Classic Episodes from Classic TV: "I Love Lucy"

When casual viewers think of I Love Lucy, they most likely think of the episode where Lucy and Ethel hilariously try to keep up with a chocolate conveyer belt. It doesn't take long for them to realize that they are not suited to this type of work.

 

Bonus Batman!

 

Batman Day! 9/17/2016

 

How old is TV's Larry King?

 

The TV Shows of Garry Marshall

 

The TV Shows of Garry Marshall

 

The TV Shows of Garry Marshall

 

The TV Shows of Garry Marshall

 

The TV Shows of Garry Marshall

 

Garry Marshall: TV Heydays

Garry Marshall had amazed the television industry with his monster hit Happy Days. ABC was eager to give Garry free reign to develop more hits. Garry would create another huge hit, only this time it would be something he would share with his sister. Laverne & Shirley would feature Garry's sister Penny as Laverne, a streetwise young lady whose best friend Shirley was a bright eyed innocent. The show was a monster success. ABC was becoming a force to be reckoned with due to the Marshalls.

 

The show eclipsed even Happy Days, rocketing to number one and spawning an entire album of songs sung by the two girls. (Though oddly not the chart topping theme song sung by Cindy Grecco.) Garry would make his biggest discovery for the next monster hit in his empire.

With Star Wars becoming a big hit, Garry pondered making a space themed show. His son's love of the action figures cemented his thinking. He decided to try a fanciful episode of Happy Days where an alien visits Milwaukee and the Cunninghams. Garry would search for an actor who could play a manic alien and he found him in Robin Williams, an up and coming comedian. The network was unsure about this show, but after a now legendary evening of filming, their doubts disappeared.

 

Robin Williams dazzled those present with his manic performance. The live studio audience went crazy, giving him a standing ovation at the end. Everyone there was certain they had seen a star being born- Robin Williams. ABC quickly picked up the new program Mork & Mindy, in which the alien Mork would move in with a young, single woman. Would the show be as successful as everyone believed it would be? It would.

 

The show was a monster success- there were toys, coloring books, lunch boxes and more. People loved Mork and the show became an even bigger hit. Garry Marshall had truly conquered television in a way even he had never dreamed of.

 

Garry Marshall: The Happy Days

Garry Marshall would soon prove that one could strike gold more than once, but it didn't seem like it at first. In 1971, Garry was looking for a new project he could work on. He came up with an idea for a family show set in the 1950's. He guessed that the show would sell well in syndication because  since it was set in the past to begin with, it would never look dated. He produced a pilot called New Family in Town which starred Harold Gould as the father, Marion Ross as the mother and Ron Howard as their son. ABC rejected the pilot.

 

Nowadays, that's typically the end of the road. But at the time, the big three networks would repackage failed pilots in anthology series. In this case, Garry's show would air as part of Love American Style, which was essentially ABC's pilot graveyard with some other one-off scripts rotated in, often featuring hasbeens.

As the 1970's wore on, however, the pilot would prove to be ahead of its time. A 1950's craze hit the United States and young director George Lucas sought to take advantage by making a nostalgic film inspired by his teen years- American Graffiti. Ron Howard desperately wanted a role in the film and suggested that George Lucas view that pilot from 1971. He requested a copy from the network, which had forgotten aboutit When Ron was cast and the film was a huge success it became a priority project for ABC, who gave Garry the go ahead to do whatever he needed to get this project going. Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams from the original pilot would sign on to the new show. Tom Bosley would become the new patriarch and a little known actor who Garry was certain could be a bigger star- Henry Winkler- would get the recurring role of "Fonzie" the street tough with a heart of gold.

 

The stars were aligned this time. Garry's rejected pilot had become the biggest hit of the 1970's. Happy Days indeed!

Garry Marshall: The Early Days

Garry Marshall started his career in show business by writing jokes for Joey Bishop. He soon found a staff position on the Tonight Show with Jack Parr. When Jack passed the hosting job to Johnny Carson, Garry moved out west to Hollywood, teaming up with Jerry Belson to become a writing team. Together, they wrote for such classic programs as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Danny Thomas and The Lucy Show. 

 

A young Garry cavorting with Marlo Thomas

NBC soon rewarded the team with their first sitcom- Hey Landlord! a sitcom about a brownstone filled with eccentric tenants. It lasted just one season, but it led to the pair's first breakout hit- their adaptation of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple for ABC. Starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, the show became an instant classic. Many would consider themselves lucky to be a part of one classic project. For Garry, however, it was just the beginning.

 

Rest in Peace, Garry Marshall

 

Hollywood legend Garry Marshall, creator of many of the biggest sitcom hits of the 1970's and 1980's has passed away at age 81. Temporary Layoffs will suspend its regular schedule this week to honor Garry Marshall and his immeasurable contributions to television. 

The Touch Heard Around the World

Whenever politicians or pundits talk about returning to "the good old days", one often tries to determine what they mean. While they may be merely expressing a fondness for the good things that happened way back when, there's often a suspicion that they are secretly expressing a desire to return to a time when a woman gently touching a man was a huge controversy. In 1968, British singer Petula Clark was taking the world by storm. She was so popular that NBC chose to give her an hour long special.

 

In a show sponsored by Chrysler, Petula would sing her hits with a few friends including black singer Harry Belafonte. The duo planned to sing an anti-war duet, though that would not be the big controversy that arose from this show. You see, at the end of the song, Petula walked up to Harry and touched his arm.

