A Brief History of the Fantastic Comedies of the Sixties Part Two

While very little in the way of fantastic comedy aired on American television in the Fifties, the Sixties would see a boom in fantastic sitcoms that has not been matched to this day. These television shows blended situation comedy with fantasy or even science fiction, marking a sharp break from the situation comedies of the Fifties. Many of these shows are still seen in reruns to this day.

The first fantastic sitcom of the Sixties is not one that comes to many people's minds when they think of fantastic comedies, but its premise clearly places it in the genre. Mister Ed was based on short stories about a talking horse named Ed by writer Walter R. Brooks that were published in in Liberty and The Saturday Evening Post in the Thirties and Forties. Mister Ed centred on the horse of the title (played by Bamboo Harvester and voiced by Rocky Lane), who could talk, but would only do so to his owner Wilbur Post (played by Alan Young). This caused numerous problems, particularly as Ed was a bit of a spoiled brat with a mischievous streak. It was Mister Ed's misbehaviour, often due to his ability to talk (Ed had a phone in his stable, which caused several problems), that was the impetus behind many episodes.

Mister Ed debuted in syndication on January 5 1961, where it proved very successful, In nearly every market in which it aired, the show won its time slot. This drew the attention of CBS President James Aubrey, so that it was on June 22 1961 that CBS announced that Mister Ed was moving to the network effective in the fall of 1961. While Mister Ed never ranked in the top thirty, it did get respectable ratings and in the end the show ran six seasons in all. Afterwards it would go onto success as a syndicated rerun and can still be seen on local stations, cable channels, and streaming services to this day.

On the surface Mister Ed might seem to have very little in common with such fantastic sitcoms as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. That having been said, it can be argued that it was the first sitcom of the Sixties to use the premise of an ordinary person living with an individual with extraordinary abilities. In this case, the extraordinary abilities were simply Ed's intelligence and his ability to talk, which served much the same purpose on the show as Uncle Martin's abilities on My Favourite Martian, Samantha's witchcraft on Bewitched, and Jeannie's magic on I Dream of Jeannie. Alongside Topper, then, Mister Ed can be considered the forerunner of every other fantastic sitcom of the Sixties, from My Favourite Martian to Nanny and the Professor.

Mister Ed would not remain the only fantastic sitcom on American television for long. It was on September 29 1963 that another fantastic comedy joined it on CBS. My Favourite Martian centred on a 450-year-old anthropologist from Mars (played by Ray Walston) who finds himself stranded on Earth. While repairing his spaceship, the Martian stays with young Los Angeles Sun reporter Tim O'Hara (played by Bill Bixby). Passed of as Tim's "Uncle Martin," the Martian has technology far more advanced that 1960s Earth and possessed such abilities as telekinesis, telepathy, and the ability to make himself invisible, among yet others. Martin's advanced technology and superhuman abilities would cause quite a bit of trouble for Tim.

My Favourite Martian was created by John L. Greene, who had earlier written for such radio shows as Texaco Star Theatre and such TV shows as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Real McCoys. The show was produced by Jack Chertok, who was looking for ideas for a new TV series when he found John L. Greene's script at the bottom of a stack at the William Morris agency. When someone at the agency informed Mr. Chertok that it was the worst idea around the agency, he simply replied, "That's why I want it." That My Favourite Martian owed a bit to Gore Vidal's teleplay "Visit to a Small Planet" was recognised by The New York Times at the time and later by Gore Vidal in his memoir Palimpsest.

While the William Morris Agency thought little of John L. Greene's pilot script and at the time its debt to "Visit to a Small Planet" was recognised, My Favourite Martian turned out to be a hit. The show ranked no. 10 for the ratings for the year in its first season. For its second season the ratings for My Favourite Martian dropped, but it still did fairly well, ranking no. 24 for the year. Sadly, the third season of My Favourite Martian dropped to the point that it was cancelled at the end of the season. It would go onto a healthy run as a syndicated rerun and is still seen in reruns to this day. It also sparked the biggest cycle in fantastic sitcoms ever seen in the history of American television

In fact, starting with the 1964-1965 television season, more fantastic sitcoms would debut than at any other time in the history of American broadcasting. What makes the 1964-1965 and 1965-1966 television seasons all the more remarkable with regards to fantastic sitcoms is that many of the shows that debuted during the period would become hits and persist as reruns to this day. At no other period in American television history has as many hit fantastic sitcoms debuted in so short a time.

