DAY 129: Life of Riley

Series Run : 1953-1958

217 episodes

Network: NBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Life of factory worker, Riley and his family

Episode Watched: Riley the Warrior (Season 2)

Episode Summary: Riley tries to set up his daughter with the hot-shot college kid, who is interviewing at the factory.

My Thoughts: Another in the long line of sitcoms from the 50’s that follow the patriarch of a family, with his housewife, son and daughter. In this case we get blue-collar worker, Riley, a rough around the edges fellow, who doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. The show itself isn’t anything special, and fits right in with the Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet genre. What makes this episode interesting is that its plot has been oft-repeated in the annals of sitcom lore. You see, to avoid going on a date with the guy her dad set her up with, Babs gets her friend to go out with him instead, leading to all sorts of misunderstandings and wackiness. Stop me if you have heard this plot before (see Days, Happy; Bell, Saved by the; Bunch, Brady, etc.) One of the things I was hoping to find in this exercise is how far back some of these recycled plots go, and in this case we have on that goes back 60+ years that has been repeated several times over the decades on rather long running and popular shows. Showing us that what was funny in the 50’s is just as funny as it is today.

 

 Memorable Quotes:

“Babsy, answer the phone and tell him you’re a good student and an excellent cook” -Riley

“If you can’t remember what he looked like, you must be in a haze!” -Peg

“I’m afraid I pulled a dirty trick on you Mr. Johnson” – Babs

Acting Notables:

William Bendix- Riley

Majorie Reynolds- Peg

Tomorrow: An odd and horrible show from Norman Lear

DAY 75: The Brady Brides

Series Run : 1981

10 episodes

Network: NBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Marcia and Jan Brady all grown up, married and living together (Spinoff od Brady Bunch)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4hKR1f1-c

Episode Watched: Newlywed Game (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Bob Eubanks’ car breaks down outside the Brady Girls’ apartment, leading the couples to appear on the Newlywed Game.

My Thoughts: God help me this show was funny! Not sure if all the other episodes are terrible, and I am really trying to be certain that I am not saying this because of my bias of being a Brady Bunch fan, but I laughed a lot. First off, this isnt your mother’s Brady Girls, these girls spend half the show provocatively trying to seduce their husbands to bed. Secondly, while on the surface I think Marcia should have done much better for herself, I then realize this is the same girl who was enamored with insect enthusiast, Harvey. In any case, the show is built around the “odd couple” like relationship between the 2 husbands, but in this episode the insertion of Bob Eubanks as straight man, leads to hilarious results. There is a particularly funny gag about one of the couples on the game show containing a military man who is just seeing his wife for the first time in 2 years. Mrs. Brady makes an appearance and Alice is listed as a main character on the show, despite not being in this episode at all. I have seen a lot worse in the last 75 days, its a shame this show didnt last longer, if for no other reason to see what became of these sexually charged Brady girls!

Memorable Quotes:

“C’mon Phillip, you know what I always like…”-Jan   “Jan, not in front of your mother“- Phillip

“What did you first notice about Jan?”- Bob       “Thighs and Breasts!” –Phillip

“Speaking of wildlife, let’s go to our rooms” – Marcia   “And discover new & wonderful things…”- Jan 

Acting Notables:

Maureen McCormick- Marcia

Eve Plumb- Jan

Jerry Houser- Wally

Ron Kuhlman- Phillip

Tomorrow: A depressing BBC entry

DAY 56: Occasional Wife

Series Run : 1966-1967

30 episodes

Network: NBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Bachelor hires a woman to act as his wife so he can get promoted at work

Episode Watched: The Rivalry (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Peter forces Greta to break a date so she can accompany him to the farmhouse of his boss for the weekend

My Thoughts: Everyone needs to watch this show! Not because of the show itself, but because the narrator is VIN SCULLY! He narrates a lot, and adds a fair amount of class to a rather silly show. The premise of this show is that of an employee of a baby food company being told he will never be promoted as long as he is a bachelor, which I am pretty sure is illegal. But in tv land we don’t take the company to court, no we just go and hire a hat check girl to play the role of his wife. In addition to spending money, Peter buys Greta an apartment two floors above his own. When you have that much scratch, I wonder why you need a promotion to begin with? And if this episode is any indication, the status of having a wife did nothing to guarantee a promotion, just got him into the discussion. I assume most episodes involve Peter trying to one-up his rival in order to secure this mythical promotion. The boss Peter is beholden to is played by the guy who played Mike Brady’s boss on the Brady Bunch, and Mr. Carlin from the Bob Newhart show plays Peter’s rival. I can only assume that eventually they would have had Peter and Greta actually fall in love, but this show only lasted one season, as such I am guessing the chemistry between the two got no better than what I saw in this snippet. This seems to be another of those 1960’s show that attempts to have a strong woman character, but ignores the clearly chauvinistic premise they drop the character into. But I digress, you don’t watch this for the woman, for the man, for the plots, for the premise, NO SIR! You watch this to hear Vin Scully giving you a pseudo play by-play of the happenings.

