Difficult Stars to Work For or With

[Tim L]

Not only did Gomer Pyle never leave California, Vietnam never even got a cursory mention.

Of course not. Why would you mention Vietnam in a comedy show?

You can mention ...

Korea - MASH
World War II - Hogan's Heroes, McHale's Navy
The Indian Wars - F-Troop

Why not Viet Nam? It worked in "Good Morning, Viet Nam."

The difference is that the wars in those shows were ancient history.

While it was tone-deaf to avoid Vietnam in 60s military comedies, it would have to be handled carefully because a number of your viewers' sons were coming home in flag-draped coffins or being held captive.

Also, most of the series mentioned were set in the middle of the war, in which battles supposedly could occur at any time, while Gomer Pyle was set "on the home front" as it were. And it would seem awkward to mention Vietnam in a sitcom while the war was happening..

 

[BD Sullivan]

All in the Family mentioned it on many occasions.

 

[NHRadio]

Gavin McLeod was 32 when McHale's Navy launched and he had time to command a cruise ship afterwards. Huh

Not to mention being head news writer at a medium-market TV station in between.

And a Hawaiian crime boss.

And a Gestapo officer on Hogans Heroes more than once.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

All in the Family mentioned it on many occasions.

One reason among many that my heart is grateful the Norman Lear sit-coms came along. The shows that came from his production company injected a sense of realism that was missing, and I think....badly needed.

After years of talking horses....reincarnated cars....Catholic nuns who could fly....witches.....genies....wealthy hillbillies, and a sarcastic old martian........all of a sudden, the sound of a flushing toilet on "All In The Family" wasn't so bad.

P.S......And "B O O O O O !!!" to ABC....for being too timid to have picked up "All In The Family" when it was pitched to them in 1969..... two years before it surfaced as a mid-season replacement on CBS.

 

[michael hagerty]

All in the Family mentioned it on many occasions.

One reason among many that my heart is grateful the Norman Lear sit-coms came along. The shows that came from his production company injected a sense of realism that was missing, and I think....badly needed.

After years of talking horses....reincarnated cars....Catholic nuns who could fly....witches.....genies....filthy rich hillbillies, and a sarcastic old martian........all of a sudden, the sound of a flushing toilet on "All In The Family" wasn't so bad.

P.S......And "B O O O O O !!!" to ABC....for being too timid to have picked up "All In The Family" when it was pitched to them in 1969.....almost two full years before it surfaced as a mid-season replacement on CBS.

Nah. Be glad. ABC couldn't have made it work. CBS had the smart, urbane comedies to surround it with. If ABC had grabbed it in '69, it would have been dead in 13 weeks.

 

[FredLeonard]

Nah. Be glad. ABC couldn't have made it work. CBS had the smart, urbane comedies to surround it with. If ABC had grabbed it in '69, it would have been dead in 13 weeks.

When "All In The Family" surfaced as a mid-season replacement, it's lead-ins were....

The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Hee-Haw

When it moved to Saturday nights at 8pm (taking over Jackie Gleason's former time slot, which also had another sitcom about a bickering blue collar couple in New York's outer boroughs) it was followed by....

Funny Face
The New Dick Van Dyke Show
Mary Tyler Moore

No "smart, urbane" comedies that first season. Only one - an hour later - that second season. And since AITF was the lead-off, it was hardly surrounded.

It took Fred Silverman a while to build a line-up of "urbane, sophisticated" comedies. Actually, ABC was ahead of CBS in moving to "urbane, sophisticated" shows. It would have been the logical place for Norman Lear to sell the show at the time.

 

[Tim L]

"B O O O O O !!!" [/b] to ABC....for being too timid to have picked up "All In The Family" when it was pitched to them in 1969..... two years before it surfaced as a mid-season replacement on CBS.

I wouldn't be too hard on ABC. It's quite possible All In The Family might not have worked any better on CBS in 1971 than 1969. Then you might not have had the rest of the Norman Lear "Stable" of shows that came afterwards

 

[BD Sullivan]

ABC also rejected Get Smart years earlier. Below is from a Get Smart website (www.wouldyoubelieve.com) that explains what happened:

"ABC initially expressed interest in the concept and wanted Talent Associates to use Tom Poston as Maxwell Smart. Talent Associates agreed, but ABC hated the initial script and demanded that a dog and Max's mother be added to the script. Brooks added Fang, but refused to add a mother for Max, saying it would destroy the integrity of the character. ABC rejected the script, saying it wasn't funny. Talent Associates bought back the script from ABC, which allowed them to show it to other networks."

 

[anotherguyTN]

Didn't ABC also reject The Cosby Show?

 

[KML0224]

Going by Wiki...yep!

According to TV Guide, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes".[1] Originally, the show had been pitched to ABC, which rejected it.

 

[chris12]

Dustin Diamond with the Celebrity Fit Club was disliked by pretty much everyone else on the show, even pretty much all of his old Saved By The Bell co-stars save for Dennis Haskins pretty much don't want anything to do with him now.

With Susan Olsen missing the 1988 Christmas movie, I believe part of it was her being on her honeymoon at the time of filming, I believe her son wasn't born until about 1995 or so in another marriage. I've also heard Maureen McCormick demanded more money to do it and that it caused some resentment and hurt feelings among the other cast members.

 

[onairb]

ABC also rejected Get Smart years earlier. Below is from a Get Smart website (www.wouldyoubelieve.com) that explains what happened:

"ABC initially expressed interest in the concept and wanted Talent Associates to use Tom Poston as Maxwell Smart. Talent Associates agreed, but ABC hated the initial script and demanded that a dog and Max's mother be added to the script. Brooks added Fang, but refused to add a mother for Max, saying it would destroy the integrity of the character. ABC rejected the script, saying it wasn't funny. Talent Associates bought back the script from ABC, which allowed them to show it to other networks."

Poston was never a 'leading man', so, in hindsight, it's good that ABC never got 'Get Smart'. I don't know a lot about the show's history, so I'm not sure if Poston ever guest starred(he was pretty much based in New York through the '60s). He'd have been an excellent choice for a guest or supporting role(might have made a better 'Hymie the robot'!)

 

[anotherguyTN]

ABC also rejected Get Smart years earlier. Below is from a Get Smart website (www.wouldyoubelieve.com) that explains what happened:

"ABC initially expressed interest in the concept and wanted Talent Associates to use Tom Poston as Maxwell Smart. Talent Associates agreed, but ABC hated the initial script and demanded that a dog and Max's mother be added to the script. Brooks added Fang, but refused to add a mother for Max, saying it would destroy the integrity of the character. ABC rejected the script, saying it wasn't funny. Talent Associates bought back the script from ABC, which allowed them to show it to other networks."

Poston was never a 'leading man', so, in hindsight, it's good that ABC never got 'Get Smart'. I don't know a lot about the show's history, so I'm not sure if Poston ever guest starred(he was pretty much based in New York through the '60s). He'd have been an excellent choice for a guest or supporting role(might have made a better 'Hymie the robot'!)

I think I remember seeing an episode of Get Smart with Tom Poston as a guest on Me-TV (On late Saturday night, one of the few times I can actually get it :) not too long ago. I think he played an evil scientist.

 

[Ultimajock]

I think I remember seeing an episode of Get Smart with Tom Poston as a guest on Me-TV (On late Saturday night, one of the few times I can actually get it :) not too long ago. I think he played an evil scientist.

..."Shock it to me," season 4, episode 22, aired on NBC on 1 March 1969 (during the final month of first-run episodes on NBC; CBS picked up the series starting the following September). Poston played "Dr. Zharko" in a story involving massive theft of electronic equipment...