Nancy (1970-1971) (1 Viewer)

[Hoagie78]

For years I have only seen the opening credits and a promo for this short lived NBC sitcom that ran 1970-1971. The show was produced by Screen Gems and was created and written by Sidney Sheldon. Nancy was played by Renne Jarrett who was the presidents daughter. She meets and marries country veterinarian Adam Hudson played by John Fink. Nancy's chaperone and friend was played by Celeste Holm and Adam's Uncle was played by Robert F. Simon.

Rumor has it that the show was getting pretty good ratings, but NBC decided to pull the plug. There was a story that supposedly someone at NBC later told Sheldon in private that pressure from the Nixon administration helped get the show cancelled.

The president was never seen or heard with Nancy only talking on the phone to him. There was an article online that said if the show had continued, Ted Knight would have been cast in the role. He was already doing Mary Tyler Moore, but he would probably been recurring.

 

[Purple Wig]

Never heard of it, sounds interesting though. Always enjoy Robert F. Simon.

 

[Jack P]

Nancy - Television Obscurities

NBC aired just 17 episodes of Nancy, a sitcom about the daughter of the president falling in love with a veterinarian. Renne Jarrett and John Fink starred.

www.tvobscurities.com

 

[ponset]

 

[Hoagie78]

 

[Neil Brock]

I'm a big fan of the show. Renne Jarrett was so pretty. I have 10 of the 17 episodes and I watched the other 7 at LOC where they have the full run.

 

[Hoagie78]

I'm a big fan of the show. Renne Jarrett was so pretty. I have 10 of the 17 episodes and I watched the other 7 at LOC where they have the full run.

That's great you were able to acquire episodes of this series.I wish episodes would be made available to view or buy. I have only seen the opening credits and a short NBC promo. Was this show ever rerun in syndication ?

 

[Neil Brock]

No, its never been run anywhere since its original run on NBC. I got them from 16mm film prints that I bought over the years.

 

[Hoagie78]

No, its never been run anywhere since its original run on NBC. I got them from 16mm film prints that I bought over the years.

Did you have them transferred to a different format ? I assume Sony may have the original 35mm negatives in their archives since they have the rights to other Screen Gems shows.

 

[Hoagie78]

 

[lj01]

I've seen a few of the episodes, and it's not a shock that it didn't last. It was a cute fluffy show but little interesting or funny, about all it had going for it was the attractiveness of Renne Jarrett.

And I don't think the ratings were all that great, in the referenced TV Guide article above, I recall there was a part in there about Sidney Sheldon being perplexed at the low ratings and he noted that the show tested really well, that people felt a connection to "those two kids" and hoped that the show would catch on - I think the show had just gotten cancelled when the TV Guide cover/article came out in Nov 1970.

I also doubt that the Nixon admin had anything to do with taking it down, I'm sure the White House had other things to worry about (the 1970 midterms). Although it's also a reasonable inference (I think also noted in the TVG article) that the character may have been inspired by the charming, attractive first daughter Tricia.

 

[Hoagie78]

I've seen a few of the episodes, and it's not a shock that it didn't last. It was a cute fluffy show but little interesting or funny, about all it had going for it was the attractiveness of Renne Jarrett.

And I don't think the ratings were all that great, in the referenced TV Guide article above, I recall there was a part in there about Sidney Sheldon being perplexed at the low ratings and he noted that the show tested really well, that people felt a connection to "those two kids" and hoped that the show would catch on - I think the show had just gotten cancelled when the TV Guide cover/article came out in Nov 1970.

I also doubt that the Nixon admin had anything to do with taking it down, I'm sure the White House had other things to worry about (the 1970 midterms). Although it's also a reasonable inference (I think also noted in the TVG article) that the character may have been inspired by the charming, attractive first daughter Tricia.

I did find some articles online that the series was cancelled in January 1971. The Nixon angle was discussed at length on YouTube at one point by several posters. There was a book that was supposed to be released on short lived sitcoms and was going to detail the Nixon administration involvement in putting pressure on NBC to cancel Nancy. I don't know what happened with the books release.

It was fluff by 1970's standards, but shows like the Brady Bunch, Partridge Family etc...were still on the air and it fit into that type of mold.

It would be interesting if someone were to interview Jarrett and Fink to get their take on it. Jarrett is 78 years old now and Fink is 83.

 

[lj01]

This prompted me to do a bit of research, trying to go back and find some articles I had read previously.

