Jeannie II was as naughty as Samantha’s cousin Serena on Bewitched. All you have to do to create an evil twin is put a dark wig on a blonde actress and hey, presto!
Part of the fun of shows like McHale’s Navy and F-Troop was how over-the-top they were. Yes, the writing and acting were atrocious, but that was part of the joke. For years, they were two of the high points in my viewing schedule.
Nitpick: The correct term is “Mothers-in-Law.” Like “Courts Martial” and “Attorneys General.”
Kinda like how all it takes to convert a spinster librarian into a sexpot is have her remove her glasses and shake her hair down.
Hollywood has some amazing magic tricks. If only they worked in the real world. Sigh.
One more comment, just for the record: I never cared for most of the sitcoms of the '70s. They were all too contrived and preachy. The only one of Norman Lear’s sitcoms I’d watch today is Fernwood 2-Night, which was a brilliant satire and really took the piss out of late-night talk shows.
I can no longer watch most sitcoms from the '60s either. They’re far too sappy and the characters are mostly too stupid to be taken seriously.
Fire up an episode of Laugh-In some time.
I was a tween / teen then ('68 - '73) but I can remember my parents and I and my younger sibs all guffawing mightily for 30 minutes. Or was it 60? Hmmm … Wiki sez 60.
So lame.
Although like many serials of the era, part of the fun is knowing what’s coming and anticipating the pratfall or whatever. Which anticipation is lost when you watch just one episode cold.
The few times I watched Laugh-In, the only thing I found funny was Ruth Buzzi’s Gladys Ormphby beating the crap out of Arte Johnson’s dirty old man Tyrone.
T: Would you call me … attractive?
G: Whomp, whomp!
T: Would you call me … alluring?
G: Whomp, whomp, whomp!
T: Would you call me … sexy?
G: Whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp!
T: Would you call me … an ambulance?
Riddle me this, Batman…
ETA: @terentii 2 posts up.
I laughed at that. My Dad loved the Tyrone character. Now I are one.
For me then, Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine the Phone Company operator was always good for a chuckle or three. Likewise Arte Johnson on his trike with the raincoat. The crash at the end was totally predictable and somehow still a novel surprise every time.
I also enjoyed the Dick & Dan closing dialog and the Fickle Finger of Fate. They were pillorying the f-ed up politics of their time.
If only we could develop such a thing today…
I will go to my grave a happy man because etched in my mind is the image of Victoria Principal walking out of an elevator in Alan Funt’s movie What Do You Say To A Naked Lady.
Here’s a simple test for that assertion. Take as large a sample as you want of people who were born after both IDOJ and Dallas went off the air. Ask them if they ever heard of IDOJ. If they say they have, ask them who was in the cast. Frankly I’d be surprised if they could answer either Barbara Eden or Larry Hagman.
I thought it was pretty great when I was a kid. In my defense: Melody Patterson. I didn’t find out until decades later that she was actually a lot closer to me in age than I thought (the age I was when I was watching it). She lied about her age, she was 15 when she got the role.
Which begs the question: Who’s the snazziest dresser? Barth Gimble or Larry Sanders? (Sorry! Wrong thread.)
That’s not quite fair unless you also ask them the names of actors playing comparably prominent Dallas characters.
The difference is what matters, not the absolute level of knowledge.
Yes, but if they can’t say Hagman was in IDOJ, then they can’t know him for that role.
The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate.
You bet your sweet bippy.
Say goodnight Dan.
Sock it to me!
The same goes for me. I don’t think I’ve watched a complete episode of Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeanie, The Munsters, The Addams Family, and many other sitcoms that were on perpetual rerun when I was growing up since either the late late 80s or the very early 90s.
[VOICE OF JERRY HUBBARD]: Barth, of course. It’s perfectly clear to me!