The Tom Ewell Show
Encyclopedia
The Tom Ewell Show was a television situation comedy broadcast in the United States in the 1960-61 television season.
network.
Tom Ewell
starred in this half-hour sitcom as Tom Porter, a real estate agent whose entire life, away from the office, was dominated by females:
Recurring characters included Norman Fell
as co-worker Howie Fletcher, heavy-set actor Barry Kelley
as friend Jim Rafferty, and child-actor Vance Meadows as a neighborhood youngster.
Summary
The Tom Ewell Show was created by Madelyn Martin and Bob Carroll, Jr. (of Lucy Show fame), and produced by Tom Ewell's own production company (in partnership with Martin and Carroll, and with Four Star Productions). The show was broadcast in the United States in the 1960-61 television season on the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
network.
Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell was an American actor.-Early life and career:Born Samuel Yewell Tompkins in Owensboro, Kentucky, where his family expected him to follow in their footsteps as lawyers or whiskey and tobacco dealers....
starred in this half-hour sitcom as Tom Porter, a real estate agent whose entire life, away from the office, was dominated by females:
- Wife Fran (played by Marilyn ErskineMarilyn ErskineMarilyn Erskine is an American actor who started performing at the age of three on radio, and has since appeared in radio, theater, film and television roles from the 1920s through the 1970s.-Radio career:...
), - Live-in mother-in-law, Grandma Irene Brady (Mabel AlbertsonMabel AlbertsonMabel Albertson was an American actress.Albertson was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Flora Craft and Leopold Albertson. Her brother was actor Jack Albertson...
). - Three daughters:
- 15-year-old Carol (played by Cindy Robbins (stage name for Cynthia ChenaultCynthia ChenaultCynthia Chenault is an American television actress and producer/writer active from the mid-1950s to the present. She used the screen name 'Cindy Robbins' in her acting credits.- Television career :...
)), - 11-year-old Debbie (played by former Mouseketeer Sherry AlberoniSherry AlberoniSherry Alberoni is an American actress and voice artist. Alberoni got her start as a Mouseketeer on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club. As an adult, she became a voice artist for Hanna-Barbera Productions...
), - 7-year-old Sissie (played by Eileen ChesisEileen ChesisEileen Chesis is an American actor who appeared as a child in several American network television series of the 1960s.- Television career :Her most well-known role was as Sissie Porter, one of the daughters in the one-season sit-com The Tom Ewell Show 1960-61...
)) - Family-dog Mitzi
Recurring characters included Norman Fell
Norman Fell
Norman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...
as co-worker Howie Fletcher, heavy-set actor Barry Kelley
Barry Kelley
Barry Kelley was an actor on Broadway in the 1930s and '40s and in movies during the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. The heavy-set actor created the role of Ike in Oklahoma! on Broadway....
as friend Jim Rafferty, and child-actor Vance Meadows as a neighborhood youngster.
Broadcast Schedule
The thirty episodes of the show were broadcast 9–9:30 PM (EST) on Tuesday nights in the United States from September 27, 1960 through May 23, 1961 on the CBS network. Eight of the episodes were shown as summer repeats in the same timeslot from May 30, 1961 through July 18, 1961.List of episodes
| # | Episode Name | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
Critical reception
TIME magazine said:- "The Tom Ewell Show (CBS) leads a relentless parade of situation comedies, all designed to show that American family life is as cute as a freckle on a five-year-old. The show, which might also be titled Father Knows Nothing, presents the comic with the excavated face as a bumbler named Potter who is trapped in the customary format: Harassed Man Beaten Down by Wife, Three Daughters, Mother-in-Law. In the opening episode, Ewell could find no better way to outsmart his spendthrift women than closing his bank account and ruining his own credit. For those who may have tuned out early, the women were all set to start spending again."
External links
- The Tom Ewell Show on the IMDB website