raysond

Early sitcoms out of the mid-1960's were much simpler and straight-forward just like the one George Burns used earlier with Gracie Allen from the classic "Burns and Allen" show of the 1950's where he did what he did best:playing the straight man while his co-star was more of a clueless gal who wasn't very bright in some aspects.On September 14,1964,comedian George Burns returned to the same formula only this time around on another major television network,this time over at ABC for the short-lived series "Wendy and Me". "Wendy and Me" was one of those light-hearted comedies that came from the studios of Warner Brothers that didn't last very long. Here George Burns serves as not only the star and narrator but also was the executive producer of this series along with Warners executive William T. Orr. Connie Stevens also starred in the short-lived comedy as the ditzie,bubbly,cute,blond who was always getting into one comical situation after another..LONG before the likes of Goldie Hawn and Suzanne Somers. "Wendy and Me" didn't last a season,producing 34 episodes all in black and white. The show that preceded it was another short-lived series titled "The Bing Crosby Show" which didn't last long over at ABC neither."Wendy and Me" was Connie Stevens final appearance in a television series for Warners(her final TV series with Warner Bors.) where she was the queen of the contract players for Warners who before this series appeared in the TV shows "Hawaiian Eye","Surfside Six",for the studio as well as some good theatrical features. Her theatrical movies "Parrish", "Susan Slade",and "Palm Springs Weekend"--all starring Troy Donahue,not to mention her two remaining films with the studio "Two On A Guillotine"(starring Dean Jones,before he went under contract for Disney),and her last one with Warners "Never Too Late" starring Jim Hutton. Also starring in this short-lived comedy were a young Ron Harper,and the great J. Pat O'Malley who had a major role as the maintenance supervisor while both Burns and Stevens played off on him.Out of the 34 episodes that were produced,this series was a goner by May 24,1965 when it faced stiff competition in the ratings(it was on Monday nights opposite NBC's The Andy Williams Show and The Lucy Show over at CBS). The last time this show was ever shown was during the mid-1980's when the Christian Broadcasting Network revived it for its weekday morning line-up schedule of long lost shows.

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Bob

Early sitcoms were much simpler, but the formula for this one was much the same as George Burns used earlier with Gracie Allen where he did what he did best: playing the straight man. Connie Stevens was the ditzie, bubbly, cute, blond and she was great, much like Goldie Hawn a few years later. J. Pat O'Malley (you won't recognize the name but he was a character actor who was in about ever series on from the early 50's to the early 80's) had a major role as the building maintenance man and both Burns and and Stevens played off him. It was a wonderful series that only lasted a couple of years and will never be seen again even on DVD, a shame.

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