What is more, the first fantastic sitcom to debut in the 1964-1965 season is arguably the most influential fantastic sitcom of all time, Bewitched. The origins of Bewitched can be traced back to Screen Gems executives: William Dozier and Harry Ackerman, who came up with the idea of young, beautiful witch who is married to an ordinary man while at lunch one day. After approaching George Axelrod and Charles Lederer, who were both assigned to other projects, Messrs. Dozier and Ackerman hired Sol Saks to write the pilot In writing the pilot Mr. Saks was inspired by both the 1942 film I Married a Witch and the 1958 film Bell, Book, and Candle. Bewitched would further be shaped by its star, Elizabeth Montgomery, and her husband, director William Asher, as well as the show's initial producer, Danny Arnold.

Bewitched centred on a young witch named Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery) who marries mortal, McMann & Tate ad executive Darrin Stephens (played by Dick York and later Dick Sargent). Complicating the marriage is Samantha's mother Endora (played by Agnes Moorehead), who is none too happy about her daughter marrying a mortal. The impetus for many of the episodes was then not only Samantha's witchcraft, but the witchcraft of Endora and Samantha's extended family as well.

Bewitched debuted on ABC on September 17 1964. It not only received good reviews from critics, but it proved to be an immediate hit. For its first season Bewitched ranked no. 2 for the year, a remarkable feat for a show on ABC, which was generally the lowest rated network during any given season at the time. Bewitched would never again do as well in the ratings as it did in its first season, but it ranked in the top ten for its first three seasons and remained in the top thirty for its first six seasons. It wasn't until its next-to-the-last season that Bewitched dropped out of the top thirty. Bewitched was cancelled with its eighth season, but went onto become a highly rated syndicated rerun. In fact, it is still in reruns to this day on various local stations, cable channels, and streaming services.

Bewitched was not only a hit, but it proved to be very influential. While My Favourite Martian may have led to several fantastic sitcoms in the 1964-1965 season, it was arguably because of Bewitched that the cycle lasted several more years. What is more, the influence of Bewitched went beyond American television. Bewitched inspired other shows in places from the United Kingdom to India to Argentina. Bewitched would have a lasting impact on Japanese anime and manga that is still being felt to this day. A good argument can be made that Bewitched is responsible for the entire "Magical Girl" genre of anime.

Another influential fantastic sitcom debuted the following day, also on ABC. The Addams Family was based on Charles Addams's cartoons, centred on an aristocratic, but macabre family, that had been appearing in The New Yorker since 1938. It was in 1963 that television producer David Levy walked past a display of Charles Addams' books in a store window, including Homebodies, which featured a portrait of the entire Addams Family. It then occurred to Mr. Levy that the "Addams family" cartoons might provide the good basis for a TV show. He approached Charles Addams with the idea and the cartoonist approved. To the project Charles made two small, but significant contributions. The first was that he finally gave the characters names (they had been unnamed in the cartoons). The second were brief descriptions of each character. It was David Levy and line producer Nat Perrin who further fleshed out the show.

The Addams Family debuted on ABC on September 18 1964. Unlike many shows, which featured nuclear families, like The Beverly Hillbillies before it, The Addams Family centred on an extended family all living under the same roof. The matriarch of the family was the elegant Morticia (played by Carolyn Jones). Her husband Gomez (played by John Astin) was passionately in love with her and engaged in such hobbies as blowing up model trains. Uncle Fester (played by Jackie Coogan) was Morticia's uncle, who loved explosives and could power light bulbs by sticking them in his mouth. Lurch (played by Ted Cassidy) was the family's huge butler, who generally spoke in monosyllables and could play the harpsichord. Wednesday (played by Lisa Loring) was the youngest in the family, who loved such pets as black widow spiders and lizards. Pugsley (played by Ken Weatherwax) was Morticia and Gomez Addams's son, who was good-natured and conformed a bit more to societal standards than the rest of the family. Grandmama (played by Blossom Rock) was Gomez's mother, who excelled in making strange brews. Thing was a disembodied hand who had been Gomez's companion since childhood. Episodes centred on the Addams family's macabre tendencies and the ordinary person's reactions to them.

The Addams Family would prove to be a success in its first season, ranking no. 23 in the ratings for the year. Unfortunately, its ratings would falter in its second season, when it was trounced in the ratings by a new comedy on CBS titled Hogan's Heroes. Cancelled at the end of its second season, The Addams Family would not disappear. Instead it went onto a highly successful run in syndication. The show has also seen revivals and reboots, and was the basis for three feature films.

