Friday, July 15, 2011

Jack Weston & Peggy Cass in The Hathaways (1961)

Walter and Elinore Hathaway (Weston and Cass) are proud parents of three little ones. The fact that the little ones just happen to be chimps doesn't seem to dent their parental pride. Walter is a real estate agent and Elinore is the chimp's booking agent. Candy, Charlie and Enoch (the chips) regularly perform on television. Each episode revolved around the antics of the chimps and the situations the Hathaways put them in. This series has been called the worst ever aired on television, and there's some truth in that. It's difficult to watch. Production was no picnic either. Jack Weston was nearly bitten by one of the chimps and spent the rest of the series at a considerable distance from them. It's fun to see Peggy Cass, who, aside from the film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, didn't find her way into film or TV near enough.

The episode above is TV or Not TV uploaded to YouTube by dentelTV. Needless to say, the series has never made it to DVD.

Obscurity factor: 8 (not on DVD, mostly forgotten, only remembered as the worst of TV)

6 comments:

  1. I watched this episode about a year ago. I did not think it was that bad. In fact, I thought it was kind of fun. I think there are many shows that are much more deserving of the distinction of being the worst ever. This episode is the only one I have ever seen, although I was aware of the show. I recall that my late mother said she liked it.

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  2. I remember this show vividly and I thought it was great. Of course I was 6 when it aired... nevertheless, it has a warm place in my heart.

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  3. Yes, I guess it's all subjective. I found it sort of gratuitously cute and the negative circumstances the leads found themselves in didn't help.

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  4. Maybe worst ever only in context of today's TV. Most situation comedies of the early 60's seem lame compared to today.

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  5. Uhh... Peggy Cass had a major role in "Auntie Mame", playing Rosalind Russell's stenographer for over half the movie.

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    1. Yes, I should have mentioned that, but I kinda thought it went without saying...

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