tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post1623633678650254052..comments2024-03-17T07:25:56.478-04:00Comments on Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Mayberry Mondays #78: “Emmett’s Invention” (03/29/71, prod. no. 0322)Ivan G Shreve Jrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-11474860543647917052021-03-26T14:27:33.001-04:002021-03-26T14:27:33.001-04:00A patent is only valid for twenty years. So Emmett...A patent is only valid for twenty years. So Emmett was lucky to get anything. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-70817255752286331882013-06-04T20:18:40.223-04:002013-06-04T20:18:40.223-04:00Thanks for the link, Hal!
I've been glancing ...Thanks for the link, Hal!<br /><br />I've been glancing at the CBS schedules for the years MRFD was on, and I'm gobsmacked. The first year it was on during a lineup of (in order) Gunsmoke, Here's Lucy, MRFD, Family Affair, then Carol Burnett. They all got good ratings that night but MRFD was ahead of them all, even Gunsmoke.<br /><br />Next season was the same schedule with Family Affair replaced by Doris Day (a young Ivan was programming CBS back then) and the whole night got even better ratings. So I think MRFD may have done so well because it was on during an evening they were watching everything else on CBS anyway.<br /><br />I can't find a list of the highest rated canceled shows except for some recent ones, but I have to think MRFD was one of the highest rated shows canceled, especially during the Rural Purge. I also don't think it could have possibly survived in competition with the more urban dramas and comedies that came into fashion.<br /><br />Staciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05250238254417726987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-90503597049016733512013-06-04T17:05:58.846-04:002013-06-04T17:05:58.846-04:00As for MAYBERRY and the Nielsens, has any show in ...As for MAYBERRY and the Nielsens, has any show in the history of television ever been unceremoniously dumped after three seasons that looked like this?<br /><br />1968-69 # 4<br />1969-70 # 4<br />1970-71 # 15Halhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09291930694234773688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-87686586593087012772013-06-04T17:04:27.038-04:002013-06-04T17:04:27.038-04:00Stacia:
Here's the link to my blog post on F ...Stacia:<br /><br />Here's the link to my blog post on F TROOP's cancellation, which also discussed that of GILLIGAN the same year:<br /><br />http://hornsection.blogspot.com/2013/05/televisions-worst-moments-2-f-troops.html<br /><br />The Nielsens are courtesy TELEVISION Magazine, Volume 24, Number 8 for the season. I found isolated two week periods for the season on microfilm some time back but couldn't find online links (the October and March weeks I cited). The midseason share numbers were from a January 1967 issue of Broadcasting.<br /><br />Interesting thing about GILLIGAN's time slot: the three network offerings were very close together: MONKEES was # 42, GILLIGAN # 49 and IRON HORSE was also renewed, ranking just behind GILLIGAN, in that Monday 7:30 ET slot. Yet GILLIGAN was the only entry that didn't make it to 1967-68. Go figure.<br /><br />I haven't found a definitive season-ending ranking for F TROOP's first season, but I don't think it was very far outside # 30. It was in the top 25 throughout the first half of its first season.<br />It was easily ABC's best performer in that slot in several years against SKELTON though.Halhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09291930694234773688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-58243471749690993312013-06-04T06:03:48.494-04:002013-06-04T06:03:48.494-04:00Tom gushed:
I think the best thing one can say ab...Tom gushed:<br /><br /><i>I think the best thing one can say about MAYBERRY RFD is that it really makes you appreciate THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW even more.</i><br /><br />Then my work here is done! On, Concord!Ivan G Shreve Jrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-69880008592097189982013-06-04T06:02:23.154-04:002013-06-04T06:02:23.154-04:00Stacia asked:
