The Joey Bishop Show (1 Viewer)

[Jeff#]

About a month ago I was in a Fry's Electronics store, and saw The Joey Bishop Show -- Season 2 on DVD and the set was going for a very reasonable $20. That coicidentally was the first year that sitcom was in color (1962-1963), and more importantly resulted in a major format change / improvenment to Joey Barnes' celebrity agent days of the mostly unseen first season (1961-62) into making him a celebrity himself: as host and performer of a fictional major network New York-based talk show host and the addition of pretty Abby Dalton as Joey's newlywed wife from Texas, Ellie. She would stay for the show for the last 3 years. That it switched back to black & white for the 1964-65 season after it moved to CBS is proof of a network that at the time was trying to save money. (The same happened in the last decade when CBS had to make budget cutbacks to their news division).

The 2nd through 4th seasons worked well with so many big name guest stars (often playing themselves) as guests on Joey's TV show. What I don't understand is why the first year was never syndicated...or was it? Was Joey himself ashamed of it? The only brief glimpse I got to see of that was some 20 years ago in some TV special on old shows. I refuse to buy the 2nd season until the 1st is released at some point. Besides Bishop it was also a showcase for Joe Flynn before McCale's Navy and Marlo Thomas in her first TV series (thanks to father Danny's influence).

Abby Dalton was first seen playing a nurse every week on Jackie Cooper's Hennessey military sitcom in the late 1950s / early 60s. When will that be put out on DVD?

For 2 years in the late 1960s, Bishop had a real variety show on ABC in late night that went up against The Tonight Show but didn't survive in the ratings. At least he had Regis Philbin as his co-host, but nobody could ever beat Johnny Carson.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

This has been discussed here before. There are all kinds of interesting rumors as to why Season 1 has been banished to oblivion.

My favorite is the one about Marlo Thomas. It goes that she hated the way she looked on the show -- it was before she got Daddy to buy her a nose job -- so she got Daddy (the show's executive producer, and the only reason she was cast in the first place) to see to it that the first season would never be seen again. For all we know, they had the negatives burned.

The main reason I tend to believe this version of events is that I once read, many years ago, that when Marlo was doing "That Girl" she had it in her contract that no one could wear the color yellow but herself -- not just on the show, but anywhere within a certain radius of her. And I've heard other stories about this woman. Phil Donahue has my sympathy, and I don't even like him.

 

[Charles H]

HENNESEY was a terrific show--a show created by Don McGuire that eschewed the normal sitcom values. It had an ensemble cast with Jackie Cooper, Abby Dalton, Roscoe Karns, Jimmy Komack, and Henry Kulky, good guest stars (Mickey Rooney, Robert Culp). There was a wonderful jazz score by Sonny Burke, frequent location work in San Diego, and if memory serves me right, it didn't have a ubiquitous laugh track. A great candidate for dvd!

 

[JeffWld]

Preliminary negotiations for this series are in process. Hopefully, some agreement will be reached.

 

[Randi]

yes, the first season episodes are probably never going to be on dvd but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. Awhile back someone auctioned a few 16mm prints of different Joey Bishop episodes that they got from their school(!). I had one tape of 2 complete eps but I gave it to a friend as a gift.


Miss Randi

 

[Jeff#]

That's a rather odd reason! Marlo Thomas was a very attractive woman back in the day. She didn't even start to show her age until around 1991, not long after she co-starred in a movie with Elaine May.

The earliest thing I had seen Marlo in was an episode of BONANZA made in 1964 in which she played a Chinese slave girl whom Joe Cartwright wins in a poker game! It must have been post-nose job surgery, but surely she couldn't have been that much worse off with a larger nose like her father. I refuse to believe that's the reason the 1st season of Joey Bishop's sitcom was not syndicated.

As for the Hennessey series, has that ever been rerun on TV Land or some other cable channel? I never had the opportunity to see it anywhere in my 37 years -- not even in local TV rerun syndication. I didn't know that they did location shooting in San Diego, because I've lived near there for 3 years.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Have you ever taken a good look at Danny Thomas' nose? Would you want that nose on your wife or daughter?

 

[Tom.W]

There's an episode of the Danny Thomas Show (Jean Hagen version, titled "A Nose by Any Other Name") in which Danny intends to have his nose reduced by plastic surgery because he's embarrassed by it. (I can see Marlo's point.) But I seem to recall seeing her in something before she it fixed. Possibly a guest role on her father's show?

Does anybody know if Questar plans to release additional seasons of Joey Bishop and Danny Thomas shows? The first releases were not perfect, but it's very difficult to find these shows anywhere these days. Especially Make Room for Daddy.

 

[george kaplan]

judge for yourself

 

[Bert Greene]

I enjoyed the "Joey Bishop Show" release quite a bit, despite Questar's weird and annoying practice of separating the opening credits from the body of the shows. The episodes themselves were actually uncut. Can't say the same for the "Make Room for Daddy" set, though. The cuts in those were brutal, and thoroughly dimmed my enthusiasm for a show I've always liked.

Abby Dalton was a peach in "Joey Bishop," and makes me all the more interested "Hennesey." I've never seen an episode of the latter, but everyone who remembers it seems to remember it fondly. Sounds most interesting, with its comedy-drama slant, its high-calibre guest-stars, and some on-location shooting. It's always sounded like a potential 'forgotten gem.'

