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
365 Days of Sitcoms 