I Married Joan is an American sitcom that aired on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 from 1952 to 1955. It starred veteran vaudeville, film, and radio comedienne Joan Davis

Joan Davis

Joan Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.Born as Madonna Josephine...

 as the manic wife of a mild-mannered community judge, Bradley Stevens (Jim Backus

Jim Backus

James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...

).

Synopsis

The show announced itself each week as "America's favorite comedy show, starring America's queen of comedy, Joan Davis, as Mrs. Joan Stevens." The series focused on a married couple, Joan and Bradley Stevens. Joan Stevens usually found herself in numerous wacky jams, with or without the help of her younger sister (played by her real-life daughter, Beverly Wills

Beverly Wills

Beverly Wills was an American television and film actress. Wills was the daughter of comedienne Joan Davis.-Career:...

). Episodes usually began with Backus as Judge Stevens recalling yet another merry mishap, followed by the unfolding of the mishap, and ending with Stevens summing it up.

Sponsored by General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

, I Married Joan was aimed at the viewers who watched I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, a year older and already television's top-rated situation comedy. Displaying Davis' considerable physical and verbal comedy talents, the show ran three seasons in first-run production before falling victim to weakening ratings and Joan's personal health problems.

Cast

Actor	Role
Joan Davis Joan Davis Joan Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.Born as Madonna Josephine...	Joan Stevens
Jim Backus Jim Backus James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...	Bradley Stevens
Hope Emerson Hope Emerson -Early life:Emerson was born in Hawarden, Iowa. Following her graduation from West High School in Des Moines in 1916, she moved to New York City where she performed in vaudeville.-Career:...	Minerva Parker
Wally Brown Wally Brown Wally Brown was an actor, comedian, and long-time partner of Alan Carney.- Biography :Wally was born in Malden, Massachusetts and served as a vaudevillian. In 1942, he began his film career in Hollywood at RKO Radio Pictures with the film Petticoat Larceny...	Wally
Sheila Bromley Sheila Bromley Sheila Bromley, sometimes billed as Sheila LeGay, Sheila Manners, Sheila Mannors or Sheila Manors was an American television and film actress...	Janet Tobin
Sandra Gould Sandra Gould Sandra Gould was an American actress, who appeared mainly in television. Among her many credits was a regular role on the sitcom Bewitched as the second Gladys Kravitz....	Mildred Webster
Hal Smith Hal Smith (actor) Harold John "Hal" Smith was an American character actor and voice actor. Smith is best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show, and was the voice of many characters on various animated cartoon shorts...	Charlie Henderson
Geraldine Carr	Mabel Henderson
Sally Kelly	Sally
Beverly Wills	Beverly Grossman
Dan Tobin Dan Tobin Dan Tobin was an American supporting actor who generally played gentle, urbane characters, sometimes with a concealed edge of malice....	Kerwin Tobin

Syndication and DVDs

In the early 1980s, the series was rerun by the CBN cable network

Television networks preceding ABC Family

The cable television network ABC Family has gone through several different owners during its history. Stipulations in sales terms for the network require that the network maintain the word "Family" in its name.-CBN Cable :...

 in a late-night block that included another TV sitcom, Gale Storm

Gale Storm

Gale Storm was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.-Early life:...

's series My Little Margie

My Little Margie

My Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...

. The series was also aired on ION Television, and on the HOT (History of Television) network in New York (WKOB 42.4) and Dallas (K31GL 31.3).

Since 2004, Alpha Home Entertainment has released three volumes of various episodes from different seasons on budget DVD compilations.

BearManor Media

Ben Ohmart

Ben Ohmart is an American publisher of media-related biographies and books on old-time radio, films and television through his BearManor Media, located in Albany, Georgia....

 published a biography about Joan Davis, which includes a chapter dedicated to I Married Joan. Episodes of the series have been screened at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention held annually in Aberdeen, Maryland

Aberdeen, Maryland

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,842 people, 5,475 households, and 3,712 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,166.2 people per square mile . There were 5,894 housing units at an average density of 922.4 per square mile...

.