I was so sorry today to hear of the passing of Doris Day. Her films were silly and fun, especially the ones for Warner Bros. in the late 40s. “Romance On The High Seas”, “My Dream Is Yours.” Good stuff! She sang and danced with Bugs Bunny even.
Changing subjects: I have an unhealthy obsession with vintage television. It’s reached a point where I’ve invented phraseology to describe things that I don’t notice are already neatly named.
For example: “dollar store reruns.” This is my term for old TV series that, although reaching the 100-episode mark usually required for rerun syndication, never made it big as reruns.
Great, beloved reruns: “I Love Lucy”, “Cheers”, “Seinfeld”, “M*A*S*H.”
Dollar store reruns: “Car 54 Where Are You?”, “Maude”, “Murphy Btown”, “The Doris Day Show.”
Sometimes series are too topical to have lasting success in off-network syndication. Black-and-white series (except Lucy and maybe one or two others) are at a distinct disadvantage.
And then you have “The Doris Day Show.” This sitcom has all the earmarks of a dollar store rerun: When I first saw”The Doris Day Show” in the late 1980s, it was airing on the CBN cable network in the middle of a weekday. Not exactly a prime time slot, and on what was a pretty mediocre cable channel (though one I loved because their entire schedule was chock-a-block with dollar store reruns–“Love That Bob”, “Jack Benny”, “Dobie Gillis”, etc.) Another sure sign: “Doris Day Show” has not regularly aired anywhere on cable or individual station syndication for decades.
It’s pretty easy to figure out why “The Doris Day Show” didn’t make it big in syndication: People like reruns to be consistent. Lucy is always trying to get into the show; Hawkeye is always piercing pomposity, in the face of Frank Burns or Charles Winchester; Norm is always ready with a funny line when he walks through the barroom door.
For whatever reason, “The Doris Day Show” is the most inconsistent situation comedy ever aired. In the first season, she plays a widow who is raising her two boys on her father’s farm. (The father is played by Denver “Uncle Jesse” Pyle and the characters are very similar.) In season two, Doris begins commuting to San Francisco to work at a magazine, and a slate of new characters are introduced. In season three, Doris and her boys relocate to San Francisco and the father character is basically eliminated. Two new characters-the landlord and his wife–are introduced. In season four, the kids disappear in that marvelous “Who gives a f#$%” way TV series had of dealing with story difficulties. Also, all of the magazine staff changes.
I have no idea why these changes happened. Maybe Doris Day got bored easily. Maybe the network demanded changes to give the show another year. But it’s one of the most unusual runs of any sitcom in TV history.
RIP, Doris Day, a wonderful singer, actress, and animal welfare champion.