The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1 – ABC

Created by Stu Silver, Dick Clair, and Jenna McMahon

Theme song: “It’s a Living” music by George Tipton and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse

• 001. Pilot – 10/30/1980
  • Inside the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, a group of ladies work as waitresses in the swanky Above the Top restaurant. Under the supervision of Nancy Beebe (Marian Mercer) are Jan Hoffmeyer (Barrie Youngfellow), Dorothy “Dot” Higgins (Gail Edwards), Cassie Cranston (Ann Jillian), Lois Adams (Susan Sullivan), and Vicki Allen (Wendy Schaal). Playing piano and often singing in the restaurant is Sonny Mann (Paul Kreppel). Jan is struggling to handle her evening hours at work while raising a teenager and going to college. Dot is nervous about her date with a guy named Brad, as he wants her to go away with him for the weekend, and up until now she has not slept with him… or anyone else for that matter. Dot is an aspiring actress who is trying out for a Dodge commercial and is excited that she has gotten to the final call backs along with three other actresses. Nancy is rather hard-nosed with the girls and complains about the waitresses putting on weight. She also tells Jan that she needs to apologize to a pair of men who she yelled out when they pinched her during their last visit. Jill is opposed to this, but Nancy threatens her job. She finally acquiesces, but as she is apologizing, one of the men pinch Nancy. Jill reads them the riot act and throws them out and is quite prepared to leave her job. However, Nancy has a change of heart and tells her that she should have hit them before throwing them out. She also offers to have Jill come to her house to get makeup trips. Dot finds a small dog in traffic on her way to the audition and is afraid that having him there with her cost her the job. They call her back with good news, but it turns out to be better news for the dog, as they want him for a dog food commercial, while she didn’t get the Dodge job. Vicki returns from her weekend with Brad and says she had a wonderful time and thinks that she is falling in love with Brad. Sure enough, he doesn’t call her for days, so she finally calls him, only to be told that he hopes to see her around some time. She confesses to the others that she didn’t sleep with him during their weekend, as she wasn’t ready. Lois and the other girls tell her that she shouldn’t sleep with anyone until she is ready, and if the guy is worth a damn, he will wait. The girls all throw their support to her, while Dot struggles to wait on all of the tables by herself. 11/30/24

Read the rest of this entry »

SEASON 1 – CBS

Created by Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf

Opening song: “Katy” by Ann Sothern and Bonnie Lake

• 001. The Bridal Suite – 10/6/1958
  • • Unavailable for viewing

  Read the rest of this entry »

SEASON 1 – CBS

Created by Joe Gannon, Patt Shea, and Harriet Weiss

Theme song by Tony Greco

This series is a spin-off of the sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place,” which is a spin-off of the sitcom “All in the Family”

