Doris Day(s) #11: “The Job” (12/17/68, prod. no #8520)

With the eleventh episode in the first season of The Doris Day Show (and I’ve got 117 more episodes to go—Gott in Himmel, what have I gotten myself into…), we experience the first of several major cast shake-ups in the sitcom’s five-year history.  (Oh, there’s plenty more to come, my friends…)  Fran Ryan is sent packing off to Hooterville, and is replaced…

…by actress Naomi Stevens, in the role of Latino domestic Juanita.  (That’s it.  No last name, no nothing.)  If that weren’t enough of an injustice, she’s now second-to-last in the billing (between the kids and the dog—at least Fran followed Denver Pyle’s credit).  Which is a shame, because Stevens was a prolific character actress with over 100 film and TV credits on her show business resume, though generally called upon to play many ethnic roles (her characters were invariably Jewish, Italian or Latino).  Her best known film role is that of Jack Kruschen’s wife (“Mildred!”) in The Apartment (1960); Kruschen, of course, playing the doctor who lives next door to Jack Lemmon and who attends to Shirley MacLaine when she tries to kill herself swallowing pills.  Naomi was also in The Black Orchid (1958), Convicts 4 (1962) and Valley of the Dolls (1967), and did quite a bit of television—with recurring roles on such series as The Flying Nun and My Three Sons.  She co-starred as the matriarch of a Italian family in a short-lived 1975 sitcom called The Montefuscos, and appeared in the first season of TV’s Vega$ as Sergeant Bella Archer, a colleague of Lt. David Nelson, detective Dan Tanna’s liaison on the force.

You’ll notice—this is the part that amuses me so, and since this show strains for laughs I’ll take ‘em where I can find ‘em—that her credits…

…are similar to that of the departed Aggie’s, which makes me ponder as to whether the minds behind the show were so cynical that they thought: “Eh…one housekeeper is pretty much the same as the other.  They’ll never notice the difference.” 

This week’s Doris Day(s) installment, “The Job,” sheds a little more light on the Widow Martin’s shrouded-in-mystery background.  We know that she moved back to the country estate run by her father, Laird Buckley Webb (Denver Pyle), after experiencing life in the big city with her two sons, Billy (Philip Brown) and Toby (Tod Starke)…and we know that the boys’ father snuffed it—but are not privy to any of the specific details (knowing Doris’ propensity for baking desserts, however, I’m going to speculate that it may have been adult onset diabetes).

But this week we’ll learn that “the big city” was in fact “the Big Apple,” and as the episode gets underway we look in on Billy and Toby as they carry firewood into the kitchen of the Family Martin.  Doris has called an audible for breakfast, substituting what was going to be a chocolate torte with some good old-fashioned flapjacks, which she is a-flippin’ in an attempt to be fancy.

BILLY: Hey, that’s great, Mom!

DORIS: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Yes, Doris channels a little B.T.O. and in her flapjack-flipping zeal…

…one affixes itself to the ceiling.  The boys and Doris find this the height of high hilarity, but that’s because they live on a farm.  The pancake eventually falls and Doris catches it on a plate, then directs her brood to the dining table.

Buck and his loyal (if painfully stupid) farmhand, Leroy B. Semple Simpson (James Hampton), have just finished their breakfast and are getting up from the table.  Doris announces that she will answer a ringing phone (Buck: “You better…’cause we’re leavin’…”) and on the other end is a woman informing our heroine she has a telegram.

DORIS (on the phone): I got a telegram?  Whee!  Hey…would you hold on a second?  (She sits down and tosses Leroy his hat) Leroy!  Okay, now…read it to me, will ya?

NELL (on the other end): Dear Doris…as usual, it’s crisis time…need you desperately…can you come to New York for four days?  That’s all I ask…love…signed, Maggie Wells…

DORIS (sighing): Uh-oh…uh…Nell?  Uh…I’d like to send a wire right back…

NELL: Same person?

DORIS: Uh…yeah, to Maggie Wells…yeah…same lady…uh…hey—how’s the baby?