From the 1970 newspaper archives, I ran across an article from August of 1970 - interestingly, it quoted Sheldon as saying that the idea had come up several years earlier but the Johnson administration gave the project thumbs down and it had to be shelved. Later on, once the oval office occupant changed, the pilot was shown to the Nixon family who okayed it. Sheldon also noted that he patterned the character off presidential son Tad Lincoln, but as a female (that's what the article said, I'm not making it up...) So it wasn't Julie or Tricia. Or Luci or Lynda.

Another article from Sept 1970 noted that Renne Jarrett did have a physical resemblance to Julie. Cancellation-wise, a Nov 1970 article indicates that indeed the ratings weren't terrible but given NBC's powerhouse Thursday lineup in 1970 of Flip Wilson, Ironside preceding Nancy and Dean Martin show after - the ratings weren't cutting it and thus the ax, allegedly the main problem was it was dragging down the audience as a lead-in to the Martin show.

 

[Hoagie78]

This prompted me to do a bit of research, trying to go back and find some articles I had read previously.

From the 1970 newspaper archives, I ran across an article from August of 1970 - interestingly, it quoted Sheldon as saying that the idea had come up several years earlier but the Johnson administration gave the project thumbs down and it had to be shelved. Later on, once the oval office occupant changed, the pilot was shown to the Nixon family who okayed it. Sheldon also noted that he patterned the character off presidential son Tad Lincoln, but as a female (that's what the article said, I'm not making it up...) So it wasn't Julie or Tricia. Or Luci or Lynda.

Another article from Sept 1970 noted that Renne Jarrett did have a physical resemblance to Julie. Cancellation-wise, a Nov 1970 article indicates that indeed the ratings weren't terrible but given NBC's powerhouse Thursday lineup in 1970 of Flip Wilson, Ironside preceding Nancy and Dean Martin show after - the ratings weren't cutting it and thus the ax, allegedly the main problem was it was dragging down the audience as a lead-in to the Martin show.

Thanks for the research and info. Maybe the story has gotten mixed up over the years and everyone assumes Nixon gave it the thumbs down and had it cancelled. It's also interesting that the Nixon family was shown the pilot for approval.

Unfortunately Nancy will never see the light of day again since there is no interest in releasing short lived series. At least archives could make and effort to make them available on a streaming service.

 

[Hoagie78]

 

[Hoagie78]

When I look at the photo I posted above of Nancy & Adam sitting in front of the fireplace, I imagine a Carpenters record playing softly in the background on a console stereo.....LOL

 

[Hoagie78]

 

[Neil Brock]

Unfortunately Nancy will never see the light of day again since there is no interest in releasing short lived series. At least archives could make and effort to make them available on a streaming service.

That's not what archives do. If the day ever comes, which I doubt it will, where the studios decide to do transfers of the entire television libraries, then shows like this may be seen again. But studios just look at the bottom line. How much will it cost and will it turn a profit. There just isn't enough of a market for short run series from decades ago, outside of a bunch of us on this forum. Look at how long it took to get Ozzie and Harriet available and that's the longest running sitcom in history.

 

[Hoagie78]

That's not what archives do. If the day ever comes, which I doubt it will, where the studios decide to do transfers of the entire television libraries, then shows like this may be seen again. But studios just look at the bottom line. How much will it cost and will it turn a profit. There just isn't enough of a market for short run series from decades ago, outside of a bunch of us on this forum. Look at how long it took to get Ozzie and Harriet available and that's the longest running sitcom in history.

It looks like there would an interest from studios to create a streaming platform where short lived series go to be saved and viewed for historical purposes. I know UCLA, Library Of Congress, Paley Center etc...have tons of stuff archived that is not able to be viewed due to lack of funding to transfer/restore, equipment etc... If they do have something that can be viewed, a lot of people that live far from those sources would have to make a special trip to see it.

The guy who owns Obsolete Video Services on YouTube is trying to save as much stuff as possible from various media formats. Maybe he will come across episodes of Nancy at some point.

 

[Jack P]

The only thing I knew John Fink for was that he was in the pilot movie for "Battlestar Galactica" with an upfront credit billing. And in the end, he had only 15 seconds of screen time as a doctor because all of his other scenes were cut from the film since they involved a discarded subplot about Jane Seymour's character dying from radiation sickness. So brief was his contribution that the souvenir program for the theatrical release of the pilot erroneously used a picture of John Dullaghan (who played the scientist Dr. Wilker) instead of his!