• 000. Gloria, the First Day – 1/11/1982 UNAIRED Pilot
  • Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) drives his daughter Gloria Bunker Stivic and her son Joey to upstate New York to the office of Dr. Willard Adams DVM, where Gloria has taken a job as an assistant in his veterinary office. Archie tries to chat with Dr. Adams, but soon offends him by questioning why, as a failed doctor, did he choose to become a veterinarian rather than a dentist. Gloria rushes him back to the car so that he can head home, but he tells Gloria that when she fails at this job, he will be happy to come back and retrieve her. Although Joey had been looking forward to getting a dog, Gloria is disappointed when Dr. Adams tells her that he doesn’t allow pets on the premises as it would encourage people to drop off their unwanted pets all of the time. Gloria moves her things into her and Joey’s cottage, only to find that Dr. Adams’ assistant Jim Waynewrite (Rich Lohman) is sleeping nude on the fold-out bed in the living room. Although Dr. Adams had told him to move out the night before because he caught Jim having his own ‘pet’ Candy, who held the job that Gloria is now replacing, over at his place once too often. When Jim finds out that Gloria has absolutely no experience caring for animals, he expresses his disappointment that a woman with no experience has been hired. When Gloria tells Joey about the pet policy, he is upset and blames his father Mike for causing this mess by not being there and causing Gloria to have to work at all. Gloria begins her work, and meets Dr. Maggie Lawrence, who assists in the O.R. on surgery days. She has Gloria answer the phone, where she has to deal with an annoying patient named Louise Cotter-Smith (Ann Sweeny) who wants Dr. Adams to call her back. Gloria gradually gets in the swing of things on her first day, even meeting a patient monkey named Michael. That evening after everyone has left, Louise Cotter-Smith barges in and drops off a boxful of newborn puppies, telling Gloria to have Dr. Adams put them down, as she doesn’t want their mother to have to nurse the babies, as she wants her ready for a dog show. Gloria is furious that Dr. Adams would even entertain having the dogs put to sleep, so she has Joey take them back to their place. When Dr. Adams’ handyman Ben (Peter Pastore) tells him that he saw the puppies brought in, but they are now gone, Adams immediately goes to see Gloria. She tells him that she is quitting because she can’t work for a man who would put down newborn puppies. While she is yelling at him, he is calling Mrs. Cotter-Smith and demanding that she bring the mother over to nurse the puppies, under threat of him revealing that her dog ‘sleeps around’. After he hangs up with her, he yells at Gloria for assuming the worst out of him. He says that she did one thing right: trying to save the puppies, but she was wrong about him. She apologizes and asks if she can keep her job, and she agrees. Jim then stops by and yells at Gloria for keeping a recently spayed cat’s cage open, but Dr. Adams comes to her defense and says that it was Ben who did it. She asks to hold the cat, and after everyone leaves, she tells her that they both had rough days, even though the cat’s day was worse since she had gotten fixed. NOTE: This episode later aired as an episode of Archie Bunker’s Place on June 1, 1982, as Gloria: The First Day. 11/30/24
    Read the rest of this entry »

SEASON 1 – ABC

Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera

Theme song: “Rise and Shine” by Hoyt Curting

NOTE: Season 1 and Season 2 of The Flintstones were filmed in color but originally aired in black and white. 

• 000. The Flagstones – UNAIRED DEMONSTRATION FILM 1960
  • This was a 90-second demonstration film sent to potential sponsors, which showed a scene of Wilma taking Fred his lunch while he floats in the pool. Barney appears in his spear-fishing garb and punctures Fred’s flotation device. Barney manages to save Fred’s sandwich and eats it. The scene is later re-created in the episode The Swimming Pool. Daws Butler voices both Fred and Barney. Jean Vander Pyl voices Wilma. June Foray voices Betty. 11/30/14

  Read the rest of this entry »

SEASON 1 – NBC

Created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward

Theme song composed and conducted by Ralph Carmichael, written and sung by Paul Hampton

• 001. Come Honk Your Horn – 9/14/1965
  • While browsing a California car lot, lawyer David Crabtree (Jerry Van Dyke) comes across a 1928 Porter jalopy that seems to speak to him through the radio in his late mother Gladys’ (voiced by Ann Sothern) voice. Soon Dave is convinced that his mother, who had died in 1949, had been reincarnated as the Porter. He buys the car for $200 and brings it home, attempting to explain to his wife Barbara (Maggie Pierce) and children Randy (Randy Whipple) and Cindy (Cindy Eilbacher) that the car is his mother. Barb wants no part of it and insists he sell the car, and an attempt at convincing Barb that the car is Dave’s mother fails because she will not talk to anyone but Dave. Meanwhile an antiques collector named Captain Bernard Manzini (Avery Schreiber) pursues Dave in hopes that he will sell him the car, gradually upping his offer from $400 to $1000. Dave gets the car cleaned up and painted, but Barb still insists that he sell it. She enthusiastically accepts Manzini’s offer of $1000, but Dave convinces her that if they hold out, they will get more. The family enjoys a night out in the car, and Gladys tells her son what a wonderful homecoming she had. George N. Neiser is the salesman. 11/18/15

  Read the rest of this entry »