Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesday's Overlooked TV: Good Morning, World


Bill Persky and Sam Denoff worked on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW and wrote many of that series' classic episodes such as "That's My Boy?" and "Coast to Coast Big Mouth".  They also produced the series during its last couple of years.  After the Van Dyke show ended its run, the next thing Persky and Denoff did was create another sitcom, GOOD MORNING, WORLD, and that's what I'm looking back at this week.

GOOD MORNING, WORLD was also set in the entertainment industry, in this case radio.  Joby Baker, who played a bullfighter on a couple of episodes of the van Dyke show, played a morning drive time disc jockey named David Lewis.  Ronnie Schell, a prolific supporting actor on Sixties sitcoms, was his partner Larry Clarke (making them Lewis and Clarke, of course).  Persky and Denoff followed the same formula as before and had funny stuff happening at the radio station (which was managed by Billy De Wolfe) and at home, where Dave was married to perky Linda (played by Julie Parrish).  Most people who remember this series, though, probably remember it because Dave and Linda's ditsy neighbor Sandy was played by Goldie Hawn in a breakout role that led to her being cast on LAUGH-IN a year later.

I would have sworn that this series ran a year or two earlier, while THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW was still on the air, but as always, IMBD is our friend and tell us that it ran for one season (I remembered that) in 1967 and '68.  While I haven't seen any of the episodes since then, I remember it fondly.  I've always liked Persky and Denoff's writing, and the set-up, though a familiar one, works well.  GOOD MORNING, WORLD is a forerunner of sorts to the admittedly superior WKRP IN CINCINNATI.  Having been around small-market radio, I have a distinct appreciation for how goofy it is in real life, and that translates well into sitcom terms.

I'm not sure why GOOD MORNING, WORLD wasn't successful enough to run more than one season.  I liked it and would have liked to see it hang around for a while and develop.  But then, as now, the network executives didn't come to me and ask my opinion.  The entire series is available on DVD.  I'll catch up on it one of these days, if I can ever find the time.

3 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

I remember it!

mybillcrider said...

Judy and I watched this one every week. Like you, I'd have thought it was on earlier, like '66. Faulty memory at work again.

Cap'n Bob said...

I was in Nam at the time keeping the commies off your porch so you could watch stuff like this. No thanks needed.