NELL: It was just colic…she’s fine!

DORIS: Is she?

NELL: Now the telegram…

Yes, Doris—Nell doesn’t have all day to chit-chat with you about her sick kid.  Dodo directs the telegram to Maggie Wells (Linda Watkins) in care of Ladies’ World magazine, telling her that “much as I would like to…can’t possibly come back at this time…”

MAGGIE (finishing the telegram): …thank you for thinking of me…I am terribly flattered…love, Doris…

JO: I told you the telegram wouldn’t work…

Now is as good a time as any to meet our two guest stars this week.  In the role of Maggie Wells, the pure dagnasty evil editor of the fictional Ladies’ World, is veteran actress Linda Watkins.  Watkins is best known for playing Edna Robinson, the pure dagnasty evil mother of Vicky Robinson (Joanna Barnes) in the 1961 Walt Disney comedy The Parent Trap (Vicky was the fiancée of Mitch Evers, played by Brian Keith), and she also appeared a few times on McMillan & Wife as Sally’s mom (Sally being played, of course, by Susan Saint James).  Watkins’ film career stretches all the way back to the 1930s, where she appeared in such vehicles as Sob Sister (1931) and Charlie Chan’s Chance (1932)—but she’s probably better known for movies she did later on, like Ten North Frederick (1958), Cash McCall (1959) and Because They’re Young (1960).  She also had a fistful of guest appearances on TV series like Thriller (she’s in two classic episodes, “The Cheaters” and “A Wig for Miss Devore”), The Untouchables, Hawaiian Eye and Gunsmoke.

She is also wearing what appears to be an ice bucket on her head.  I tell you this because although she is a very powerful magazine editor, her taste in millinery leaves much to be desired.

Her lackey Jo is played by Joanne Miya (also billed as Jo Anne Miya) who, according to the (always reliable) IMDb, left show business to pursue honest work and in 1978 became the artistic director of Great Leap, Inc.—described as “a non-profit arts organization which uses the arts to promote deeper understanding between the diverse cultures of America.”  She played Francesca in West Side Story (1961) and was also in The King and I (1956) and the Albert Zugsmith oddity Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)—her notable small screen work includes Laramie, I Spy and a recurring role on Arrest and Trial (1963-64), a precursor to the mega-popular Law & Order that The Classic TV History Blog’s Stephen Bowie has written about extensively here.

And now…back to the action (such as it is)…

MAGGIE: Regardless…she’s still the only solution to our problem…

JO: I don’t get it, Maggie…if time is such a factor, why not assign somebody else?

MAGGIE: Because Doris knows these charity rackets…she’s the only one with the contacts to wrap up the exposé…in time for the press run…that’s why I want her…

JO: Well, according to that—she plans to stay on that ranch…

Maggie tents her fingers and smiles: “Just wait until Season 3, my pretty…”

MAGGIE: Then it looks like I’ll have to go out to…where is it?

JO: Cotina…

I love Cotina, tell the world I do

I love Cotina, tell the world I do

I pray at night it'd like to love me too

Cotina, Cotina

Cotina, Cotina

Cotina, Cotina

I love you so

Oh, yeah baby…I got the X Factor.

MAGGIE: Hmm…and drag her back…so you’d better book me out on the Tumbleweed Flight…I’m going to pack my spurs…

Would it be catty of me to assume she’s not going by broom because she needs the frequent flier miles?  “Maggie,” assistant Jo asks as her boss sashays out the door, “why the persistence?”

“Because once I get Doris Martin off that ranch and into New York,” she purrs, “I’m going to talk her into stay here permanently.”  Hot cookies, Agnes!™ Just what this show needs to perk up my sagging interest—a supervillain!  Oh, and as Maggie heads off to do eevill, there’s a close-up on this objet d’art:

Don’t ask me why.  The scene shifts to a shot of the Martin Family truckster pulling up in the front yard—Buck, Doris, Leroy, Juanita and the boys have just come back from church…and we’re about to hear Juanita speak for the first time.  Doris spots Maggie on the front porch and runs to give her a hug…taking care not to say anything about that hideous thing on her head…

…yeah, you thought I was kidding about the hat thing, weren’t ya?  Did the feathers come from that owl we saw earlier?  Quien sabe?