Not to completely derail this threa...Stacia asked:<br /><br /><i>Not to completely derail this thread, but does anyone have a link on the F Troop story?</i><br /><br />I don't know if this is the definitive source -- but here's where I first read about it:<br /><br />http://www.tvobscurities.com/2010/06/q-and-a-was-f-troop-supposed-to-have-a-3rd-season/#more-6619Ivan G Shreve Jrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-12457494084018443012013-06-04T05:31:11.654-04:002013-06-04T05:31:11.654-04:00Congratulations, Ivan, on completing such an arduo...Congratulations, Ivan, on completing such an arduous task with such good humor and fortitude! I think the best thing one can say about MAYBERRY RFD is that it really makes you appreciate THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW even more. Thank you for guiding us through the rougher parts of Mayberry the last three years! It was a fun ride! And good luck when you finally form the Buddy Foster fan club!Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08136938300859457956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-33454278532398634482013-06-03T21:36:15.340-04:002013-06-03T21:36:15.340-04:00Not to completely derail this thread, but does any...Not to completely derail this thread, but does anyone have a link on the F Troop story? What I found online was undiluted weaksauce that had no actual information whatsoever.Staciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05250238254417726987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-11651038239206324002013-06-03T21:15:55.063-04:002013-06-03T21:15:55.063-04:00Hal wrote:
Funny that you brought up the cancella...Hal wrote:<br /><br /><i>Funny that you brought up the cancellation of GILLIGAN; I just researched, and posted at length about F TROOP's equally undeserved demise at the end of that 1966-67 season at the Horn Section. While GILLIGAN got screwed by the higher ups at its network, ABC actually wanted F TROOP back, only to have higher ups at Warners shut production down.</i><br /><br />I didn’t learn until a couple of years ago the story behind <b><i>F Troop’s</i></b> potential third season…and when I finished reading about it my gob was thoroughly smacked. It is interesting to note that <b><i>The Doris Day Show</i></b> features a <b><i>F Troop</i></b> cast-off in James Hampton in its first two seasons…playing a Goober clone who goes by “Leroy B. Simpson”—though I’ve always argued a better name for him would have been “Leroy B. Semple.”<br /><br /><i>So poor Ken Berry actually got screwed out of a successful show that was high in the Nielsens twice within four years! F TROOP was 40th and RFD 15th when each ceased production.</i><br /><br />A friend of mine once remarked: “Ken Berry must have been the unluckiest essobee to ever have been born.”<br /><br /><i>Still thinking about starting "F Troop Fridays" myself...</i><br /><br />If you build it…they will come.<br />Ivan G Shreve Jrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-10761744173825535812013-06-03T21:14:51.971-04:002013-06-03T21:14:51.971-04:00Scott wrote:
Why did anyone watch it? Because it ...Scott wrote:<br /><br /><i>Why did anyone watch it? Because it was on. That's all TV was back then. Oh, there was the occasional deviation from the mediocre (Green Acres, for instance -- that was some Pirandelloeque genius), but I have a hard time believing MRDF (which sounds, appropriately enough, like an antibiotic-resistent staph infection) was ever "appointment television." That anyone ever rushed home in time to catch it, or discussed it the next day around the water cooler (maybe, maybe while standing at the urinals, but only if the silence was becoming uncomfortable). Most likely you just watched it because it came on next.</i><br /><br />After I stopped laughing at the urinals reference, I became more and more convinced you were right. And yet…there’s still something in me that just doesn’t trust the Nielsen numbers—that television is ultimately something diabolically monstrous right out of Frederik Pohl’s “The Tunnel Under the World.”<br />Ivan G Shreve Jrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-40291986567444408042013-06-03T21:13:26.673-04:002013-06-03T21:13:26.673-04:00Stacia wrote:
It's interesting that the worst...Stacia wrote:<br /><br /><i>It's interesting that the worst episodes were Millie episodes, and while I know the tendency is to say that's because gurlz are icky, I think it's because the writers showed repeatedly that they couldn't write a female character unless she was being someone's maternal stand-in.</i><br /><br />Bullseye on the “maternal stand in.” I really felt uncomfortable singling out so many Millie escapades because I thought it might come off as kind of misogynistic…but the truth is the all-male preserve of <b><i>R.F.D.</i></b> scribes just didn’t write well for her at all. And to compound the problem, in many of those episodes—which generally turn out to be “battle of the sexes” exercises—Sam comes across as a complete jerk, and not the “nice guy” we’re supposed to believe him to be.<br /><br /><i>If the Doris Day show is the wacky one she did in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I am in, baby. Some clips I've seen are completely nutty.