BEST OF THE WEST Western comedy

I really enjoyed this sitcom for the short time it was on, it was quite amusing, but the series never took off. Best of the West aired on ABC for the 1981-1982 season. The network didn’t seem to know what to do with the show, their changed the hour and air date several times.

The show was a comic Western set after the Civil War. Sam Best, his new wife and young son go out west to start a new life after he gets out of the service. While fighting in the South he found time to marry a young Southern Belle. They met when he was burning down her family’s plantation.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Joel Higgins as Marshal Sam Best

Carlene Watkins as Elvira Best

Meeno Peluce as Daniel Best

Leonard Frey as parker Tillman

Tom Ewell as Doc Jerome Kullens

Valri Bromfield as Laney Gibbs

Tracey Walter as Frog

Macon McCalman as Mayor Fletcher



Sam Best, his wife Elvira and 10 year old Daniel leave Philadelphia to make a new life in the Western territories. Elvira is taken aback by the primitive conditions in the West, she keeps sweeping the floor and complaining that it is still dirty.

Elvira “I just can’t seem to get the dirt off this floor.”

Sam “It’s a dirt floor.

Daniel is sarcastic and rude about having to leave the big city. The best character on the show was Parker Tillman. He owns the Square Deal Saloon and has his hand in most of the local business. He is a complete villain and doesn’t do anything unless he can make a profit. When there was a flood, he would not give people shovels, they had to rent them for a high price. Tillman has a sidekick called Frog, who was dumb as a bag of rocks but generally good hearted.

Sam became the local marshall when he accidentally drove off the Calico Kid, an outlaw that had been terrorizing the town. Also in the town was Doc Kullens, the drunk local physician. The show was pretty entertaining. Sam was the straight man to the town eccentrics. Tillman was my favorite character but I also liked Frog and Laney Gibbs, who was an eccentric mountain woman who came to town and caused havoc.

Trivia

When this show was on it drove me crazy where I had seen Parker Tillman before and I finally figured it out. In the movie, Fiddler on the Roof, Leonard Frey played the poor tailor that was in love with the eldest daughter.

Meeno Peluce was also the star of a short-lived series called Voyagers! about time travel. I liked that show also, but it was quickly cancelled.

Flo starring Polly Holliday

This spinoff from the successful sitcom, Alice, only lasted one season. Florence Jean Castleberry was originally from Cowtown, Texas but had moved to Phoenix, Arizona years ago. The much married waitress worked at Mel’s diner with fellow waitresses Alice and Vera.

Flo was pretty much the most popular character on Alice, so she was given a spinoff after 4 seasons. The reason given for leaving Phoenix is that Flo was offered a job as restaurant hostess in Houston.

She passes through Cowtown on the way and ends up buying a run down old tavern and staying on. The show was actually funny and had good characters, but it was not a great success.

CAST

Polly Holliday as Flo

Geoffrey Lewis as Earl Tucker

Jim B. Baker as Farley Waters

Sudie Bond by Velma Castleberry

Lucy Lee Flippin as Fran Castleberry

Joyce Bulifant as Miriam Willoughby

Leo Burmester as Randy Stumphill

Stephen Keep as Les Kincaid



Velma was Flo’s feisty mama, Fran was Flo’s uptight sister, who had been engaged for years with no wedding in sight. Miriam was an old friend of Flo’s who helps Flo with the paperwork. Farley Waters is the cheap man who sold her the roadhouse, Flo still owes him money on the mortgage. Randy works at the local gas station and helps Flo with repairs, he had a crush on Flo.

Flo’s two other employees are Les Kincaid, he plays piano at Flo’s roadhouse, named Flo’s Yellow Rose. Earl Tucker is the bartender at the tavern, he has some problems working for a woman. Earl and Flo spend quite a lot of time fighting and flirting.

The show was divided between Flo’s home life, her trailer is parked in her mother’s backyard and Flo’s Yellow Rose, where she is trying to get the business off the ground.

I enjoyed the show when it originally aired, but it never really caught on. Sometimes spinning off a popular character to their own series just doesn't work and this is one example.

1960's Doris Day Show

This show was a standard 60's sitcom, but it was notable for several changes in format. Doris Day was always the star but everything changed around her.