DORIS: What a surprise!  How’d you find us?

MAGGIE: Local cab…who informed me everybody in Cotina’s in church…

“Because that’s all there is to do in this burg on a Sunday.”  Doris prepares to introduce Maggie to the family, but first tells her ixnay on entioningmay the elegramtay, because she didn’t say anything to the group.

BUCK: Hello, Ms. Wells!

MAGGIE: Ohh…you’ve got to be Buck!

BUCK: That’s right, ma’am…

MAGGIE: Because I know those little ones don’t have beards…

(Everyone laughs)

DORIS: Oh, I don’t know…this is Billy…

BILLY: Hi…

DORIS: …and Toby…

“I like cheese!”

BUCK (indicating Leroy): This is Leroy…Doris’ oldest boy…

Okay, I am ashamed to admit I did laugh at this.  And Doris punctuates the gag by elbowing Buck in the ribs.

LEROY (shaking her hand): Howdy, ma’am…

MAGGIE (laughing): Nice to know you, Leroy…

DORIS: …and Juanita!

JUANITA: How do you do?

MAGGIE: Juanita…I’m so glad to know you…I’ve heard so much about you and your fabulous cooking!

JUANITA: Oh!

DORIS (patting Buck’s stomach): And he can prove it!

What the…front yard?  She’s been on the freaking show for only four minutes and already she’s got a reputation for exquisite cuisine that’s the toast of New York.  (Ay caramba.)  Juanita scoots along inside to make coffee for everyone, and a syndicated edit finds Doris helping Maggie get muy comfortable in the guest room.

MAGGIE: Why did you want me to cool the telegram in front of the family?

DORIS: Because I hadn’t discussed it with them, Maggie…I mean, I had decided not to go to New York and so…um…there was no sense in telling them about it…

MAGGIE: Mm-hmm…but…uh…you know how persistent I am…

DORIS: You’re here, aren’t you?

Maggie cackles, scaring the neighborhood children two miles away, and then tells Dor the reason for her visit.

MAGGIE: Look…all I’m asking you to do is come back with me…for just four days…you know that story you did two years ago with Senator Rivers…on charity frauds?

DORIS: Yep…

MAGGIE: Well…Mac McCauley…dropped out on me…and you’re the only one who can get the job done for me…

“Plus we need one more for the coven.  No—wait!  Forget I said ‘coven’…”

DORIS: Oh, Maggie…

MAGGIE: We’ll contact Senator Rivers…and line up appointments with Congressmen Piper and Figaro…

DORIS: What about the art?  Is that all in?

MAGGIE: Every bit of it…all we need is to wrap up…

“…a newborn baby for the sacrifice.  Damn it!”

MAGGIE: …that, you’ll supply…

DORIS: Well…I would have to go to, uh, Washington to see the Senator…and that would mean…hey, wait a minute!  Don’t you do that!

MAGGIE: What?

“That hypnotic thingy with your eyes—I’m wise to you!”

DORIS: You know darn well what!  You’ve got a nice little role going here, and I fell right in…just beautifully…

MAGGIE: I need you…

“You’re the only one who can correctly pronounce the Latin incantations!”

MAGGIE: Doris, do you think I would have come all the way out here to this cowboy-and-Indian country if I weren’t desperate?

DORIS: I know, Mag…but…I’m just going to have to discuss it with my father and the boys…now, that’s all…

MAGGIE: I’m sure they can get along without you for a few days…

DORIS: Well, I’m not…they depend on me for everything around here…look…I’ll tell you what I’ll do…I’ll have a talk with them…and see how they feel…and then I’ll decide…is that okay?

