Coming off the enormous hit Bewitched William Asher produced this sitcom for Paul Lynde, who, of course, had the recurring role of Uncle Arthur on the aforementioned program. Paul played Paul Simms, the conservative father of two daughters, one recently married to a genius who has trouble functioning in the real world. This upper middle class take off on All in the Family made Lynde's character a lawyer and his daughter a college graduate.
The show features Paul Lynde's signature style of comedy and has strange ironic elements in it that make it more off the wall than most vintage sitcoms - most notably the casting of Paul as a conservative family man. Look for Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara in later episodes as Paul's inlaws.
This show is not available commercially on DVD, though I have seen listings for it on iOffer.com. Several episodes can be watched on YouTube. The one above is the first installment of the pilot, uploaded by OldWorldTelevision.
Obscurity factor: 10 (Known to Lynde fans but not many others, not on DVD, available on YouTube and iOffer)
I will have to check this out on YouTube. In the past I have seen the opening credits on there, and a promo, but that was it. I do recall this being on in 1972-1973, but I don't think I ever saw it. I don't know why, as I liked Paul Lynde from "Bewitched" and other shows I had seen him on, and I know that my late mother was a fan of his. I just looked at the 1972-1973 schedule, and that was the year they had "The Carol Burnett Show" on at 8:00 on Wednesday nights. I must have been watching that.
ReplyDeleteIn religious school, there was a girl named Hallie. A friend of mine used to say to her, in an imitation of Paul Lynde's voice, "Hallie, you're a pure joy." It was based on a line from the show, when Paul said to his son-in-law, "Howie, you're a pure joy." I always thought it was very funny when my friend did that!
I read that the premiere episode received a fairly good rating. I think it was in the top 20 for the week. However, each week after that the ratings went lower and lower, and I think it finished the season near the bottom of the rankings. It has been said that this was because Paul was better as a supporting player than someone who was the focus of an entire show.
After the show was canceled, they rolled Paul into another series you'll see here soon - Temperatures Rising. The show was faltering because the public didn't like the star and this show was faltering in spite of the fact that the public liked the star, so they figured they'd take the best elements of the two series and put them together.
ReplyDeleteI always liked "Temperatures Rising." That one I do remember watching - mainly during the first season. I look forward to your posting. The first season featured Reva Rose, who we discussed on here regarding the posting of "Bunny O'Hare."
ReplyDeleteBy the way, yesterday I watched the entire pilot episode of "The Paul Lynde Show" on YouTube. I really enjoyed it. I felt that it really zipped along. I hope I can eventually see other episodes.
ReplyDeleteI think there's another episode of the Paul Lynde show on YouTube. Do a search and see if you find it...
ReplyDeleteI will do that. I love this blog! I always look forward to what you are going to post.
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