17 TV SITCOM THEME INTROS - ONE-SEASON WONDERS OF THE 1960s

[KMBCGeno]

It's About Time, it's about space, about two men in the strangest place ...

[RovingCounter]

My Mother the Car is often considered the worst nwtwork show in the history of television.

[cl033149]

Great memories, thanks for posting! I remember a bunch of these & haven't thought about them in years, like Good Morning World, Mickey, He & She. And I really liked No Time For Sergeants! I guess there were more Gidget movies than TV seasons of Gidget.

[jeprice08]

You forgot The New Phil Silvers Show, The Bing Crosby Show, Hey Landlord, and My World And Welcome To It.

[jeprice08]

3:50 - 4:38 I didn't think THIS would show up, but I'm glad it did! Hit it, Johnny-O (Johnny Tillotson, the man who sung it)!

[horarwgt]

Wow such a great array of series, many of which are not just memorable but should have lasted a whole lot longer.

[horarwgt]

At long last you can now get the classic TV series "I'm Dickens ... He's Fenster" on DVD. It was Stan Laurel's favorite show!

[wotan237]

most of these im not familiar with, which ones here are considered to be the best?

[2nicks]

I really miss TV themes...today most sitcoms have ten second intros if any...but today's sitcom are about 20 to 21 minutes long (without commercials) Sitcoms in the 60's ran 25 to 26 minutes without commercials...I guess that's why they dropped the TV themes in favor of more commercials...commercials...an­d more commercials!!!!!

[postatility]

Today,"The Ugliest Girl In Town"could be a politically incorrect reality show.

[katrus]

I wasn't aware Gidget only got one season. I remember seeing it in syndication in the 80's in Detroit.

[BigWallyFilms]

@katrus - Gidget became a Sunday morning staple for a long time in L.A. I, too, didn't realize it was only one season.

[Dynomite06]

"Gidget" wasn't a bad show, but I don't think many viewers caught on to it. Love the theme song. Was humming it after I heard it :-)

[fromthesidelines]

"LOVE ON A ROOFTOP", "HE & SHE" and "GOOD MORNING WORLD" were other examples of good series that had lousy ratings....not enough to be renewed for another season.

[fromthesidelines]

Not all of them were "horrible", 'oluham'. "WENDY AND ME" was a variation of "THE GEORGE BURNS AND GRACIE ALLEN SHOW"...without the same talent of the original, save for George. "GIDGET" was a victim of bad ratings....it was too late for ABC to renew it for another season when more viewers finally began watching it in the summer of '66. Probably the best things about "MY MOTHER THE CAR" and "THE PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON" were their themes (by Paul Hampton and Vic Mizzy, respectively).

[Dynomite06]

@fromthesidelines I just read your post. Thanks for the info. I was wondering why Gidget only had one season. I loved it personally.

[steve7138]

Gidget's currently on Antenna TV every week.

Good to see Phyllis Diller, Judy Carne, Jack Cassidy again!

[oluham]

All these'ORRIBLE tv series

[TiminPhoenix]

Thanks for this video. Very interesting.

[ShermansAlley]

Kudos to whoever put this together. This was interesting viewing. Thank you.

[fromthesidelines]

Gloria Henry was "Alice Mitchell" on "DENNIS THE MENACE", 'terentii'.

[byrd56]

@fromthesidelines Emmaline Henry [no confirmed relation to Gloria] was Dr. Bellows' wife Amanda in "I Dream of Jeannie".

[horarwgt]

@byrd56  Emmaline Henry was also Harry Dickens' wife on "I'm Dickens ... He's Fenster."

[terentii]

Richard Denning, who played the father on "Karen," was later The Governor on "Hawaii Five-O." The woman who played her mother bears an uncanny resemblance to the one who played Patty Duke's mother. "Love on a Rooftop" was the favorite show of my girlfriend in sixth grade. "He and She" was brilliantly written; it's a shame it only lasted one season.

Julie Parrish was another living doll. And wasn't Emmaline Henry Mrs. Mitchell on "Dennis the Menace"?

[terentii]

Ronnie Schell left "Gomer Pyle, USMC" to star in "Good Morning, World," which barely lasted one season. A very young Goldie Hawn was the girlfriend of one of the show's two leads (can't remember which). "The Baileys of Balboa" was CBS President Jim Aubrey's own version of "Gilligan's Island," a show he detested. "My Mother the Car" was often mentioned on "Mary Tyler Moore" not only because of the link to Dick Van Dyke, but because her husband, Grant Tinker, brought it to NBC over "Bewitched."

