Jackie Gleason's version of "Life Of Riley" debuts on NBC.
While the show has been criticized on a number of accounts
(Gleason isn't terribly funny, the show is slow), if you can find
it you'll notice that Gleason is still fairly thin; also, he plays
Chester A. Riley as a sort of Ralph Kramden-waiting-to-be-born,
certainly a Riley with more brains than William Bendix's version
still airing on radio at the time. And that was the problem: Gleason's
Riley didn't match the character Bendix had been playing for six years.
While Gleason's version lasted only 26 weeks, Bendix revived the show
on television in 1953 and carried on for nearly six years. There was a
revival of interest in Gleason's version in the late '70s, when he had been
established as one of the medium's true legends. (Gleason's version is also
where the show's (arguably) funniest character, Digger O'Dell,
appears regularly, with his trademark "Guess I'd better be shoveling off,"
a reference to the fact that he's a gravedigger.)
Another red-letter day of sorts one year later: Groucho Marx moves "You
Bet Your Life" from CBS to NBC radio (and NBC television the following night,
Oct. 5, 1950), and will stay on NBC for 11 years. The show had been a top-
ten hit on CBS, and the television pilot had been produced there in late 1949,
but when Groucho and partner-producer John Guedel decided
to put the show up for bids (to see what it was worth), Bill Paley antagonized
Groucho by using the fact that both were Jewish as a reason to stay at CBS
(never mind that David and Robert Sarnoff at NBC were also Jewish, although
they never used that as a negotiating tactic). Guedel said that Groucho later
told him that he decided right then and there to move the show to NBC. Guedel
liked the idea for a different reason: CBS had been getting some of NBC's biggest
names (Jack Benny, Amos 'n' Andy, Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton),
and here was a chance for NBC to get a little revenge. It worked; I needn't go
into the ratings or memorable contestants over the years.
While the show has been criticized on a number of accounts
(Gleason isn't terribly funny, the show is slow), if you can find
it you'll notice that Gleason is still fairly thin; also, he plays
Chester A. Riley as a sort of Ralph Kramden-waiting-to-be-born,
certainly a Riley with more brains than William Bendix's version
still airing on radio at the time. And that was the problem: Gleason's
Riley didn't match the character Bendix had been playing for six years.
While Gleason's version lasted only 26 weeks, Bendix revived the show
on television in 1953 and carried on for nearly six years. There was a
revival of interest in Gleason's version in the late '70s, when he had been
established as one of the medium's true legends. (Gleason's version is also
where the show's (arguably) funniest character, Digger O'Dell,
appears regularly, with his trademark "Guess I'd better be shoveling off,"
a reference to the fact that he's a gravedigger.)
Another red-letter day of sorts one year later: Groucho Marx moves "You
Bet Your Life" from CBS to NBC radio (and NBC television the following night,
Oct. 5, 1950), and will stay on NBC for 11 years. The show had been a top-
ten hit on CBS, and the television pilot had been produced there in late 1949,
but when Groucho and partner-producer John Guedel decided
to put the show up for bids (to see what it was worth), Bill Paley antagonized
Groucho by using the fact that both were Jewish as a reason to stay at CBS
(never mind that David and Robert Sarnoff at NBC were also Jewish, although
they never used that as a negotiating tactic). Guedel said that Groucho later
told him that he decided right then and there to move the show to NBC. Guedel
liked the idea for a different reason: CBS had been getting some of NBC's biggest
names (Jack Benny, Amos 'n' Andy, Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton),
and here was a chance for NBC to get a little revenge. It worked; I needn't go
into the ratings or memorable contestants over the years.