MAGGIE (smiling): Fair enough…

Well, for a family that depends on Doris for “everything around here,” we find in the next scene (Buck and the boys are currying a pony—something you rarely saw on the “farm” sitcom Mayberry R.F.D., I hasten to add) that they really don’t give a flying frog’s ass what she does.  Okay, maybe I’ve shortened that a little for the sake of brevity, but the gist of it is that Buck thinks it’s a fine idea, suggesting that Juanita will take care of him and the boys and they’ll get along great.  Billy gives his thumbs up as well, and all little Toby wants to know is “What are you gonna bring us?”

After finishing with the pony, Buck and his grandsons hook him up to a tiny wagon so that the boys can…oh, hell—tool around the vast estate, I guess.  They exit stage left, but then Buck then runs back to Doris…

BUCK: Look…just because we think you oughta go doesn’t mean we won’t miss ya… (He runs back off in the direction of the wagon)

DORIS (yelling after him): Yeah, I noticed how you all fell apart!

And so there’s a dissolve to the Webb front porch, as Leroy carries Doris’ valises out to the station wagon and she bids her family a tearful goodbye…

DORIS: Don’t forget now—if you need me for anything, I’m either at Maggie’s apartment or the magazine…got that?  (She opens the car door, then turns around) Hey—did I give you the number?

JUANITA (pulling a slip of paper out of her apron): Oh—I got it right here, Doris…

BILLY (also holding a slip of paper): I got it!

TOBY (likewise): I got it, too!

BUCK (helping Doris into the car): You also left one with me…

LEROY (climbing into the driver’s seat): I got one, too!

DORIS (sheepishly, to Maggie): I’m a mother…

And here’s the biggest mother of them all…

Sorry about that…just wanted to see if you were still with me.  As Leroy drives off with Doris and Maggie, Doris yells out the car window at Juanita to keep Buck on his diet.  “Fat chance with you out of town!” crows Buck, demonstrating a love of puns.  Doris also tells the little ones to remember to brush their teeth—which is the same thing she told them as they were headed off for their trek into the woods in last week’s “The Camping Trip.”

A shift in scene finds Doris in Maggie’s office at Ladies’ World; she’s on the phone with Senator Claghorn—I say, Claghorn’s the name—nailing down the details of “the big story.”

DORIS: Senator?  This is Doris Martin again…

“Doris Martin?!!  How in the hell did you get the number of this whorehouse?!!”

DORIS: …sorry to bother you…but I spoke with Congressman Piper…and he said his bill will be out of committee in about a week…

Notice the look Jo shoots Doris.  “You bitch…I was Maggie’s favorite until your sorry ass got here…”

DORIS: …will that help you?  (After a pause)  I thought so…good…yes, sir—I’m leaving in the morning…yes, I’ll have a good flight…I hope to see you soon…goodbye…

Now…I am not a professional journalist—although I did play one briefly in a sitcom pilot, Press the Meat—but she seems a bit cozy with Senator Bloat there.  Be that as it may, Maggie is beaming because Doris Martin gets results, baby!

DORIS (as she hangs up the receiver): What a nice man…he’s been such a help…by the way—you know he’s starting the public hearings with the subcommittee in about one month…so what my research doesn’t tell you, his investigation will…for your follow-up, okay?

I’m sorry…I’m…it’s just that you so rarely see that kind of productive legislative activity today.  You can definitely tell this is television make-believe.

DORIS (gathering up her files): Well…I guess that about does it, old dear… (She smiles at Maggie) And…I thought that now I might go down and…uh…see the girls and have some coffee…I want to say goodbye to them…see you in a minute…

“Jo!  Release the flying monkeys!  She must not be allowed to escape!”

MAGGIE: Now my work begins…

JO (shaking her head): You’ll never do it…you heard what she said—she can’t wait to get home!

MAGGIE: Why don’t you and I make a little bet?

Dun-dun-DUN!!!  A shift in scenery finds Doris looking at a breathtaking view from Maggie’s cast…er, penthouse apartment.  The two women are downing a couple of hemlock cocktails and enjoying the view.

