The Danny Thomas Show

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Make Room For Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show
Genre Situation Comedy
Starring Danny Thomas
Marjorie Lord
Rusty Hamer
Country of origin Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
No. of seasons 11
No. of episodes 120 (MRFD)
231 (TDTS)
351 (total)
24 (MRFG)
Broadcast
Original run September 29, 1953 – September 14, 1964
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first four seasons) is a sitcom which ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. A revival series known as Make Room for Granddaddy aired on ABC from 1970 to 1971.

Contents

[edit] Series

Danny Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer. Jean Hagen was his wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer their son Rusty. Louise Beavers played the maid Louise. In 1955, Beavers left and was replaced in the role by Amanda Randolph.

In 1956 Jean Hagen quit the show, and the producers had her character written out as having died. The following season, Thomas's character dated several women, with the help of his children. At the end of the season, he met widowed Kathy O'Hara, played by Marjorie Lord, who had a young daughter, Linda, played by Angela Cartwright. No wedding was ever shown, but when the show returned in 1957, with the new title, Danny and Kathy were married, and Linda was adopted by Danny, and the show's ratings dramatically increased[1].

Hans Conried had frequent guest appearances as Danny's Lebanese "Uncle Tonoose". Other frequent guests included Bill Dana, Annette Funicello, Pat Harrington Jr., Sheldon Leonard (the show's producer) and Thomas protegee Italian teenaged singer Piccola Pupa.

In 1958 the character of Terry was written out as she was supposedly away at school. The character returned the following year, recast with actress Penny Parker. She, too, was written out when the character married and left the show.

[edit] Ratings

  • 1957-1958: #2[2]
  • 1958-1959: #5[3]
  • 1949-1960: #4[4]
  • 1960-1961: #12[5]
  • 1961-1962: #8[6]
  • 1962-1963: #8[7]
  • 1963-1964: #9[8]

[edit] Syndication packaging

The show is packaged for syndication as below,

[edit] The Jean Hagen episodes

Seasons 1-3 are known as the Jean Hagen Episodes. These episodes have not been offered for syndication since 1964, but they still are shown on rare occasions (see Syndication section below).

[edit] The Marjorie Lord episodes

Seasons 5-11 are the Marjorie Lord Episodes. Season Four is often dubbed the "widowed episodes", but they are also sold in syndication with the Marjorie Lord episodes. These are the most commonly run episodes. The "widowed episodes" are linked with The Jean Hagen Episodes. Also, the name change (The Danny Thomas Show) came right after Jean Hagen left the show in 1956.

[edit] Sequel

The show ended in 1964, but Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Rusty Hamer, Sherry Jackson, and Hans Conreid returned in 1970 in the show Make Room for Granddaddy. The character of Terry had supposedly left her son, 6-year-old Michael, played by Michael Hughes, in the care of his grandparents while she and her soldier husband were stationed overseas. New characters were played by Stanley Myron Handelman and former football player Roosevelt Grier. The show only lasted a single season, producing 24 episodes.

[edit] Andy Griffith pilot

The Danny Thomas Show is also notable as having been the vehicle by which The Andy Griffith Show spun off. The character of Andy Taylor appeared in an episode in which Danny Williams was caught for running a stop sign in the small fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina.

[edit] Syndication

Reruns were stripped, Monday through Friday, on NBC from 1960-1965. Subsequently, most of the Marjorie Lord episodes were then syndicated and played on local stations.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s the show's 4th through 9th seasons were shown on Nick at Nite. TV Land has also showed several of the Marjorie Lord episodes. Only about 195 episodes are shown in reruns today. The first three seasons have not been seen on television since the 1960s and the last two seasons are owned by Marjorie Lord and are not shown in reruns. Although starting with Season Five the show was known as "The Danny Thomas Show", all the syndicated episodes are shown in reruns under the title "Make Room For Daddy". Many of the shows from Seasons 1-3 can be bought on discount DVDs and classic TV DVD collections as their copyrights were not renewed. A few low budget TV stations and privately run cable stations have also shown the Jean Hagen Episodes.

[edit] DVD releases

The complete fifth season was released to DVD on September 28, 2004, with two special episodes: the fourth season finale, Danny's Proposal and the pilot for the Andy Griffith Show. Several of the early episodes with Jean Hagen can be purchased on discount DVDs. The complete sixth season on DVD is scheduled for release in early 2008.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The show also spun off The Joey Bishop Show, and crossed over with I Love Lucy when the Ricardos rent their home to the Thomases in the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode "Lucy Makes Room for Danny" and the season six Danny Thomas Show episode "Lucy Upsets The Williams' Household".[9]
  • Marjorie Lord is the mother of the actress Anne Archer.
  • Margaret Williams was the first TV character "killed off" of a sitcom.
Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/The_Danny_Thomas_Show"
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