 

Surely they must have done something else, right? Unfortunately, no. A white woman touching a black man in an innocent manner was enough to stir up controversy. A VP at Chrysler ordered NBC to cut the scene out. Petula's contract, however, gave her full control over the show. She refused to edit the song, even just for the southern states. NBC and Chrysler eventually gave in. The show aired with the scene intact and Chrysler fired the VP. Today it might seem like a petty thing to get upset about. In "the good old days", however, it was a huge controversy.

Behind the Scenes

 

A Legendary Lot

 

Twilight Zone Day: Repeat Zoners

Today we celebrate Twilight Zone Day by looking at two repeat actors who appeared in more than one episode of The Twilight Zone. Since the show featured a different story every week, it was a challenge to produce each episode. Most shows have at least a handful of sets that are used every episode. The Twilight Zone, however, had different sets, different actors, different stories every week. An actor who knew how the process worked and had proven themselves was invaluable to Mr. Serling.

So we see Arlene Martel in two classic episodes; the first being a favorite of Temporary Layoffs- What You Need. Ms. Martel plays a down on her luck dame who tries her luck buying from an old peddler who sells her what she needs- cleaning solution. As it turns out, a handsome ex-baseball player, who was given a ticket to Scranton finds out he's been given a second chance with a minor league team in that very city. His suit jacket, however, is stained. Of course, Ms. Martel's character has just the thing to clean it. They shuffle off together, getting exactly what they needed.

 

Arlene's second appearance is in the following season's Twenty Two, another favorite. She only gets one line- "Room for one more, honey!" but says it in a menacing way as a vicious nurse in a dippy starlet's nightmares. The nurse frightens the starlet in her dreams nightly, inviting her into the hospital morgue.

 

The starlet is convinced that she just has a touch of hysterics and should leave the hospital to get back to Hollywood. She convinces herself that the doctors are right until she sees the face of the stewardess on her flight- it's the menacing nurse who repeats her chilling line- "Room for one more, honey!" The starlet shrieks and runs back into the terminal. As she watches the flight take off, it explodes. Her "hysterics" were really a premonition that saved her life.

 

 

Our second repeat Zoner is William Shatner who also starred in two classic episodes. The first was Nick of Time in which he plays a newlywed whose car breaks down in a strange town. When a novelty fortune telling machine seems to accurately predict the future, he becomes obsessed with it. Fearing that he's slowly going insane, his wife finally convinces him to leave the machine behind. Meanwhile, another couple sits down, obviously too far gone in their own obsession with the device.

 

His second episode would be Terror at 20,000 Feet. This is such an iconic episode that it is probably not necessary to recount its plot. (It's the one where Shatner sees a gremlin outside the airplane.) This installment would be directed by Richard Donner, who would go on to direct The Omen, Superman, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon and many other films. This episode would be a worthy start for a Hollywood legend.

 

Bizarre Batman '66 Villains: Zelda the Great

One of the seemingly less threatening villainesses from the 1966 Batman series was Zelda the Great. Zelda was a peculiar thief who masterminded annual thefts of exactly $100,000. Her one and only scheme on the show resulted in the kidnapping of Aunt Harriet, though she eventually released her. 

Who Was... Fess Parker?

In the mid 1950's, Fess Parker's career appeared to be going nowhere. Stuck in B-Films, he was beginning to enter a crossroads- if his career wasn't going to take off the way he'd hoped, he would have to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. What happened next was beyond his wildest dreams.

Fess caught the eye of the man who would change his life forever- Walt Disney. Mr. Disney thought Fess would be perfect to play the role of Davy Crockett. Little did Fess know that the role would vault him from near obscurity to one of the most famous faces of the 1950's. Davy Crockett was everywhere- movies, TV, music, even DISNEYLAND. It was a one in a million opportunity and it catapulted Mr. Parker into a world of fame and wealth. The boys of America wanted to grow up to be just like him and he became the first big television celebrity.

Rather than fritter away his newfound wealth, Mr. Parker proved to be a great investor. He soon found himself owning a winery, resorts and hotels. Fess didn't need to act anymore and practically retired after his second big hit- Daniel Boone, left the airwaves.

Eager to follow in the footsteps of the man who started it all for him, Fess looked north for a new opportunity; he wanted to build a Frontier theme park and purchased several hundred acres in Santa Clara, California for a possible theme park. Fess hired the same man who did the initial feasibility studies for DISNEYLAND to assess the opportunities in Santa Clara. The opportunities were good, but Fess had a hard time convincing his business partners to actually build the park. J.W. Marriott, who had seen the success of DISNEYLAND had dreams of his own; he wanted to build three parks, one of which would be on the west coast. Since Mr. Parker had already gotten much of the footwork completed, the Marriott Corporation entered into an agreement to buy the land from Fess Parker. Marriott's Great America opened in 1976, just in time to celebrate America's centennial. Mr. Parker's dream came true, only for someone else.

In December 2004, Mr. Parker returned to the place where it all began- DISNEYLAND- to receive a rare honor- a window in Frontierland- the land that Davy Crockett built.

Who Was... Don DeFore?

The name Don DeFore may not seem familiar to many viewers today, but Mr. DeFore was involved in some of the most legendary television shows and creations of the 1950's and 60's. He starred as "Thorny", the snooping neighbor of the Nelsons on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

His friendship with Walt Disney led to his lucrative business in DISNEYLAND- Don DeFore's Silver Banjo Barbeque. The restaurant made its home next door to the Aunt Jemima's Pancake House in Frontierland. It eventually closed once DISNEYLAND began replacing concessionaires with company owned businesses.

Those two facts would be enough to make him a legend, but Mr. DeFore also starred as the hapless father in the classic sitcom Hazel.