When I Love
Lucy debuted in 1951, it became a hit for CBS
and sponsors were clamoring for more shows like it to bring attention to their
products. NBC commissioned a similar
production of their own with physical comedienne Joan Davis as the lead. I
Married Joan centered on the antics of scatterbrained and clumsy housewife
Joan Stevens who tended to get herself into a variety of pratfalls all designed
to show off Davis’ physical skills. Early episodes would set up their stories
by featuring her husband, mild-mannered community judge Bradley Stevens (Jim Backus), relaying it to
people appearing before him in his court. These wraparound segments were
abandoned after a few episodes, allowing the stories to stand on their own. In
the second season, Davis’ daughter, Beverly Willis, would play her
younger sister Beverly Grossman for several episodes.
The Stevens have a guest for dinner.
I Married Joan debuted on NBC
on October 15, 1952. To help entice Lucy’s audience to check it out, the
first season was directed by Lucy season one director Marc Daniels. NBC scheduled it
against the first half of the popular Arthur Godfrey and his
Friends on CBS, resulting in it getting marginally decent ratings.
Fortunately the scandal that followed Arthur Godfrey’s on-air firing of singer Julius La Rosa caused an
irreparable decline in Godfrey’s popularity, allowing Joan to get
significantly better ratings for the second season. Unfortunately, this boost
was temporary as the ratings plummeted again when ABC
debuted Disneyland. That, combined with Davis’ reported health problems
(although she continued to make appearances up until her death), led to the
show being cancelled after 3 seasons and 98 episodes. The following season, NBC
moved reruns to its Saturday morning line-up for a year. Beginning in the
1980s, the series has had a sporadic syndication run on CBN (now Freeform), ION Television, AMG TV and Decades
network. Episodes have also been screened at the annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia
Convention.
No comments:
Post a Comment