The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1 – CBS

Theme music: “The Love Nest” (from the musical comedy “Mary”) by Louis A. Hirsch

NOTE: This series is a continuation of the radio show “The Burns and Allen Show” which aired between 1936-1950. This was preceded by their show “The Adventures of Gracie” which aired 1934-1936, and the team’s appearances on “The Guy Lombardo Show” between 1932-1934 and Rudy Vallee’s “The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour” in 1932.

• 000. Pilot – UNAIRED
  • George Burns does a monologue about being a straight man, then he introduces his wife Gracie Allen, their neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton, and Bill Goodwin, the world’s most loved announcer (as he kisses two girls and a cop). Gracie is visited by a salesman selling encyclopedias, and in addition to nearly driving him crazy with her banter, she keeps smashing his hat. George introduces the singing act who perform Do the Huckabuck, and then attempts a duet of the song April Showers. Gracie visits Blanche and the two decide to take the husbands to see the new Gregory Peck movie, but Harry doesn’t want to go with Gracie because she often embarrasses him. George reminds Harry that he has two tickets to the fights so they need to get out of going to a movie. He asks Bill to take the wives, but Bill is shaken up by near plane mishap where he radios for help but can’t help but talking about ‘Dr. Wilson’s toothpaste.’ George and Harry then tell the wives that they have been invited to Bill’s house to play cards. In order to keep them from wanting to join them, they invent a game called Kleebob, which has rules that are indecipherable, hoping that it will discourage them from joining. However, Gracie seems to understand the game since George has tried the same ploy before with a game called ‘Mogo’. 8/24/14 (online)

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SEASON 1 – ABC

Created by Dan T. Bradley and Allan L. Rice, and developed by Stanley Ralph Ross.

Theme song by Allan Blye, Chris Bearde, and Gene Farmer

• 001. Pilot (aka Whose Child Is This?) – 9/4/1974
  • Clifton Curtis (Clifton Davis) is a barber in Washington D.C. running Oscar’s Barbershop, which he inherited from his late father and adjoins the home he lives in with his mother Eloise (Theresa Merritt), whom everyone calls ‘Mama’. Mama is upset that Clifton is still staying out late with women and has not yet settled down and started a family. Clifton has a younger sister named Tracy Taylor (Lynne Moody) and his friends include postman Earl Chambers (Ed Bernard) and Junior (Ted Lange). A woman named Judy Wilson (Judy Pace) who claims to have had a fling with Clifton while he was stationed in the Army a year earlier, resurfaced and tells Clifton that he is the father of her baby Clifton Jr., and that she wants him to marry her. Clifton denies knowing who she is but matters aren’t helped when Earl remembers her from a drunken night, and Mama notes how much the baby looks like him. When Clifton refuses to marry her, Judy brings in her lawyer Ted Carruthers (Teddy Wilson) to try to reach a monetary settlement. Mama foils the plan when she agrees on Clifton’s behalf, that he will in fact marry her. Earl also recognizes Carruthers as the bartender where they met Judy. Carruthers is in fact the actual father of the baby and they are just looking for a settlement. Jester Hairston is Wildcat and DeForest Covan is Josh, seniors who often hang around Oscar’s. 5/19/16

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SEASON 1 – CBS

• 001. Pilot – 9/21/1998
  • Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) is an overweight IPS driver living in small house in Queens, New York with his wife Carrie (Leah Remini). Carrie surprises Doug by having his big screen TV delivered early to complete his man-den in the basement, so Doug invites his friends Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams), Spencer “Spence” Olchin (Patton Oswalt), and Richard “Richie” Ianucchi (Larry Romano) over to see it. Life couldn’t be better for the Heffernans, until Carrie’s stepmother dies. At the funeral wake, Carrie agrees to let her sister Sara (Lisa Rieffel) stay with them. Her father Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller) refuses to live in a retirement home, but then accidentally burns down his house. He too is then taken in by the Heffernans. Both Sara and Arthur start to drive them crazy, as Sara distracts Doug by taking a shower while he is in the bathroom, and Arthur hires a pair of prostitutes. Despite the inconveniences, Doug is willing to give up his basement paradise and move the giant TV into his small bedroom, and continue life with Carrie with the two new additions. 5/12/13 Read the rest of this entry »

SEASON 1 – CBS

Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady

Theme music: “Big Bang Theory Theme” by Barenaked Ladies

• 000. Unaired Pilot – 5/2006
  • After donating sperm to a High-IQ bank, scientists Leonard and Sheldon take their earnings and head out for an Italian dinner, running across an attractive girl named Katie (Amanda Walsh) crying in the street. Katie’s boyfriend has dumped her when he revealed that he is married, and Katie’s mother will not let her stay with her because Katie had slept with the man that her mother is now married to. Much to Sheldon’s irritation, Leonard invites her out to eat with them and then to stay with them for a while until she gets on her feet. Leonard’s research partner Gilda (Iris Bahr) has designs on Leonard and is clearly jealous of Katie. Katie goes out for drinks and stops at home when a guy spill beer on her, only to be questioned by Leonard as to how she can partying given her situation. Katie tries to break it down into a scientific equation citing several external forces contributing to her condition. Leonard corrects her in that she is the constant in the equation, deducing that is her own stupid choices that got her to where she is. She gets angry and moves out. Leonard visits her at her job where she is working as a cosmetician and apologizes. She doesn’t seem receptive, but later shows up and moves back in with them, then takes the guys and Gilda out for a night on the town. Vernee Watson is Althea, the sperm bank secretary. 1/24/16 (online)

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SEASON 1 – CBS

Theme music by Henry Mancini

NOTE: Although not technically a spin-off, the final episode of the series indicated that the entire series was a continuation of “The Bob Newhart Show”

• 001. In the Beginning – 10/25/1982
  • Dick Loudon (Bob Newhart), a how-to author from New York, and his wife Joanna (Mary Frann) are being introduced to the Stratford Inn, a 1774 inn in Vermont, on which they have placed a down payment. Despite the fact that the place needs quite a bit of work, the caretaker George Utley (Tom Poston) seems inept, and their neighbor Kirk Devane (Steven Kampmann) is a habitual liar, the Loudons decide to go for it. After hiring a maid, the filthy rich Leslie Vanderkellen (Jennifer Holmes), they begin to take guests. One of the first groups that comes to the inn is a group of women from the Daughters of the War of Independence whose ancestors had stayed there. Dick must deliver a speech and deliver the unsettling news that he just found out that the Stratford had been a cathouse during the Civil War. Jack Dodson appears as Mr. Shaver, the real estate agent.  5/8/13 Read the rest of this entry »