The 60th Anniversary of My Favorite Martian

It was sixty years ago, on September 29 1963, that My Favorite Martian debuted on CBS. In many ways, it was a pioneering show. It was the success of My Favorite Martian that would lead to such shows as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. It would also prove popular. While on the air, My Favorite Martin produced merchandise from comic books to a board game. After it had gone off the air, it would have a successful syndication run, and it would result in a Saturday morning cartoon and even a feature film.

My Favorite Martian centred on a 450-year-old anthropologist from Mars, later revealed to be named Exigius 12 1/2 (Ray Walston), who crashes lands on Earth. He is found by Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), a reporter for The Los Angeles Sun. With the Martian stranded on Earth due to damage to his spaceship, Tim takes him in and tells others that he is his Uncle Martin. Tim agrees to keep Martin's identity secret and not to reveal that he is from Mars. By the same token, Martin decides not to exhibit his special abilities around Earthlings. As to Martin's abilities, they are numerous. He has retractable antennae in the back of his head.  He has telekinesis and can lift and move objects by moving his index finger. He can read minds. He can become invisible. He can also speed himself or others up, and even freeze people and objects in place. On top of all this, he is an inventor who can develop advanced technology. Tim and Martin live in a garage apartment they rent from Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton).

According to an article from the Newspaper Enterprise Association in October 1963, My Favorite Martian was created by John L. Greene, who had earlier written for shows such as My Friend Irma and Our Miss Brooks. John L. Greene had created Uncle Martin in a script that he had sent to a major talent agency. It was three years after he had sent the script to the agency that Jack Chertok, who had produced Private Secretary and The Lone Ranger, among other shows, found John L. Greene's script at the bottom of a stack of scripts at the agency. Jack Chertok informed the agency that he liked the script. One of the people at the agency told Mr. Chertok, "It's the worst idea around here. It has been read by everyone and always winds up at the bottom of the stack." Jack Chertok told him, "That's why I want it."

From the beginning Ray Walston and Bill Bixby were wanted for the roles of Uncle Martin and Tim O'Hara respectively. Ray Walston had appeared in the London production of the musical South Pacific and in the 1958 film version as well, and he played the Devil in both the Broadway musical Damn Yankees and the 1958 film version of that musical. He also appeared in the movie The Apartment (1960). Bill Bixby has made guest appearances on such shows as Dobie Gillis, Make Room for Daddy, and The Andy Griffith Show. The role of landlady Lorelei Brown was conceived as being an older lady, but actress Pamela Britton was able to persuade Jack Chertok that she should be younger. Pamela Britton had appeared in the classic film noir D.O.A. (1950) and had played Blondie in the 1957 sitcom Blondie, based on the popular comic strip of the same name. The first season of My Favorite Martian featured J. Pat O'Malley as Tim's boss at The Los Angeles Sun, Mr. Burns. In the second and third seasons, Alan Hewitt played Detective Bill Brennan, who was very suspicious of Uncle Martin. Roy Engel appeared in six episodes of the third season as a police captain.

The pilot for My Favorite Martian differed from the regular series. It was filmed in 1962 and it was on the basis of that pilot that CBS bought the show in January 1963. The original pilot featured Ina Victor as Mrs. Brown's twenty-year-old niece Annabelle. She would not appear in the regular series.  Mrs. Brown's fifteen-year-old daughter Angela, played by Ann Marshall, only appeared in three episodes of My Favorite Martian (including the pilot), all during the first season.

For seven episodes of the first season of My Favorite Martian, Sherwood Schwartz, later of Gilligan's Island fame, served as the show's script consultant. CBS had been having trouble with new episodes beyond the pilot. According to Mr. Schwartz, after looking at unfinished episodes, he determined that the problem was that instead of focusing on Uncle Martin as a fish out of water, the episodes were focusing more on Tim O'Hara. Sherwood Schwartz then threw out many of the scripts and kept five or six scripts that could be salvaged through rewriting.  In his own words, Mr. Schwartz felt that he simply put the show back on the track set by the pilot.

For the most part, My Favorite Martian was well-received by critics, if not overwhelmingly so. Associated Press television and radio writer Cynthia Lowry gave My Favorite Martian a largely positive review, noting "The big problem, of course, will be achieving audience acceptance--adult acceptance, that is, because children are accustomed to taking out-of-this-world creatures in stride." Columnist Bob Foster wrote, "My Favorite Martian probably will cause quite a sensation, although personally I don't warm up to this type of thing." Columnist Erskine Johnson noted, "My Favorite Martian, at least, has imagination and is a departure from most of television's domestic comedies, all of which boil down to My Favorite Husband (or Wife)."