[terentii]

I remember all of these being on, though I didn't watch all of them. "Occasional Wife" (about two people who pretended to be married) was a "Switcheroo" version of "The Cara Williams Show" (about two people who pretended they weren't married). "The Pruitts of Southampton" was a one-joke sitcom centered on Phyllis Diller, then at the height of her fame. "The Ugliest Girl in Town" was cancelled after just three or four episodes had been aired. "Captain Nice" on NBC spawned "Mr. Terrific" on CBS.

[JHarder1000]

the only ones I remember from all this are Gidget and Tammy. Wait a minute..CAPTAIN NICE! I have also heard the He and She was terrific.

I think my family saw the opening credits of the first episodes of most of these, then switched channels.

It reminds one how bad a lots of sitcoms could be, even in the Golden Age

[MsBkirk]

Was Joby Baker of 'Good Morning World' the same one who married Dory Previn in the 70's?

[Rick6315]

@MsBkirk Joby Baker is still married to Dory Previn. they were married in 1984

[MsBkirk]

I remember Wendy & Me!

[jakevanfan]

Gidget was a one season wonder???

[Rick6315]

@jakevanfan they only made 32 episodes

[terentii]

@jakevanfan "Gidget" the TV series was, yes. Even though it picked up a lot of new viewers during summer repeats and even spawned a letter-writing campaign of sorts, ABC had already left it off the fall schedule, and in those days such decisions were irreversible.

I was in fifth grade then, and really had the hots for Sally Field (and still do). Debbie Watson on "Karen" and "Tammy" was another living doll the likes of which, unfortunately, are almost impossible to find today.

[EnjiBEARatsu]

Somehow I've seen "Occasional Wife", I certainly don't remember ever seeing it, but I could almost fully recite the opening word-for-word while watching this video. Seeing as I was born in 83 that should be impossible....

Any idea if it was ever in syndication or anything?

Also really like the "Karen" intro, seems almost like a parody in a way.

[glkanter]

One of the first I remember. Thought it was hysterical!! Never got the opening joke before.

[nanlisa]

Oh yes, I forgot: Good Morning World was on when I was ten to.

[nanlisa]

I remember some of these titles. I was in second grade when Wendy and Me was on; My Mother the Car when I was in third grade; Love on a Rooftop and Occasional Wife when I was in fourth grade; He and She was I was 10 (it came on right after Green Acres on Wednesday nights) and The Ugliest Girl in Town when I was 11.

[kurtb8474]

I remember He & She and Good Morning World.

[ferociousgumby]

Where in the world do you GET these?????

[photomitch]

I remember these show and one could see why they were one Season wonders...

Lots of good actors wasted on bad sitcoms...

[1967PONTIACGTO]

This was fun to watch, but you left out Camp Runamuck, Run Buddy Run, the Hathaways, Grindl...

[PagingMaxHeadroom]

Now I know why parents should be concerned what their kids see when they are young. This stuff went into my head at an early age and stuck there. I remember just about every one of these shows and even found my self singing the lyrics of the themes from "Captain Nice" and "Karen"! And I NEVER thought I would see the opening of the "Baileys Of Balboa" again. As Mork would say, "Oh wow, genetic memories".

[gli7utubeo]

You know, here I am watch this with rapt attention and I'm thinking if they had Youtube when I was a kid I'd have never left my room for school, work, or anything. I would just rot in my chair staring at this stuff.

[txvoltaire]

Funny, from what I've seen of some these show, they seem better than what actually got picked up.

[fromthesidelines]

Interesting fact about "WENDY AND ME": in order to get Connie Stevens as his co-star {she was under contract to Warner Bros. at the time}, George Burns had to produce a series for her studio....which happened to be "NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS", which appeared just before "WENDY" on ABC's Monday night schedule in the 1964-'65 season. Both lasted just one season [who could compete against CBS' "ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW" and "THE LUCY SHOW"???].

[gilgamess]

@fromthesidelines So, Andy Griffith actually was competing against a show that was known for boosting his career? Yow!

[gilgamess]

@fromthesidelines That is to say a show BASED on the film that boosted his career.

