Tag Archives: sitcoms

October 16, 2024 · 8:15 am

NANCY (THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

nancyNANCY (1970-1971) – With I Dream of Jeannie having finished its final season, creator Sidney Sheldon launched his new series Nancy, about the 21-year-old daughter of the incumbent U.S. President finding love with a small-town Iowa veterinarian. Would it complete a sitcom Hat Trick for Sidney and be as successful as his previous Patty Duke Show and the aforementioned I Dream of Jeannie? Not a chance.

When it comes to television sitcoms who can tell what will be popular? Hell, Sidney Sheldon had just finished a long-running show about a genie marrying a U.S. astronaut. The premise of Nancy seems positively grounded by comparison.

tv guide nancyRenne Jarrett starred as First Daughter Nancy Smith, a pretty young lady living in Center City, IA. Nancy stayed with her guardian and chaperone Abby Townsend, played by the one and only Celeste Holm.

Abby offered wry commentary and sarcastic barbs regarding the madness that unfolded as Nancy pursued a romance with Center City veterinarian Adam Hudson. Dr. Hudson was played by John Fink, an actor who kept that name in defiance of all show business common sense. Continue reading →

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September 23, 2021 · 1:42 am

DUSTY’S TRAIL (1973-1974): FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

dusty's trailDUSTY’S TRAIL (1973-1974) – Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip … But not THAT one. Dusty’s Trail was an uninspired, unfunny attempt by Sherwood Schwartz to recapture the success of his famed sitcom Gilligan’s Island.

Demonstrating “Minimum Effort Puppy” levels of laziness, Schwartz shamelessly copied every single aspect of Gilligan’s Island and its memorable – if moronic – characters over to the Old West. With Dusty’s Trail, Schwartz managed to cadge everything but the laughs from his 1960s hit.

bob denverGilligan’s Island featured seven castaways trapped on a desert island because of the mind-numbing stupidity of their charter ship’s First Mate – Gilligan. Dusty’s Trail featured seven members of a wagon train hopelessly lost on their way to California because of the mind-numbing stupidity of their expedition’s Scout – Dusty.

On both shows the imbecile whose repeated blunders doomed his party’s efforts to save themselves over and over again was played by Bob Denver. In real life the other stranded people would have killed Gilligan or Dusty very early on, but these were just sitcoms, so both mentally impaired losers were permitted to live.  Continue reading →

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January 7, 2017 · 5:20 pm

HEIL HONEY, I’M HOME (1990)

Heil Honey I'm HomeTo paraphrase master satirist Stan Freberg’s ad line for Hogan’s Heroes let me just say “If you liked World War Two you’ll LOVE Heil Honey, I’m Home! The premise of this study in cosmic-level bad taste makes it sound like a comedy sketch lampooning the staggering callousness of television executives. Or maybe like a Springtime For Hitler– style moment from a satire on television’s desperation for getting ratings through calculated outrageousness. 

Unfortunately this program was an honest-to-God attempt at launching a sitcom in the U.K. in 1990. Eight episodes were filmed but after the pilot aired for this failed attempt at dark comedy the ensuing outcry ensured the show’s immediate cancellation.

This one-shot wonder was a self-styled “Hitcom”, the producer’s technical term for “Hitler comedy” as opposed to “Sitcom” for Situation Comedy. Are you laughing yet? Heil Honey, I’m Home! depicted Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun as a typical apartment-dwelling couple in 1938 Berlin putting up with the standard sitcom trope of annoying neighbors … in the form of Jewish couple Arny and Rosa Goldenstein. Are you Continue reading →

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