SEASON ONE

Doris and her 2 sons move back to her father's farm after she is widowed in a domestic sitcom

SEASON ONE CAST
Doris Day as Doris Martin

Denver Pyle as Buck Webb (father of Doris)

James Hampton as Leroy Simpson (farm handyman)

Fran Ryan as Aggie (family housekeeper)

Naomi Stevens as Juanita (Aggie's replacement)

Tod Starke as Toby Martin (son of Doris)

Philip Brown as Billy Martin (son of Doris)

SEASON TWO

Doris and her kids still live with father at the farm, but now Doris gets a job as a secretary in San Francisco. This is a a combination domestic and workplace sitcom. Doris worked at today's world magazine.

SEASON TWO CAST CHANGES

Mclean Stevenson as Michael Nicholson ( magazine editor and boss to Doris)

Rose Marie as Myrna Gibbons (work colleague and friend to Doris)

SEASON THREE

Doris and her kids move into San Francisco and just visit the farm. moving away from being a domestic sitcom to being just a workplace sitcom. Doris still works at the magazine.

SEASON THREE CAST CHANGES

Kaye Ballard as Angie Palluci ( landlord to Doris, they live above her Pizza Parlor)

Bernal Kopell as Louis Palluci (also owns Pizza Parlor)

Billy DeWolfe as Mr. Jarvis (neighbor and nemesis to Doris)

Buck and Leroy appear in a few episodes

SEASONS FOUR AND FIVE

Doris is a single woman , living in San Francisco and working for the magazine. I don't know that many shows just drop the kids. Family Matters back in the nineties quietly dropped the youngest child and the Torkelsons lost one of the kids along the way also. But Doris got rid of all the kids. (there was one mention of them moving to farm) the only other show that comes to mind is the Lucy show, she has a son and daughter but when she moved to California, they disappeared.



SEASON FOUR CAST CHANGES

John Dehner as Sy ( Doris is now a reporter and he is her editor)

Jackie Joseph as Jackie Parker (friend to Doris)

Mr. Jarvis is now her landlord. The Palluci’s are gone as are the kids, Buck and Leroy.

NO CAST CHANGES FOR SEASON FIVE

1960's sitcom Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir continues in the tradition of supernatural and sci-fi situation comedies, such as My Favorite Martian, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. However this isn’t an original story, but an adaptation from earlier sources.

Carolyn Muir leases an old New England house and moves into it with her two children,Candace(Candy) and Jonathan, along with their housekeeper, Martha. Their landlord is Claymore Gregg, who inherited the house. The original owner was Captain Daniel Gregg. Unfortunately even though the captain is dead he still resides there, in the form or a cranky ghost. He tries to scare them out but Carolyn resists. She is a widow and a writer and she has moved her family there for a fresh start. Captain Gregg quickly grows to like her and allows her to stay, but he often complains about other people. He especially dislikes his descendant, Claymore.

This comedy is an adaptation of the book by RA Dick and the popular movie, that starred Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. That move was set around the turn of the century, the sitcom updates it to the 1960's. The captain can appear and disappear at will, appear to whoever he wants, throw objects and make storms. At first, he only talks to Carolyn's son, Jonathan, but quickly starts interacting with Carolyn, who he seems to like quite a bit.

The series was on NBC for the 1968-69 TV season and then on ABC for it's second and last season. Unfortunately the series is not yet available on DVD.

CAST

HOPE LANGE as CAROLYN MUIR

EDWARD MULHARE as CAPTAIN DANIEL GREGG

CHARLES NELSON REILLY as CLAYMORE GREGG

RETA SHAW as MARTHA

HARLEN CARRAHER as JONATHAN MUIR




OPENING CREDITS

1950's sitcom Dobie Gillis

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis aired from 1959 to 1963 on CBS. The show starred Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver and was about the adventures of a girl-crazy American teenage boy.

Max Shulman was a successful writer when he created Dobie Gillis, who was the star of a series of short stories. These stories were published in an anthology called The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. In 1953, the stories were turned into a film called The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. Then in 1959 the TV series came along. Shulman was somewhat involved with the series, writing the theme song.

CAST

Dwayne Hickman as Dobie Gillis

Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs

Sheila James as Zelda Gilroy

Frank Faylen as Herbert T. Gillis

Florida Friebus as Winnie Gillis

Tuesday Weld as Thalia Menninger

Warren Beatty as Milton Armitage

Steve Franken as Chatsworth Osborne , Jr

Doris Packer as Mrs. Chatsworth Osborne, Sr



Maynard was Dobie’s beatnik best friend, his voice rose 2 octaves when he said the word “work?” Thalia was a beautiful girl, she was really out of Dobie’s league. She was very greedy and Dobie was always broke. Milton Armitage was more her speed, rich and handsome. Both characters only lasted for a year. In 1960, Chatsworth was Dobie’s rival for girls. He was rich and rather less handsome than Warren Beatty. His mother called him a “nasty boy.”

