The Short-Lived 1970 Sitcom Barefoot in the Park

The Odd Couple, starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, remains the best known sitcom based on a Neil Simon play. What has been forgotten is that when The Odd Couple debuted, there was another sitcom based on a Neil Simon play. Barefoot in the Park was based on Neil Simon's 1963 play of the same name, upon which the 1967 feature film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda was also based. What made the sitcom Barefoot in the Park different from many adaptation of Neil Simon's works is that the cast was predominantly Black.

The sitcom Barefoot in the Park was developed for television by Bill Idelson and Harvey Miller. Bill Idelson may be best remembered for playing Sally's boyfriend Herman Glimscher on The Dick Van Dyke Show. From acting he had moved into writing, writing episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show; The Andy Griffith Show; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.; and several other shows. Harvey Miller had written for such shows as Studio One, Accidental Family, The Mothers-In-Law, and That Girl.

Barefoot in the Park starred Scoey Mitchell as Paul Bratter, a lawyer for the firm Kendricks, Keene & Klein. He had only recently married his wife Corie (played by Tracy Reed). Corie's mother, Mabel, who was always meddling in their marriage, was played by Thelma Carpenter. Nipsey Russell played the local pool hall owner, Honey, and an admirer of Corie's mother. Scoey Mitchell had guest starred on Get Smart and was part of the recurring cast on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He guest starred on The Mothers-In-Law, Here Come the Brides, The Carol Burnett Show, and That Girl. Tracy Reed had appeared in the unsold 1967 pilot Me and Benjy and guest starred on The Brady Bunch. Thelma Carpenter was a successful jazz singer who had appeared on variety shows in the Fifties and Sixties. Nipsey Russell was perhaps best known at the time as Officer Dave Anderson on the classic sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? and appearances on many variety shows during the era.

Barefoot in the Park debuted on ABC on September 24 1970, with The Odd Couple debuting immediately afterwards. Both of the new sitcoms were scheduled following Bewitched, so it may be safe to assume that ABC was hoping the audience for Bewitched would stick around for the two new shows. Unfortunately, Bewitched fell in the ratings that season, so that the 1970-1971 season was the first one in which the show, at one time a top ten program, did not rank in the top thirty shows for the year. The weak performance of Bewitched perhaps had some effect on the ratings of both Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple, as neither show did particularly well in the ratings.

Of course, part of the problem with the ratings for Barefoot in the Park might have been that audiences never became enamoured of the show. While there were no bad reviews, reviews of the show were lukewarm at best. Columnist Ernie Kreiling wrote of Barefoot in the Park in his column from around November 22 1970, "It's not always funny; It's not always unfunny. It's just there to be watched or ignored as one wishes, always in the knowledge that if your attention wanders you're not really missing much." After the show had been cancelled, in her March 6 1971 column, Hazel Garland wrote, "Unfortunately, the show just wasn't as good as the pilot had indicated. Few episodes were really funny."

Even if the ratings had been better, it is possible Barefoot in the Park would not have lasted long. There is a reason The Odd Couple  survived, but it didn't. Lead actor Scoey Mitchell came into conflict with ABC executive vice president in charge of programming Douglas S. Cramer. According to Scoey Mitchell, he was "forced to do the Uncle Tom bit." According to Earl Wilson's column from October 23 1970, Scoey Mitchell not only punched a network vice president, knocking out one of his teeth (although unnamed, one has to assume it was Douglas S. Cramer), but even punched co-star Thelma Carpenter. Ultimately, ABC cancelled Barefoot in the Park after only twelve episodes, perhaps in part so they would not have to replace Scoey Mitchell. Fortunately for Scoey Mitchell, Barefoot in the Park would not end his career. He went on to make many guest appearances on television and even had a recurring role on Rhoda.

Today it is difficult to evaluate Barefoot in the Park today as it is not widely available. Running only one season, it is not available in syndication nor on any streaming services. It has never been released on VHS or DVD. In his book Primetime Blues: African Americans on Television, esteemed film and television historian Donald Bogle wrote of the sitcom, "...the creators had no idea what the real Black bourgeosie was like and relied (with its older characters) instead on trite, hand-me-down depictions from the past." He further wrote of the show, "Ultimately, Barefoot in the Park seemed a standard, generic, white middle-class comedy that was hopelessly out of sync with contemporary outlooks and interests."

Regardless, Barefoot in the Park was historic in that it was the first sitcom since Amos 'n' Andy to have an all Black cast. Both Julia and The Bill Cosby Show, which had debuted in the years leading up to 1970, had both Black and white characters in their casts. In that respect, it paved the way for other shows with predominantly Black casts, including Sanford and Son and Good Times.