6 Forgotten Television Shows produced by Desilu Studios
In October 1958, LIFE magazine ran a massive eight-page article on Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. “Arnaz and Ball Take Over as Tycoons – $30 Million Desilu Gamble,” the headline declared. The I Love Lucy stars and power couple had entered the production business, with a splash.
“Desilu owns the biggest array of TV film-making facilities in the industry,” the profile boasted. Lucy and Desi had made millions — and made millions for many others — off the back of “I Love Lucy.” But that iconic sitcom had ended in 1957. What was next for Desilu?
Well, the two bosses were headlining “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour,” but they certainly kept busy off the set with a slew of other productions. Over the next decade, Desilu would craft groundbreaking adventure series such as “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Mannix.”
But, as with any studio, there were some lesser series that vanished rather quickly. But each was interesting in its own right and brought something new to the table.
WHIRLYBIRDS (1957-60)
A series centering around helicopter pilots in California, “Whirlybirds” set the mold for transportation-heavy adventures like “The Love Boat” and “Riptide” that would follow decades later. Each week, guest stars would pop in to charter flights from Whirlybirds, Inc.
The genesis of this show can be traced to the novelty of Lucy Ricardo hopping on a copter in the” I Love Lucy” episode “Bon Voyage.” People marveled at the hovering aircraft enough that Ball pursued an entire series around the machines. In syndication, it was known as “Copter Patrol,” while its star, Kenneth Tobey, later reprised his character of Chuck Martin on a 1960 episode of “Lassie” titled “The Rescue.”
THIS IS ALICE (1958-59)
In the late Fifties, “Dennis the Menace” and “Leave It to Beaver” turned the sitcom spotlight to kids. It was a rather new concept in the medium to focus on adolescents instead of adults. “This Is Alice” attempted to create the female version of Theodore Cleaver. Young Kathy Garver, who would go on to star in “Family Affair,” auditioned for the lead role of Alice, a little girl growing up in Georgia. It ended up going to the pig-tailed Patty Ann Garrity, but Garver landed a supporting role on the series. The syndicated series ended up in an 8pm slot on Thursdays, just after ABC’s “Beaver” aired, which put it up against another Desilu production, “December Bride” on CBS.
Although “I Love Lucy” had Little Ricky and “The Andy Griffith Show” had Opie, those characters remained peripheral except for occasional special episodes.
GUESTWARD, HO! (1960-61)
In the 1950s, when you did well in the ratings, it meant you did really well in the ratings. “I Love Lucy” had nearly a 50 Nielsen rating, meaning that a whopping half of TV owners were tuning in. There was one negative side effect to such massive success — the actors were typecast. Vivian Vance, best known as Ethel Mertz, found out the hard way when she was cast as the lead in “Guestward, Ho!” She filmed the pilot but was axed from the series thanks to her own bosses not being able to see her as an actress, not as Ethel, “I kept waiting for Lucy to come in,” one network exec complained. Thus, Vance was replaced, and Joanne Dru was cast as Babs Hooten, a real-life Big Apple mom who moved her clan to New Mexico to run a dude ranch. There was even a cute, Opie-ish kid (Flip Mark) and a dog. Alas, this Western comedy only lasted a season on ABC.
It didn’t take long for Lucy to convince Viv to join her on “The Lucy Show”, although the move did little to counteract her typecasting as Lucy’s sidekick. A girl has to eat!
HARRIGAN AND SON (1960-61)
This father-son legal comedy might only be remembered for its far more famous lead-in — “The Flintstones.” Both sitcoms premiered on Friday nights on ABC in 1960, with the live-action Desilu show preceding the animated adventures in Bedrock. A series revolving around an veteran lawyer who constant blurted quotes in Latin was perhaps not the best way to hook families awaiting a cartoon with dinosaurs.
The show starred Pat O’Hara as Harrigan Senior, and two products of Lucy’s Desilu Workshop, Roger Perry and Georgine Darcy, who starred with Lucy and Desi in their 1959 Christmas Special “The Desilu Revue.” Notable guest stars such as Eva Gabor, John Astin, and Ken Berry gave the lawyers’ high jinks a great pedigree. In another time slot it just might have clicked.
FAIR EXCHANGE (1962-63)
The most fascinating aspect of this forgotten comedy was its length. The fish-out-of-water sitcom ran for a full hour. With twice the time to fill, “Fair Exchange” was essentially two shows in one. Two young women, one from NYC and one from London, both the daughters of WWII buddies, switch households. Judy Carne (above with Mark Goddard) played the Brit visiting in Manhattan; Lynn Loring was the Yank in the UK. Both went on to great success after this noble failure. Carne was later shouting, “Sock it to me!” on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Decades later, Loring had worked her way up the Hollywood ladder to become the president of MGM/UA Television Productions. Flip Mark, directly from “Guestward, Ho!” was also a series regular. He’d also appear in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.” After CBS axed “Fair Exchange,” fans flooded the network with letters, and the sitcom was briefly revived in half-hour form.
GLYNIS (1963)
Welsh actress Glynis Johns is perhaps best known to American families as the suffragette mom in Disney’s “Mary Poppins.” If her eponymous sitcom had clicked with viewers, she might not have landed the role. Glynis hit small screens a year earlier than “Poppins,” bringing a high concept to Wednesday nights — as a lead-in to “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” two of the top three shows on television. Johns played a mystery writer married to a defense attorney (Keith Andes). Andes had recently starred on Broadway with Lucille Ball in Wildcat. Together they solved crimes — with laughs along the way. Think “Murder She Wrote” meets “Perry Mason” with punchlines. Perhaps it was just a bit too ahead of its time. In fact, it was. Two years later, in 1965, CBS reran the 13 episodes as a summer filler in place of “The Lucy Show.” It came in sixth in the Neilsen ratings.
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