MAGGIE: Let’s get serious for a minute…it’s cards on the table time…I’m hereby offering you a permanent job with a marvelous salary…and an unlimited future…

“Plus all the children you can eat—where are you going to find a benefits package like that?”

DORIS (smiling): Oh, Mag…thank you…thank you so much, I’m…I’m very flattered…but I…I can’t possibly say yes…

Do…she just offered you a job…it’s not an Indecent Proposal kind of thing.

DORIS: I have…you know, a family to think of…and…

MAGGIE: Let’s face it…writing is your world…

A Ladies’ World.

MAGGIE: …that article you just finished for us…you should be proud…

DORIS: I am proud of that…it was…uh…very satisfying…

MAGGIE: If you have a talent for writing…then it’s wrong not to use it, and you have to place your energies where they’ll do the most good…you can’t afford to sit on a ranch…with your talent, you must contribute…

DORIS: Maggie Wells, when I came home from church and found you sitting on the front porch I knew that you were going to get around to that very dialogue… (Laughing) I knew it!

MAGGIE: Honey, look…

“Look into my eyes…deeper…deeper…”  Okay, that’s just me having fun—Maggie tells her to go back home and talk it over with the family, to find out how they feel.  “I’ll even go with you,” she purrs.  “I wouldn’t mind getting away for a few days myself.”  (Doris!  It’s a trap!)

“Oh, boy,” Doris hems and haws.  She hasn’t said yes—“but what surprises me is I haven’t said no.”  What surprises me is, all of a sudden Doris is freaking Jane Mayer…and in “The Songwriter” she couldn’t even string coherent song lyrics together.  But it’s time for a commercial…

At the start of Act 2, we find Doris and Maggie arriving back at Rancho Webb—I’m assuming that Buck was driving the station wagon, since Leroy is on hand to greet Doris along with Juanita and the boys.  Her sons ask her to close her eyes as they direct her into the house, and when she opens them…

“Surprise, Mom!  We had a bitchin’ kegger while you were gone!”  No, I’m only kidding—they welcome the prodigal mother back with open arms, and have prepared the fatted apple turnovers for her arrival.

Maggie…maybe you should just stick with the pointed hat—okay, darlin’?

MAGGIE: Doris…why don’t you show Toby and Billy their surprises?

“Yes…my…mistress…”  Doris starts to take the boys upstairs and up to their room, and Buck interrupts, suggesting that she might want to lie down after her trip.  But Doris insists she’s fresh as a daisy, and in fact has something she wants to discuss with him when she comes back down.  Which means Maggie had better put Operation Coven into high gear…

BUCK: I wonder what she wants to talk to us about…

MAGGIE (after a pause): The same thing I want to talk to you about… (She walks over to the couch and seats herself) Please…sit down for a few minutes?

BUCK (warily making his way over to where Maggie is sitting): Hey…this is beginnin’ to sound serious…

MAGGIE: First…I want to ask you…how you’d feel about Doris moving to New York? (Quickly) And before you say ‘no’…

BUCK (with a hand up): I’m not sayin’ ‘no’…now you asked me to listen…I’m listenin’…

Look away from her eyes, Buck…for God’s sake, look away!

MAGGIE: Well, Doris doesn’t know I’m saying anything about this…but I’ve offered her a permanent job in New York…an important job!

BUCK: There are a lot of viewpoints on…what makes a job important…you see, out here we think that…uh…runnin’ a ranch…raisin’ two boys on a farm…we think that’s important…

MAGGIE: Well, I…I respect your kind of life, Mr. Webb…and I can understand why you think so much of it…but…

“I haven’t forgotten that you Webbs are just simple farmers…that you’re people of the land…the common clay of the new West…you know…morons…”

BUCK: Miss Wells…I’ve got a feelin’ you’ve got somethin’ to say about this job on your own…otherwise you’d let Doris tell us, so…why don’t you get right to point?

