Rarest sitcoms of the 60s (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

Ok Crackerby

I've had the whole run on that for 20+ years, although from black and white prints. Pretty sure that those circulate.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Our Man Higgins was produced by Screen Gems, so its owned by Sony.

 

[moviepas]

Some of those shows aired and aired in Australia back when they were new like My Sister Eileen and Guestward Ho, also Many Happy Returns. The original Blondie features and the TV series also aired. I had or may still have an episode of My Sister Eileen and am hoping that a Blu of the 194os feature(3 Stooges guest) and the Musical version in w/s color fronts from Columbia or friends on Blu and includes an episode, at least of the series. The episode I have, if I recall right, is when they come to NYC and a subterranean flat. Maybe. Long ago now. Eileen Stritch later married a British guy and moved there and did a comedy TV series for British TV which I have on DVD.

 

[Lecagr]

I would like to see many of these unsuccessful, short lived, long unseen sitcoms from the 1960's. Some of these shows aren't very good which is why they didn't last long but even the weak ones still retain some nostalgia value. But the big question is if elements still exist and are in good shape so they can be seen again or brought to DVD. My fear is that many episodes of series like these might be lost due to public indifference and the ravages of time. I'm concerned that there is probably little interest in preserving and maintaining unsuccessful, short lived TV sitcoms from decades ago.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

I remember 90 Bristol Court which had three shows and ran for 90 minutes and a spin off of People's Choice called Happy featuring a talking baby. Not sure how rare Adventures in Paradise really is but I'd KILL for a half decent release (at the Michener heirs' pleasure, of course).

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Who's up for The Cara Williams Show (1964-65)?

~Ben

 

[Lecagr]

I was surprised when GetTV ran the episodes of Peter Loves Mary, 1960-61 sitcom. I recorded the episodes and put them on DVD's, although GetTV did skip four episodes. Luckily I was able to obtain the four missing shows from another source.

 

[ScottRE]

Has Camp Runamuck aired anywhere since original broadcast?

 

[Neil Brock]

Has Camp Runamuck aired anywhere since original broadcast?

Ran on HA! and subsequently Comedy Central after HA and Comedy Channel merged.

 

[MartinP.]

Not a sitcom, but one of the notorious misfires in history was Turn-On, lasting one airing. How many were made?
The wiki page says only 2 were, but a poster on a youtube clip says he worked on 4 of them.

 

[Neil Brock]

Not a sitcom, but one of the notorious misfires in history was Turn-On, lasting one airing. How many were made?
The wiki page says only 2 were, but a poster on a youtube clip says he worked on 4 of them.

He may have worked on 4 of them but its believed that only 2 were edited and finished.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^
Not a lot of lead time!

I had gotten a tape recorder for Christmas a few weeks before and I actually audio recorded that first Turn-On episode.
Though I never recorded over it or threw it out, I'm not sure what happened to those things, either.

 

[Lecagr]

You Tube is a good source to see clips or sometimes full episodes of rare, short lived 1960's sitcoms.

I found on You Tube a full episode of The Tammy Grimes Show, that was interesting to see. I think the main problem with this show was Tammy Grimes' voice, she had a weird sounding voice and it's sometimes difficult to understand what she's saying. It's good she didn't get the lead role in Bewitched otherwise that show might have been cancelled after four episodes also.

I also found two full episodes of Karen, sitcom with Debbie Watson, also found a four minute clip of Tammy, Debbie Watson's other sitcom. Also found some clips from Occasional Wife, and found a two minute interview clip with Dick Clark on American Bandstand interviewing Tim Conway, Guy Marks, and Norman Alden, stars of Rango. All of these were interesting to see. There used to be a full episode of Rango on You Tube but I don't think it's on there anymore.

I wonder what the episode status is of these short lived sitcoms from the 1960's. I would like to see DVD releases of many of these shows but I imagine it's unlikely to happen. I bought the complete series of Hank from Warner Archive, it was cool for Warner's to release that. There was talk for awhile about Please Don't Eat The Daisies possibly coming to DVD, but I don't hear anything about it anymore so maybe it's not getting released? If so, that's unfortunate.

 

[Neil Brock]

Tammy came out on DVD in Germany a number of years ago. Occasional Wife ran on HA and subsequently on Comedy Central. I know that Stanley Moger had tracked down the masters on Rango and was planning to do something with it when he unfortunately passed away recently.

I agree on Tammy Grimes. Such an annoying and affected speaking voice. Her show was cancelled after four episodes with 6 unaired. That was unheard of back in the 60s when series were cancelled and they would always run out the remaining filmed episodes before yanking the show off the air. That's how abysmal it was for this to happen.

 

[Lecagr]

Sad to learn about Stan Moger passing away but maybe something can still be done with the Rango episodes if they have been located. 17 episodes would fit on two DVD's but three discs would probably be better, less compression. In some ways, Rango was an imitation of F Troop.

Occasional Wife seemed like a sitcom a little ahead of it's time, and it didn't have a laugh track either which was unique for the time. I've always liked Michael Callan, he's a good actor but I think drama suits him better than comedy. Callan is quite convincing as a juvenile delinquent in the movie 13 West Street with Alan Ladd.

 

[Lecagr]

Who's up for The Cara Williams Show (1964-65)?

~Ben

Currently on You Tube there are two full episodes of The Cara Williams Show. One of the episodes has the original commercials and runs 29 minutes. Very cool to see.

 

[LouA]

I remember 90 Bristol Court which had three shows and ran for 90 minutes and a spin off of People's Choice called Happy featuring a talking baby. Not sure how rare Adventures in Paradise really is but I'd KILL for a half decent release (at the Michener heirs' pleasure, of course).

Four episodes of Happy with Ronne Burns and Yvonne Lime , are "out there" . A company called Nostalgia Merchant has a single DVD with all four episodes on it . I believe 26 were filmed over a 2 season run . Happy was a summer replacement during 1961 . It did well enough to be brought back during the January " second season". Your right it was sort of a People's Choice spin off in that it used a similar gimmick (talking basset hound/ talking baby, two attractive couples , exotic locations ) and George Burns was involved in both shows . I Like both shows and would love to see someone release them on DVD. Anyone knows who owns these shows now ? (BTW, Yvonne Lime had a recurring role on the Burns and Allen Show and Ronnie was George and Gracie's son.)

 

[LouA]

Neil, how about HOLIDAY LODGE with Canadian comedy team Wayne and Shuster . It was a summer replacement show airing in 1961 with 13 episode filmed . I don't recall it ever being rerun, but I think one escaped into the collector's market from 16mm.
Also , THE CHARLES FARRELL SHOW another summer replacement which aired during the summer of 1956. Two episodes from 16mm "floating around ." This show did run for years on WPIX in New York.
OH THOSE BELLS with the German comedy team the Weire Brothers . 1962 . 13 episodes filmed . One episode out there . Hasn't been on TV since original run.
Those are three rare ones .
A few years ago I would have also listed STANLEY with Buddy Hackett and Carol Burnett , but that entire series escaped onto DVD a few years back !

 

[LouA]

Meet Millie with Elena Verdugo . Virtually disappeared .
Great Gildersleeve - a few episodes in the 'collector's market ".

 

[Neil Brock]

Ok Crackerby

Had a complete run on that one for years, although black and white of color.