The Addams Family would not be the only unusual family to appear in a show that debuted in the 1965-1966 season. The Munsters centred on a family who resembled the monsters of old Universal horror movies. The head of the family was Lily Munster (played by Yvonne De Carlo), who was a vampire. Her husband, Herman (played by Fred Gwynne), resembled Frankenstein's Monster. Their son, Eddie (played by Butch Patrick), was a werewolf. Grandpa Munster (played by Al Lewis) was a vampire. The only normal person in the family was Herman's niece Marilyn (initially played by Beverly Owen and later by Pat Priest), who was a lovely blonde. Unlike the Addams family, who revelled in the fact that they did not conform to society's expectations, The Munsters not only wanted to conform to the rest of society, but thought they did. Regardless, people who encountered the Munsters would react as anyone would when encountering monsters from a Universal horror movie.

The Munsters was not the first time that a work featuring a family of monsters had been proposed. From 1943 to 1945 legendary animator and puppeteer Bob Clampett developed a potential series of animated cartoons that was similar to The Munsters. Called "The Monster Family," it would have centred on a Frankenstein's Monster-like creature named Frankie Monster, his vampire wife, and their son. Reportedly the idea was taken to Universal Pictures and Bob Clampett never heard back from them. As to The Munsters, the initial idea for the series came from Allan Burns (a writer on Rocky and Bullwinkle who later for co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Chris Hayward (another writer on Rocky and Bullwinkle who co-created Dudley Do-Right). Allan Burns and Chris Hayward would later create the notorious fantastic sitcom My Mother the Car. The two submitted the idea to Universal, and writers Norm Liebmann and Ed Haas wrote the script for the show's presentation film (sort of a short pilot film). The Munsters would be produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, best known for their work on the radio show Amos & Andy and later the TV show Leave It to Beaver.

The Munsters debuted on CBS on September 24 1964. The TV show did very well in the ratings in its first season, tying for no. 18 for the year with another new comedy, Gilligan's Island. Unfortunately its ratings would falter in its second season, perhaps because in the second half of the season The Munsters found itself in competition with television's latest sensation, Batman. The Munsters was cancelled at the end of the season, although a theatrical motion picture featuring the original cast except for the actress playing Marilyn (played by Debbie Watson) was released in 1966. Munster, Go Home! failed at the box office. Regardless, The Munsters went onto success as a syndicated rerun that is still sent today. It would also see several revivals and reboots through the years.

While Bewitched, The Addams Family, and The Munsters proved successful, the fourth fantastic comedy to debut in the 1964/1965 season did not. My Living Doll s created by Bill Kelsay and Al Martin (who had both worked on My Favourite Martian), based on an idea suggested by Leo Guild. It was produced by Jack Cherok, who had earlier had success with My Favourite Martian. Like My Favourite Martian, My Living Doll was also a fantastic comedy in which an ordinary person finds himself living with someone with extraordinary abilities. In the case of My Living Doll, it centred on a prototype robot designated AF 709 and created for the United States Air Force in the shape of a beautiful woman (played by Julie Newmar). When the robot's inventor, Dr. Carl Miller (played by Henry Beckman) is transferred to Pakistan, he hands over care of the AF 709 to his friend, Air Force psychiatrist Dr. Bob McDonald (played by Bob Cummings). Dr. McDonald passed the AF 709 off as Dr. Miller's niece Rhoda and put her to work as his secretary (a job for which she was perfectly suited--she could type hundreds of words a minute and her memory banks held thousands of bits of information). To allay any thoughts of anything improper going on between him and Rhoda, Dr. McDonald moved his sister Irene Adams (played by Doris Dowling) into his apartment. Dr. McDonald had to keep the fact that Rhoda was a robot secret, something that was complicated by his friend and neighbour, physicist Dr. Peter Robinson (played by Jack Mullaney), who unfortunately had a crush on Rhoda.

My Living Doll debuted on CBS on September 27 1964. Despite mostly positive reviews, its ratings were low, perhaps because it was scheduled opposite the juggernaut that was NBC's Western Bonanza. In December 1964 CBS then decided to move My Living Doll to Wednesday night where it would serve as the lead in for the hit sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. It was in January 1965 that Bob Cummings asked to leave the show. His character, Dr. McDonald, was written out of the show as having been transferred to Pakistan.  Dr. Peter Robinson, then, learned Rhoda was a robot and became her new guardian.The new time slot and the changes to the show certainly did not help in the ratings (on Wednesday night it was opposite The Virginian on NBC and The Patty Duke Show on ABC). In the end, then, My Living Doll was cancelled after a single season.