Dobie was always chasing one girl or another, but one girl was always chasing him. Zelda was realistic about Dobie’s shortcomings, but she wanted him anyway. She tolerated his chasing other girls, Zelda knew she would get him in the end. She liked to crinkle her nose at Dobie and invariably he crinkled his nose right back.

Dobie regularly talked to the audience, often while he was next to a statue of Rodin’s Thinker in the local park. Dobie lived with his parents above the family grocery store. His mother was sweet, his father less so; he regularly said “one of these days, I’m gonna kill that boy.”

When the series started Dobie was in High School, but during the course of the story, he and Maynard enlisted in the Army and then Dobie started at the local junior college. Dobie continued to chase girls, Maynard continued to be a slacker and avoid work whenever he could.

There was a reunion movie that established that Dobie was now a partner in the family grocery store and was married to Zelda. Maynard was still a slacker. The movie aired in the 1980’s. There was a pilot made for a new series in 1977. But “Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis?” didn’t last, only a pilot was aired. Dobie as a responsible adult was much less interesting than as a goofy teenager.

Promo for the Quest.

In the fall of 1982, this short-lived series debuted. I remember the series fondly, partially for the great theme song, but also for the story. The small European country, Glendora, was going through a crisis. Their aging King, King Charles, had no heirs. The he didn't find a proper successor, then neighboring France would absorb the country. So King Charles had his advisor , Sir Edward, study the family history.


He discovered 4 possible heirs, all Americans.
The Americans would have to compete for the honor by competing in an ancient test of skill and worthiness to rule. The 4 Americans agree to compete and the Quest is on. Each week was a different test for the 4 American contenders. Trying to stop the contest is Count Louis Dardinay, who stands to gain financially if the principality does become part of France.

Unfortunately there series only lasted a month so we never did find out who won the crown. but I do remember the show. It seemed to me that if it would continue, that Dan Underwood would win and Carrie Welby would become his queen, they had a flirtatious relationship.

Dan Underwood was played by Perry King, who went on to the successful series, Riptide, a year after this series ended. Underwood was a successful sports photographer and quite a ladies man.

Art Henley was played by Noah Berry, his last series had been the successful Rockford Files. Henley was a retired cop from Kansas.

Cody Johnson was played by Ray Vitte, who died shortly after this series aired. Johnson was a con- man who was a nice guy deep down.

Karen Austin played Carrie Welby, who had a long successful career in movies and television. Welby was a New York City department store buyer.

Sir Edward, who sent the contenders on their quest every week was played by John Rhys-Davies, who has had a long successful career, especially in Lord of the Rings movie series and the Sliders tv series.

top TV series by year 1950 -1955

1950-1951

1 TEXACO STAR THEATER
2 FIRESIDE THEATER
3 PHILCO TV PLAYHOUSE
4 YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS
5 THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR
6 GILLETTE CAVALCADE OF SPORTS
7 THE LONE RANGER
8 ARTHUR GODFREY’S TALENT SCOUTS
9 HOPALONG CASSIDY
10 MAMA

1951-1952

1 ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALEN SCOUTS
2 TEXACO STAR THEATER
3 I LOVE LUCY
4 THE RED SKELTON SHOW
5 THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR
6 ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRIENDS
7 FIRESIDE THEATRE
8 YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS
9 THE JACK BENNY SHOW
10 YOU BET YOUR LIFE

1952-1953

1 I LOVE LUCY
2 ARTHUR GODFREY’S TALENT SCOUTS
3 ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRIENDS
4 DRAGNET
5 TEXACO STAR THEATER
6 THE BUICK CIRCUS HOUR
7 THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR
8 GANGBUSTERS
9 YOU BET YOUR LIFE
10 FIRESIDE THEATRE

1953-1954

1 I LOVE LUCY
2 DRAGNET
3 ARTHUR GODFREY’S TALEN SCOUTS
4 YOU BET YOUR LIFE
5 ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRENDS
7 FORD THEATRE
8 THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW
9 FIRESIDE THEATER
10 THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR

1954-1955

1 I LOVE LUCY
2 THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW
3 DRAGNET
4 YOU BET YOUR LIFE
5 THE TOAST OF THE TOWN
6 DISNEYLAND
7 THE JACK BENNY SHOW
8 THE GEORGE GOBEL SHOW
9 FORD THEATRE
10 DECEMBER BRIDE