So Maggie gushes to Buck about the amazing talent that is his daughter, how she “glowed” while working her assignment (though that could have been a spell cast by Jo) and how it would be criminal to deny the world Doris’ writing skills.  Plus, his grandsons would be “given a fantastic opportunity to travel,” even though it’s likely that when they re-visit their grandfather they’ll start poking fun at his lifestyle in the same manner that I do in these write-ups.

MAGGIE: Now…I’ll tell you what I think, Mr. Webb…I think she’d love to accept my offer…but she’s thinking of you and the boys…not of herself…one negative word from any of you and as much as she’d really like to take the job…I know she’s going to turn it down…

BUCK: She was…uh…she was that happy in New York?

MAGGIE: I’ve never seen her happier…

“When you awake…you will be a pathetic but pliable being…willing to do my bidding at my slightest gesture…”  There is an incredibly awkward pause as Buck gets up and walks over to another part of the living room, contemplating what Maggie has manipulated him into.  He then lights his pipe.  “All right, Miss Wells…we’ll do it your way,” he tells her quietly. 

MAGGIE: Mr. Webb…I know how difficult this is for you…but you won’t be sorry…it may be a little hard to explain to the boys…

BUCK: Don’t worry about the boys…

“I’ll beat some approval into them…”

BUCK: …once they hear it’ll make their mother happy they’ll do the same thing I’m doin’…

And that would be…smoking a pipe?  Buck walks away, still in deep thought, and Maggie resists the urge to strip down naked and dance around a suddenly materialized cauldron.  There is then a scene shift to the Webb family front porch, as Buck tries to convince his grandsons that neither he nor Doris has been manipulated by a woman who’d bake them both into kid pies at the blink of a raven’s eye.

TOBY: I don’t wanna go back to New York, Grandpa…

“I like being beaten up by the kids here!”

BILLY: It would make Mom happy, Tobe…

TOBY (sadly): Yeah…yeah, I know…

Maggie ventures out onto the porch and greets Buck and the boys, then admires the grandeur of the Western sky (there’s even a shot of a shooting star).  “Why is it they’re never this bright in the city?” she asks, and I’m going to assume she’s talking about stars and not Buck’s grandkids.

“Maybe they are,” Buck philosophizes.  “People are just too busy lookin’ down.”  (Wow…that’s just…wow…)  Doris enters the porch area, and Buck asks her if she’s about ready to discuss what she alluded to earlier.  Maggie excuses herself because she has some frogs to de-wart.  “Don’t forget, you two,” she says to the boys as she leaves, “you’re going to show me the lake tomorrow.”  (I don’t like the sound of that.)

DORIS: Look, I…I don’t mean to…have this sound like the big mystery, you know…it isn’t that at all…but…it is something that…affects us, and…uh…so I’ll tell you what it is…and we can discuss it…and then we’ll make a decision, okay?

BUCK: Okay!

DORIS: Maggie offered me a fantastic job on the magazine…which would mean living in New York…

BUCK: Well?

DORIS (after a pause): Well?  You know it would mean leaving you alone here if I took it…

BUCK: Well, sure…New York ain’t exactly commutin’ distance, you know…

DORIS: And for the boys…it would mean…going to school in New York…it would be a lot different than it is here…and you wouldn’t have your bikes…and you wouldn’t have your horses…

BUCK: Well…couldn’t they go to the park for those things?

I’m with Buck…I’m pretty sure I’ve seen bikes and horses in New York a time or two.  “Sounds like fun,” replies Billy, and his little brother weighs in with an echo: “Yeah, fun!”

Doris is a little nonplussed at the cavalier attitude of her family on this big move thing, and protests that they really haven’t discussed every little detail…while Buck counters (because he’s under Maggie’s control): “It seems to me that’s just what we discussed.”

“You don’t just…rush into something in three minutes time that may affect our whole lives!” argues Doris, displaying precious little insight into just how sitcoms work.