Having lasted only one season, My Living Doll would not enter syndication as a rerun. Despite this it remained well remembered by many, and it is proof that it had some success in that it did have a small impact on the English language. According to The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the phrase "does not compute" (which was a bit of a catchphrase for Rhoda) originated on My Living Doll. After various episodes had popped up on bootleg VHS tapes and DVDs over the years, on March 20 2012 twelve episodes were released on DVD as My Living Doll: The Official Collection Vol. 1. A second volume has yet to be released.

The 1965-1966 season would see the cycle towards fantastic sitcoms at its height. In fact, more fantastic comedies debuted that season than any other season in the history of American television. Five different fantastic comedies debuted in the 1965-1966 season, some of which would have lasting success.

That having been said, the first fantastic sitcom to debut in the 1965-1966 season would not be one of them. My Mother the Car was created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward, who had earlier developed The Munsters. My Mother the Car centred on lawyer Dave Crabtree (played by Jerry Van Dyke), who purchased a 1928 Porter automobile that just happened to be the reincarnation of his dead mother. Mother would talked to him through the car's radio, its dial light flashing in sequence to her words (the car was voiced by Ann Southern). Ruthless car collector Captain Manzini (played by Avery Schreiber) was always trying to get his hands on the car, and he served as a recurring villain on the show.

My Mother the Car debuted on NBC on September 14 1965 to nearly catastrophic reviews. While the series would prove popular with younger viewers, its overall ratings were not particularly good. It was then cancelled at the end of the season. While other shows that have received bad reviews upon their debut (The Beverly Hillbillies being a prime example) have seen their reputations improve through the years, this would not be the case with My Mother the Car. It would become a punchline for Johnny Carson for years to come. Ever since My Mother the Car has topped lists of "the worst shows of all time." In my own opinion, while the quality of the show's episodes can vary greatly, there have been far worse shows that aired both before My Mother the Car and since. It hardly deserves its reputation, as bizarre as its premise may have been.

The second fantasy sitcom to debut in the 1965/1966 season would also prove to be a failure. In the early Sixties Tom and Dick Smothers had proven to be a popular nightclub act. The Smothers Brothers soon found themselves appearing on such television shows as The New Steve Allen Show, Tonight Starring Jack Paar, Make Room for Daddy, and Burke's Law. It was then natural that the Smothers Brothers would receive their own network television show. While they would later become known for their variety show (The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour), the Smothers Brothers' first television show was a fantastic sitcom titled The Smothers Brothers Show.

The Smothers Brothers Show centred on young publishing executive Dick Smothers, whose brother Tom had been lost at sea. Two years later Tom shows back up as an apprentice angel who must do various good deeds in order to earn his wings. Unfortunately, Tom is rather inept and Dick often has to straighten out any problems caused by Tom's good intentions. The show was created by Aaron Spelling and Richard Newton.

The Smothers Brothers Show debuted on CBS on September 17 1965. The show received good ratings upon its debut, but ratings quickly began to drop as the season progressed. The Smothers Brothers Show was then cancelled at the end of the season. It would be during the 1966-1967 season that their famous variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, debuted as a mid-season replacement. It proved much more successful than The Smothers Brothers Show had.

While neither My Mother the Car nor The Smothers Brothers Show proved successful, the next two fantastic sitcoms to debut in the 1965-1966 season would have lasting success. What is more, they debuted on the same night, one after the other, on the same network. I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart debuted on NBC on September 18 1965.

I Dream of Jeannie was created by screenwriter Sidney Sheldon, who had also created The Patty Duke Show, a hit during the 1963/1964 season. Screen Gems approached Mr. Sheldon about creating a show for them. He came up with the idea of a show centred on a genie. What would separate his new show from previous treatments of genies is that his genie would be a beautiful young woman. Just as Bewitched took inspiration from movies (I Married a Witch and Bell, Book and Candle), there is the strong possibility that I Dream of Jeannie drew some of its inspiration from the 1964 feature film adaptation of F. Antsey's novel The Brass Bottle.

I Dream of Jeannie centred on astronaut Tony Nelson (played by Larry Hagman), who discovers a bottle containing a 2000 year old genie while stranded on an island. While Jeannie (played by Barbara Eden) was 2000 years old, she behaved much more like a woman in her early twenties. Only Tony's best friend Roger Healy, knew that Jeannie was a genie, and the two of them constantly had to keep her a secret, particularly from nosey NASA psychiatrist Alfred Bellows (played by Hayden Rorke). The impetus of most episodes was Jeannie's magic, which often had unexpected results.