My Favorite Martian proved to be a hit in its first season, coming in at no. 10 in the Nielsen ratings for the year. In its second season, My Favorite Martian dropped in the ratings, although it came in at a still respectable no. 24 for the year. The third season would see major changes for the show. It shifted from being shot in black-and-white to being shot in colour. While during its first two seasons, My Favorite Martian was shot at Desilu, for its third season it was shot at MGM's studios in Culver City. It was during the summer of 1965 that Lucille Ball, the head of Desilu, decided that the studio needed the soundstages then being rented to Jack Chertok for a new show they were producing called Star Trek. Of course, this meant that the show now had access to MGM's large backlot.

The success of My Favorite Martian would result in merchandise associated with the show. Gold Key published nine issues of a My Favorite Martian comic book from 1964 to 1966. Transogram put out a My Favorite Martian board game. There was also a beanie with antennae, a magic set put out by Gilbert, a colouring book published by Golden Press, and various other items.

Unfortunately, it was during the third season that My Favorite Martian also had something of a crisis. Ray Walston was unhappy with the quality of many of the scripts and decided as a result that he wanted to appear less on the show. It was because of this that Uncle Martin's eleven-year-old nephew Andromeda was introduced on the show, played by Wayne Stam. As it turned out, Andromeda only appeared in one episode, and CBS did not particularly care for the idea. He only appeared in the 24th episode of the third season, "When You Get Back to Mars, Are You Going to Get It," and did not appear in the remainder of the season.

As it turns out, My Favorite Martian dropped in the Nielsen ratings during its third season, so it no longer ranked in the top thirty of the year. CBS cancelled My Favorite Martian, perhaps due to the show's ratings and the fact that Ray Walston wanted to reduce his participation on the show. My Favorite Martian.

While My Favorite Martian had ended its network run, it was neither gone nor forgotten. The show went into syndication as a rerun, where it proved to be popular. The continued popularity of the show resulted in a revival of sorts as a Saturday morning cartoon titled My Favorite Martians. The show was produced by Filmation, in conjunction with Jack Chertok Productions. Neither Ray Walston nor Bill Bixby returned to voice their characters from My Favorite Martian. Instead, Jonathan Harris (best known as Dr. Smith on Lost in Space) voiced Uncle Martin, while Howard Morris (of Your Show of Shows and The Andy Griffith Show fame) voiced Tim O'Hara. Lane Scheimer voiced Martin's nephew Andromeda. Lorelei Brown was voiced by Jane Webb, who also voiced the new character of Tim's niece Katy. Howard Morris also voiced multiple characters, including Detective Bill Brennan and the new characters of a Martian dog called Okey, a chimp named Chump, and Detective Brennan's son named Brad. Despite the additional characters, My Favorite Martians did use scripts meant for the unrealized fourth season of the original television show. My Favorite Martians debuted on CBS on September 8 1973. It spent only one season on Saturday morning and was rerun the following season on Sunday morning on CBS.

In 1995, Ray Walston appeared in a commercial for AT&T. It was implied that his character was Uncle Martin looking for affordable long-distance rates to call Mars.

In 1999 a feature film based on the TV show, also titled My Favorite Martian, was released. It starred Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin and Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara. Ray Walston appeared as a Martian who had been stranded on Earth for years. The film was not particularly well-received by critics. It also did not click with audiences and failed at the box office.

Regardless, My Favorite Martian continues to be popular. It has aired on AmericanLife TV, TV Land, COZI TV, and Antenna TV. The show has been released on both VHS and DVD. My Favorite Martian is available on multiple streaming services, including Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi, Vudu, Prime Video, Plex, Freevee, and others.

As mentioned earlier, Esrkine Johnson noted that My Favorite Martian was different from television's domestic comedies, which might well explain its success. There had only been a few fantasy sitcoms on the air before My Favorite Martian, and only two had seen any real success. Topper may well have been the first fantasy sitcom, debuting in 1953. It was followed in 1961 by Mister Ed, starring the famous talking horse. The success of My Favorite Martian would spark an entire cycle of fantasy sitcoms. The following season would see the debut of such shows as The Addams Family, Bewitched, The Munsters, and My Living Doll. The following seasons would see such sitcoms as I Dream of Jeannie, The Smothers Brothers Show, The Flying Nun, and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. It seems possible that none of these shows would have aired if My Favorite Martian had not been a hit. It seems likely My Favorite Martian was responsible for further sitcoms centred around aliens, including Mork & Mindy, ALF, Third Rock from the Sun, and the short-lived show The Neighbors. Sixty years after its debut, the influence of My Favorite Martian is still being felt.