“If we think that this is a good move,” he explains, “have you got anything against it?”  Doris is hard-pressed to come up with a coherent response, so Buck excuses himself and the boys, as they have things to do in the barn.  It’s not until three o’clock in the a.m.…

…that Doris starts to hear voices in her head.  She rises and shines and races down to where Maggie is sleeping: “Maggie Wells—I want to talk to you!”  Doris has realized the true malevolent power of Maggie’s magic, and she calls her family down to the living room to continue the discussion on whether she should go to New York.  There’s no sense in rehashing all of this folderol—Doris is not going to go.

Awwww…group hugs, everyone!  “Boy…this would have been a lonely place without the three of you,” Buck observes.  (You might want to bail by Season Three, big fella.)

Okay, let’s slap a coda on this and call it a day.  Doris and her family resist the urge to burn Maggie for her treachery, and instead the family escorts out to the station wagon, with Leroy driving her back to the airport.

MAGGIE: I was so sure we’d be leaving together…

DORIS: Well…don’t feel bad, Mag…any of those four-day emergencies come up again, I’m your girl…

MAGGIE: I may manufacture a few emergencies…

DORIS: I’m sure…

“All I need is some bat wing…and the clavicle of a small, cheese-eating boy…”

MAGGIE (to Buck): I hope you don’t hold my little plot against me…

BUCK: Oh no, ma’am…you’re a career woman—and career women have to do things like that…

MAGGIE: That’s right…they do…

Remember that time on That Girl when Ann Marie changed her boyfriend into a hideous gargoyle just to get a part in a TV commercial?  (It’s not easy for a working gal.)  As Maggie and Leroy get set to motor, she calls Doris over to the car.  “I want to tell you something,” she confides.  “And if you ever quote me, I’ll deny it.”

“I won’t,” promises Doris.  “What?”

“You’d have been a darn fool to leave this place,” she continues.  “That’s what I thought,” finishes Doris with a “toodle-oo!”  Leroy drives off with the witch, and the family soon comes down with a plague of festering boils.

“The Job” is one of the most interesting episodes in the Doris Day(s) canon…not because it’s entertaining (because goodness knows it is not), but because its history will end up being negated in future seasons.  Eventually, Doris decides that living on a ranch is strictly déclassé, and she will move to a San Francisco apartment in the third season with her kids, scarcely worrying then about their damn bikes or horses.  Then in the fourth season…well, she doesn’t even have the kids to worry about.

In the season prior to the big move (Season Two), Doris lands a job in the city that made Rice-a-Roni a treat, working for a magazine called Today’s World…but strangely enough, the record of her previous writing skills vanishes in a sitcom mist—she toils as a mere secretary to the magazine’s editor, played by McLean Stevenson, and her best bud is another administrative assistant played by Rose Marie.  In the fourth season, both McLean and Ro are gone, and she has a new boss in Mister John Dehner and sidekick in Facebook chum Jackie Joseph (Lawrence).  (By the way—Jackie Joseph was once married to Ken Berry, proving that it always comes back to R.F.D.)  Doris’ writing talents have returned by then, though she is not held in the reverent regard that she received in this episode—in fact, Dehner’s character frequently exploits her and takes her for granted.  (But that’s a long way off…assuming I survive that long.)

“The Job” was written by future Oscar-winning director-writer James L. Brooks, who before creating and/or co-creating TV classics like Room 222, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant and Taxi, toiled in TV’s vineyards scripting for the likes of My Mother the Car and Hey, Landlord.  (You may remember that J.L. was responsible for one of the worst episodes of Mayberry R.F.D., “Youth Takes Over.”)  Brooks is solid evidence of the dictum (posited by OTR laureate Norman Corwin) that a writer has to have the freedom to churn out dreck before he gets good.

Next time on Doris Day(s)…if you thought the mating habits of handyman Leroy were disturbing, then you won’t know what to make of what happens when Buck gets designs on a woman who’s played by the series’ dialogue coach (for the first season, anyway)…and his rival is an old friend of ours from our Serial Saturdays presentation of Don Winslow in the Navy (1942).  I do hope you’ll join me.  Toodle-oo!