I Dream of Jeannie was not a huge hit in the ratings, but it did respectably enough to run for five seasons. While the show only received moderate ratings during its network run, however, it proved to be a phenomenal success as a syndicated rerun. In fact, it would be the first syndicated rerun to ever beat network shows in the ratings in various markets. I Dream of Jeannie is still seen to this day on local stations, cable channels, and streaming services.

Immediately following I Dream of Jeannie on NBC on September 18 1965 was Get Smart. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart was a parody of the then popular James Bond movies and various spy TV shows that dominated American television in the mid-Sixties. The show centred on the bumbling Maxwell Smart (played by Don Adams), Agent 86 for the intelligence agency CONTROL. His partner was Agent 99 (played by Barbara Feldon), who was everything Max was not--intelligent, competent, and beautiful. For whatever reason she was in love with Max. The two reported to the head of CONTROL, simply known as "the Chief (played by Edward Platt)". Opposing CONTROL was the evil organization known as KAOS. While Max and 99 faced various KAOS agents throughout the run of the show, their most persistent enemies were Conrad Siegfried (played by Bernie Kopell) and his assistant Starker (played by King Moody).

Get Smart not only received positive reviews from critics, it also proved to be a hit. In its first season it ranked no. 12 in the ratings for the year. It also did respectably well in its second season, when it ranked no. 22 for the year. Get Smart also received several Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Comedy for Don Adams, Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Outstanding Comedy Series, and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. The ratings for Get Smart dropped in its fourth season so that NBC cancelled the show. It was picked up by CBS for a fifth and final season. Afterwards it would go onto a successful run as a syndicated rerun. It would also be revived several times and receive a 2008 feature film reboot.

What would be the biggest hit among the fantastic comedies to debut during the 1965/1966 season would emerge from an unexpected source, a comic book character who had first appeared in 1939. Batman had already appeared in a 1943 movie serial (The Batman) and a 1949 movie serial (Batman and Robin), as well as the radio show The Adventures of Superman. In the mid-Sixties ABC executives Harve Bennett and Edgar J. Scherick were considering a show based around a comic strip character. It was fellow ABC executive Yale Udof who suggested that they adapt Batman for the small screen. ABC got the television rights to the character from DC Comics and then turned to 20th Century Fox to produce the series. 20th Century Fox then turned to producer William Dozier.

ABC had wanted a serious, but tongue-in-cheek show based on Batman (something like The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), but when William Dozier read various Batman comic books for research, he concluded the only way the show would work was as a comedy. He hired Lorenzo Semple, Jr. to develop Batman. Mr. Semple developed Batman as a spoof that worked on two levels. For adults it would be high comedy. For kids it would be high adventure.

Despite the fact that it was a comedy, Batman was largely loyal to the comic books. It centred on millionaire Bruce Wayne (played by Adam West), who fought crime as Batman. He was assisted by his ward Dick Grayson (played by Burt Ward), who fought crime as Robin. They were assisted in their fight against evil by Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (played by Alan Napier). The Dynamic Duo faced several of the villains from the comic books, including The Joker (played by Caesar Romero), The Penguin (played by Burgess Meredith), The Catwoman (played by Julie Newmar and later Eartha Kitt), and yet others.  Batman aired twice a week in two part episodes, the first part on Wednesday ending in a cliffhanger that would be resolved at the start of the second part on Thursday.

Batman debuted as a mid-season replacement on ABC on January 12 1966. It not only proved to be a hit, it proved to be an outright sensation. It not only received phenomenal ratings, but Batman became an outright fad. There may well have been more merchandise devoted to Batman on store shelves than there ever had been for any television show before. For the 1965/1966 season the Wednesday edition of Batman came in 10th in the ratings for the year, while the Thursday edition came in at 5th. Unfortunately, Batman could not maintain the momentum it had in its first seasons. By the autumn of 1966 Batman was still doing well, but its adult audience was now half of what it was. As the 1966/1967 season progressed, ratings for Batman dropped gradually, to the point that ABC seriously considered cancelling the show. Fortunately, Batman  was renewed for the 1967/1968 season, but it was cut back to one half-hour a week on Thursday. Ratings did not improve and ABC cancelled Batman. Its last original episode aired on March 14 1968. While Batman may have been yesterday's fad by 1968, it went onto a highly successful rerun in syndication and is still seen to this day on local stations, cable channels, and streaming services.

The 1965/1966 season would mark the height of the cycle towards fantastic comedies in the Sixties. The 1966/1967 season would see fewer fantastic comedies debut. That having been said, the decade had not seen the last of fantastic comedies yet.