</i><br /><br />The great thing about <b><i>The Doris Day Show</i></b> is that in some respects it’s even blander than <b><i>R.F.D.</i></b>, at least in its initial seasons—which should make for some prime mockery. Honestly, people are going to have to scroll back up to the title of each post to make sure it’s not a continuation of <b><i>Mayberry Mondays</i></b>.<br />Ivan G Shreve Jrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-15049911687599218822013-06-03T17:51:55.209-04:002013-06-03T17:51:55.209-04:00The end of an era, Ivan. But damned enjoyable whi...The end of an era, Ivan. But damned enjoyable while it lasted.<br /><br />Funny that you brought up the cancellation of GILLIGAN; I just researched, and posted at length about F TROOP's equally undeserved demise at the end of that 1966-67 season at the Horn Section. While GILLIGAN got screwed by the higher ups at its network, ABC actually wanted F TROOP back, only to have higher ups at Warners shut production down. <br /><br />So poor Ken Berry actually got screwed out of a successful show that was high in the Nielsens twice within four years! F TROOP was 40th and RFD 15th when each ceased production. In 5 seasons as a regular on a series between 1965 and 1971 he was never OUT of the top 40...and ended up with two cancellations before the magic 100 episode mark! <br /><br />Still thinking about starting "F Troop Fridays" myself...Halhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09291930694234773688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-54420293302398514212013-06-03T15:44:01.590-04:002013-06-03T15:44:01.590-04:00Our long national nightmare is over!
I don't...Our long national nightmare is over! <br /><br />I don't think I've ever read so much about a show I loathed so thoroughly, making these weekly reflections of yours an exquisite combination of pleasure and pain the like of which has not been seen since Anne Rice's <i>Sleeping Beauty Trilogy</i>. Or maybe John Norman's <i>Gor</i> novels.<br /><br />Anyway, I thank you for taking on this burden, Ivan -- not only for the many laughs you provided, but also because it gave me a chance to watch this show die a second time. Die, <i>die</i>, <i>DIE</i>!<br /><br />Why did anyone watch it? Because it was on. That's all TV was back then. Oh, there was the occasional deviation from the mediocre (<i>Green Acres</i>, for instance -- that was some Pirandelloeque genius), but I have a hard time believing <i>MRDF</i> (which sounds, appropriately enough, like an antibiotic-resistent staph infection) was ever "appointment television." That anyone ever rushed home in time to catch it, or discussed it the next day around the water cooler (maybe, <i>maybe</i> while standing at the urinals, but only if the silence was becoming uncomfortable). Most likely you just watched it because it came on next.<br /><br />Which makes it all the more important that cultural archaeologists such as yourself should disinter it for re-examination; because those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02798340582589737829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-83449663541569572832013-06-03T08:41:38.244-04:002013-06-03T08:41:38.244-04:00even if it runs over into the recipe page
And tha...<i>even if it runs over into the recipe page</i><br /><br />And that, my friends, is the last laugh Mayberry RFD will ever give me. That and Howard's jazz hands of excitement over the potential news article.<br /><br /><i>he goes to Raleigh because too many of the Siler City cathouses know him by first name</i><br /><br />HA! See, though Mayberry Mondays may be over and often didn't make me laugh anyway (except when Howard was involved; sue me, I love the bow-tie wearin' fool), you are ALWAYS FUNNY. <br /><br />I've always wondered why Ken Berry wasn't on the reunion show. The first time I heard of MRFD was when the reunion show aired and my parents wondered if Berry would be on it, and they couldn't remember if Berry had ever been on the original TAGS or not. (I only knew Berry from Mama's Family, which I loathed; it was F Troop reruns in college that made me reconsider his talents).<br /><br />It's interesting that the worst episodes were Millie episodes, and while I know the tendency is to say that's because gurlz are icky, I think it's because the writers showed repeatedly that they couldn't write a female character unless she was being someone's maternal stand-in.<br /><br />If the Doris Day show is the wacky one she did in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I am in, baby. Some clips I've seen are completely nutty.<br /><br />Congrats on finishing Mayberry Mondays!Staciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05250238254417726987noreply@blogger.com