08-05-2010, 06:58 PM	#14
sbeamish Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2004 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 296	I've only read the Mr. Terrific and I'm Dickens, He's Fenster chapters. (Also pretty much read through The People's Choice and part of Occassional Wife.) He only really slams Mr. Terrific of these 4. He's fairly objective with the others and seems to almost go out of his way to shed a slightly more favorable light on Dickens/Fenster. If I get a chance, I'll take a look at Grindl and let you know.

08-06-2010, 09:26 AM	#15
sbeamish Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2004 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 296	Just read the Grindl chapter. I'm not sure if I ever saw this show; have no conscious recollection of it. Naturally, I'm not approaching this part of the text in the same way as I did Mr. Terrific: a show with which I am very familiar. Seems to be a much, MUCH more balanced profile. Tucker doesn't fawn over the series, but he sure doesn't slam it either. Pretty much only positive reviews are quoted. (Of course, positive reviews of MT were very few and far between.) And Tucker gives equal time to indications that ratings for Grindl were faltering and those that implied the audience was still strong. (No such fairness for MT.) No room for much depth, since the chapter's only 6 pages long. A lot of focus on Imogene's career. Still some interesting facts about the show: originally a pilot starring Mary Grace Canfield (Ralph Monroe from Green Acres). Thanks to the Internet, I was able to contact Tucker. He apologized for inadvertently trampling on a show that had meaning for me. Then he referenced the article that pointed to MT as a ratings failure. But he never explained why he disregarded information like the quote from CBS Director of Audience Measurement Arnold Becker. He comes right out and says the cancellation of Grindl was a point of contention; again, no such fairness for MT. In the book, he makes a point of mentioning that I'm Dickens, He's Fenster still has many loyal fans. No mention of the many fans that MT has in Germany: so many that the show actually has a DVD release. And this DVD was also lapped up by a lot of American old timers like me. I guess I wouldn't go so far as to recommend you don't buy this book, unless you're a fan of Mr. Terrific.