Memorable Quotes:

“I understand, Greta.  Its only the 7th date you’ve had to break.” –Bernie

“Well Peter’s holding the suitcase, but poor Greta is left holding the bag.”- Vin Scully

“Its perfume”– Peter  “Called, An Evening in Kansas?” –Greta

Acting Notables:

Michael Callan- Peter

Patricia Harry- Greta

Vin Scully- Himself

Tomorrow: My youthful self loved it, my adult self hates it

DAY 38: The Brady Bunch

Series Run : 1969-1974

117 episodes

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Widower with 3 boys marries divorcee with 3 girls

Episode Watched: Getting Davy Jones (Season 3)

Episode Summary:  Marcia and the Prom committee are positively stumped on who to get to perform. Luckily, Davy Jones is in town, whom Marcia has a hand written letter from! Problem solved….or is it?

My Thoughts: Unless you live under a rock you know what the Brady Bunch is, so I will spend this time talking about one of my favorite episodes, and about an actor who we will see pop up quite a bit over the course of the next year. I think this also the first time we have reviewed an episode with “a special guest star”, a sitcom tenet that is employed quite often to boost ratings. This episode was one of the first tv shows I bought on video (VHS tape), there were a few days in my early 20’s where myself and friend, @marlowespade, would take a gander at this episode while eating our lunches from Superdog…but I digress. This episode shows the absurdity that is almost every episode of the Brady Bunch, by allowing a teenage girl to skirt horrible security and the worst music manager in history, in order to guilt a mega-star into performing at a JUNIOR HIGH prom. Perhaps times were different in the early 70’s, but I can’t imagine people were this incompetent in the management and security of a big star! This show allows Davy to showcase his new single, which is lampooned quite well in the Brady Bunch Movie, and further goes to show that Marcia Brady could get any man she wanted, regardless of the age difference. Davy Jones goes on to be a guest starring stalwart in many sitcoms of the last 30 years, a few of which we will view in the days and months ahead. So I invite everyone to sit back, click on the link and enjoy everything the Brady’s have to offer, and the genius of Davy Jones. 

Memorable Quotes:

“Davy Jones in not the kind of person to lie” -Marcia

“My knees didn’t get anywhere near Davy Jones.”- Marcia

“He has to play at my prom or none of my friends will ever talk to me again!”– Marcia

“How about the flip side!” – Davy

Acting Notables:

Maureen McCormick- Marcia

Robert Reed- Mr. Brady

Davy Jones- Himself

Tomorrow: DY-NO-MITE!

DAY 33: True Colors

Series Run : 1990-1992

45 episodes

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Widowed black man with 2 sons, marries white divorcee with teenage daughter and curmudgeon mother in law.

http://ahref=

Episode Watched: Lester X (Season 2)

Episode Summary: Wacky son Lester discovers the writings of Malcolm X, leading to his disillusionment with his family life, and the members of the mixed family themselves.

My Thoughts: What an odd show this was. I can only assume it lasted 2 seasons because it was on FOX, and since FOX was in its infancy it was desperate for programming. Case in point, they recast the father, the main character,  from season 1 to season 2. Cleavon Little was given the mantle to bring this show to super stardom, and unfortunately it didn’t work. The dynamic of the show was very Brady Bunch like, with the added bonus of the dad being black and the mom being white, and instead of Alice, we get the mom’s mother in-law, played by that woman from the old Bounty Paper Towel commercials. The actress who is playing the wife is doing her best to channel Meg Ryan, while Cleavon Little looks disgusted to even be on the set. As seems to happen on these family type sit coms, the teenage kids are the best actors of the bunch and have some good laugh lines. The tone of this show is where it lost me, lots of screwball comedy in the middle of long droughts of serious discussion over Uncle Tom’s,  the oppression of the African-American people, and a slightly less than Archie Bunker Racist grandmother. Another example of a late 80’s, early 90’s sitcom that tried to relate to the African-American audience, only to fail due to the show runners clearly being of a white background. An odd viewing for those that are interested.

 Memorable Quotes:

“Auto Biography of Malcolm the 10th?”-Grandma

“He was pretty upset when you said all those rhyming things to him”-Katie

“Birthday’s are the white man’s way of knowing how old you are”-Lester

Acting Notables:

Cleavon Little- Ronald Freeman

Stephanie Faracy- Ellen

Nancy Walker- Grandma

Tomorrow: A BBC Classic from a Monty Python Alum