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Re: Marlo Thomas' nose, before and after.

I think she looked better before. It just goes to show you.

I also think Michael Jackson looked better before HIS nose job!

 

[Jeff#]

I can't tell the difference regarding her nose. Maybe that's because I always found the woman beautiful in her youth (and also middle age). Although I think Marlo looked even better when she did That Girl, but not because of any plastic surgery done to her face. It was just the sexier clothing and hairstyles of that era that benefitted her and so many other woman.

 

[Michael Alden]

Joey himself didn't like the first season format and since he is a part owner of the show, he also has a say. That's why when it ran on TV Land, only the last 3 seasons ran. I don't think he liked the fact that Joe Flynn, playing his brother-in-law was funnier and got the better jokes. Considering it took 30 years for the show to even rerun anywhere I think its amazing we even got one season on DVD.

 

[Tom.W]

I agree that Marlo looked good before and after the nose job. I can't see much difference either.

It's true that Questar's release of Make Room for Daddy looks like it could have dubbed from TVLand's chopped up version that ran prior to leaving the cable network. Although I didn't like separating the opening credits from episodes or the lack of elapsed time on the dvd, I could have tolerated those things with uncut episodes.

I hope Questar has not given up on either Joey or MRFD and will do a better job on subsequent seasons. My impression is that the market for these would be limited and probably targeted to mail order anyway.

 

[Brent S]

Released this week, "THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW The Complete Series" (1961 - 1965) on DVD. An MOD-DVD release from SFM Entertainment, the manufacturer is Allied Vaughn.

Individual season sets will also be available, but are still pending their respective listings at Amazon and the usual lineup of e-tailers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BFFYW52/

Oldies.com has the four individual season sets listed. With the exception of labeling, package art for all four seasons + complete is the same.

 

[Neil Brock]

Good find! Ordering it now! Now if we can only get SFM to put out the complete Danny Thomas Show!

 

[MartinP.]

I'd been watching some episodes on Antenna-TV last year and was surprised at how much I was enjoying most of them. I'd like to get this...but currently at $110 it's a pretty steep price. Especially without reviews knowing if they're uncut etc.

One day when I'd seen an episode of Season 1 last year I was confused, because it was in color and I'd thought Season 1 was all in b&w. I looked it up online and noticed on IMDB someone had written that "a handful of b&w episodes had been colorized." This seemed strange to me, that "a handful" of b&w episodes had been colorized. But I never found an explanation as to why that is.

The Joey Bishop Show has quite a few anomalies:

--In Season 1, Joey plays an agent and lives with his mother, sister and brother.
--Season 1 was filmed in b&w.
--Takes place in Los Angeles.
--It was not filmed in front of a studio audience.

--Season 2 began filming in front of a studio audience.
--Season 2 was filmed in color.
--Season 2 had a format change with Joey as host of a TV show.
--The show takes place in New York CIty.
--The relatives from Season 1 were jettisoned and a new supporting cast assembled including Abby Dalton, Joe Besser and Corbett Monica.
--Joey has a wife and subsequently a child.

--In Season 3 the series has a guest star, playing themselves, in almost every episode. These include Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Bobby Rydell, Zsa Zsa Gabor, The Andrews Sisters, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, Andy Williams and some of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
--One Season 3 episode is considered lost and may have been destroyed. It concerned an impressionist whose specialty was the current President. (That would make a nice EXTRA on the dvd collection. LOL!)
--Other guest stars appeared as characters throughout the series, including people like Jack Albertson, Jackie Coogan, Dawn Wells and Barbara Stanwyck.

--Season 4 was filmed in b&w.
--NBC aired season 1 - 3 and was going to drop the show after season 3. CBS said they would pick up the series for Season 4 if they would go back to filming it in b&w. A cost cutting measure to be sure. They agreed.
--In fact, the first episode of Season 4 deals with this situation and is titled, "Joey Goes to CBS."
--Rusty Hamer plays his character from "Make Room for Daddy" in several episodes.
--One episode's plot concerns Joey's maid having a Neilsen ratings box.

--And, as I mentioned, I read what was noted as "a handful" of b&w episodes have been colorized, but I don't know which ones.

I wonder if The Joey Bishop Show is the only series to have been in b&w, changed to filming in color, and then changed again to b&w?

Just some "FYI" I learned while looking up the show last year that I thought might be of some interest.

 

[Dan McW]

I wonder if The Joey Bishop Show is the only series to have been in b&w, changed to filming in color, and then changed again to b&w?

Wagon Train went from black and white and 60-minute lengths for seasons 1-6 to color and 90 minutes for season 7, then back to b&w and 60 minutes for its final season.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

At 2:31 PM Pacific Daylight Time, the Amazon page now states:

Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

As somebody on this forum once asked, how can an MOD or BOD not be in stock?

 

[BobO'Link]

I'll wait for quality reports because:

1. It's a MOD - I don't like that format, especially at those prices. (I generally look at it as an excuse to gouge)
2. It's from SFM Entertainment who, IIRC, doesn't have that good of a track record.
3. Before the release went "unavailable" it also had Classic Media attached. Another whose record is less than stellar.