One of the cable stations ran this series a few years ago. Like so many comedies from the 50's, it was genuinely awful - the plots, stories and jokes just weren't funny - and the actors weren't either. There was no chemistry between them. This was the era when Newton Minnow called TV "a vast wasteland" and he was so right.
Over the years, cable brought back a number of comedy shows that I loved as a kid - Gale Storm, I married Joan, Our Miss Brooks, etc. - and they were all really awful. The same was true for most of the westerns and cop shows. Recently, one station has been running Highway Patrol" with Broderick Crawford. Just awful. It must have killed a talented guy who won a best actor Oscar to do that sort of drivel.
I guess it makes me appreciate the shows that were well done all the more - The Honeymooners, The Rifleman (some episodes, anyway), Maverick, Perry Mason, The Untouchables, Naked City, etc. The quality of most of those were "hit and miss", but at least they had some style and charm.
Over the years, cable brought back a number of comedy shows that I loved as a kid - Gale Storm, I married Joan, Our Miss Brooks, etc. - and they were all really awful. The same was true for most of the westerns and cop shows. Recently, one station has been running Highway Patrol" with Broderick Crawford. Just awful. It must have killed a talented guy who won a best actor Oscar to do that sort of drivel.
I guess it makes me appreciate the shows that were well done all the more - The Honeymooners, The Rifleman (some episodes, anyway), Maverick, Perry Mason, The Untouchables, Naked City, etc. The quality of most of those were "hit and miss", but at least they had some style and charm.