[Raymantico]

I sort of remember "He & She".. about a eunuch & a hermaphrodite with a nelly uncle?

[dynagravitomagnetic]

@Raymantico what is the definition of "nelly" in your description? I remember "Gidgit" and "captain nice" as well as "love on a rooftop" but "he and she" was only on for a few episodes. (too much like "that girl" with marlo thomas maybe)

[Raymantico]

@dynagravitomagnetic a bachelor uncle who dresses really nice & decorates his home just so, wears cologne and buys drinks for his fellow men, once got beat up at the bus station by a sailor

[dynagravitomagnetic]

@Raymantico Thank you for the kind response. A "nanny" is the term some would use, but language does alter usage over time. I do not remember the girl being a hermaphrodite or the boy being a eunuch though. A "nelly" may be the male form of a "nanny" then.

[pabe518]

Only one that I watched regularly was He and She.

[marsmoke]

I was obviously watching too much TV in the 60's!

[dandydonaldo]

That's Vin Scully's voice at the beginning of Occasional Wife

[kagiso3741]

Thank you so much for posting this .. I probably only recall 4 or 5 .. But how fascinating to see these .. and to see the basic premise of the show through the intro and wonder how strange it really was .. Looking forward to the day when all these old shows are online and free to watch anytime .. Big memory trip ..

[solarvegan]

This brought back so many memories. Did you know that "No Time For Sergeants" on ABC was pitted against "The Andy Griffith Show" on CBS in the fall of '64? Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were in the Broadway show and feature film of "No Time for Sergeants" and the vehicle helped make them famous! I wonder how they felt about ABC's scheduling ploy.

[susie101fm]

Great Stuff Love It

Thank You for sharing This

Sue Hirshfeld

[elc1960]

I never missed "Captain Nice". William Daniels' co-star on the show was veteran character actor John McGiver. The show was very popular with kids (even though we didn't get most of the jokes - thanks, Buck Henry, you bastard [just kidding]). McGiver's catch-phrase on the show was "Action - A-C-T-I-O-N, Action!"

[KCOliver1960]

@elc1960 John McGiver was on the other superhero sitcom Mr Terrific

[elc1960]

"The Baileys Of Balboa" starring "Winnie-the-Pooh" as "Buck". Debbie Watson ("Karen") was one of the first girls I remember having a crush on from TV. (Donna Loren, the "Dr. Pepper" girl, was the other.) And that Beach Boys theme is great to hear again. "Karen" was basically a knockoff of "Gidget", which happened often back then (like "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family" premiering in the same season on different networks). The theme to "Gidget" was sung by Johnny Tillotson.

[RichYan33]

Why as a very young boy was I watching "He and She"?

[Icemangqx]

Karen looks like the inspiration for the Happy days opening.

[jsicolts]

That was Great ! How about the very short lived Run Buddy Run.

[caprice6]

I remember good Morning World, sometimes Goldie Hawn would appear as guest then a regular. It was funny.

[wiedep]

occasional wife v.o. sounds like vin scully...

[Taiwanlight]

Ah, they don't make 'em like that any more ... thank God.

[TimelordR]

@Taiwanlight I'd take "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" over "How I met Your Mother" ANYDAY!!

[TimelordR]

My, those certainly were some odd shows back then, eh?

[dadoctah]

Emmaline Henry (not shown) in "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster"? Guess that was before she married Dr Bellows and moved to Cocoa Beach.

[johnprovince]

The frightening thing is that not only do I remember most of these shows, but the theme songs as well. A mind is a terrble thing to waste.

[fromthesidelines]

Vin Scully indeed narrated "OCCASIONAL WIFE" inbetween baseball seasons, 'sd'. "THE PRUITTS" was actually the "working title" of the original unaired version of the series' pilot. It was seen during the first half of its only season as "THE PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON" (becoming "THE PHYLLIS DILLER SHOW" in January 1967, at the same time "CAPTAIN NICE" premiered).

[sdfeinstein]

Is the Occasional Wife intro voiced by none other than Vin Scully? Sure, sounds like him. Must have been done after baseball season......

[byzcath]

Dickens & Fenster, Baileys of Balboa, No Time For Sergeants, Tammy, Gidget, My Mother the Car, Captain Nice, The Pruitts, He & She, Good Morning World - 10 out of 17 I remember!

[banner74]

WOW!!!Talking about coming up with lost TV gold,nice work,keep it up!!