"The Tammy Grimes Show" - 13 Week Theatre
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
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This week it's ABC's notorious "The Tammy Grimes Show" starring Tammy Grimes and Dick Sargent. Why the show was made, why it flopped, and the show the two stars turned down to do this one.
Very interesting episode!
BTW one note: This show WAS replaced by The Dating Game, but it wasn't new; this was specifically the nighttime spin-off of Chuck Barris' hit show that began on ABC Daytime in December of '65. ABC simply rushed a prime-time version as a last-minute replacement.
Amazed I didn't see anyone being up she was the voice of Albert the Mouse in Rankin-Bass's "Twas the Night Before Christmas". That was my first exposure to Tammy...
This show is one of the many examples of why ABC was a third-ranked network in the 1960s. Fred Silverman and Michael Eisner saved the network in the 1970s.
True, but ABC also had the problem of its failed merger with ITT which left it cash-poor through most of the later 1960s.
Even before then Batman brought them younger viewers and Marcus Welby, M.D. broadened their demos. It did take Eisner and Silverman to build on those successes.
Silverman was a dud after moving to NBC.
5:48 her fish skeleton didn't help matters! Thank you so much for another great episode. Your production quality is great!
To younger viewers: Anytime anyone of my generation tells you we had no schlock in our past eras - refer them to this channel. This one was painful just to glimpse.
Nothing I can't stand more is when people look through the past with rose-colored glasses. I have people telling me how wonderful NBC'S late-70s-early 80s television lineup was, for chrissakes! I was there, it was horrible!
There's shlock in EVERY generation... It's just that there are eras when it's MUCH harder -- LIKE NOW! -- to find much of anything good.
TV has always been dominated by mediocrity since the medium was an experiment. That hasn't changed even as cable is being replaced by streaming.
The ratio of crap is so high that the only service I subscribe to is Amazon Prime and honestly I only have Prime for the free shipping! There's VERY LITTLE I want to watch on Prime and I don't watch the new crap like ROP.
I watch more off of free services like TubiTV. Sure, it still has a high percentage of crap but at least I'm not paying extra for it. I can live with the ads. All the services are eventually going to have ads whether people like it or not. They can't pay for themselves without ads, and even the ads aren't making up the differences. Very few streaming services are making money now!
After your Gidget episode, I actually watched an episode of Tammy Grimes show on RUclips and it was the episode where she gets kidnapped and one of the kidnappers secretly wants to be a hairdresser and does her hair. The show had its funny moments but her voice could be so annoying at times.
I completely agree. It's amazing that she could be a Broadway star with a voice like that.
She sounded like a telephone operator with laryngitis.
@@Lava1964Remember Carol Channing?
Another one with a similar voice
I love the background of these shows, the clips, and the e plainations of what went wrong. You do an excellent job of making everything interesting and informative. Keep up the great work
I have always loved that voice (I first heard it when she voiced Molly Grue in Rankin-Bass' adaptation of _The Last Unicorn)_ but whenever I saw her onscreen _(Can't Stop the Music, The Horror at 37,000 Feet)_ she mysteriously seemed to have no physical presence at all. I mean, she was _there,_ and I might remember something that happened to her character, but I can barely remember what she looks like even now, having just watched clips from her show. I would recognize Lucille Ball or Elizabeth Montgomery or Barbara Eden in an instant, but unless I heard her voice I don't think I could pick Tammy Grimes out of a police lineup.
THE DATING GAME wasn't new to the air, as ABC premiered it in Dec. 1965, but it was in color and new to primetime.
Interesting. For years all I knew of Tammy Grimes was that she "hosted" the 26-episode version of the early-1980s "Lord of the Rings" radio adaption. I guess she was still a reasonably big name at the time, at least in some circles.
Tammy Grimes was the original choice to play Samantha on Bewitched.
I didn't know her name but I did know her voiceover work on The Last Unicorn, Molly Grue.
There are probably more people alive NOW who are aware of that acting from that animated film than anything else she's done.
It's the power of synchronicity.
You really can't control what people remember you for.
She's lucky to be associated with such a good film that has endured for generations...
Guess I'm weird, but I've always loved Tammy Grimes' voice - sort of a scaled down Tallulah Bankhead
You should check out “Turn-on” by Laugh-in creator, George Schlatter.
I would love that too! Though I guess he’d have to temporarily rename the show to “13 Minute Theater” after the amount of time it took networks to pull it and put on Lassie reruns (or whatever they had) 😅
I remember mixing this show up with "Tammy", the spin-off from the Tammy movies.
All I remember from that one were the snooty neighbors: "Mother, mother! Yes, Gloria de-ah..."
Thank you again for another fantastic episode. This show always lowers my blood pressure.
I know there’s very little footage available but in a perfect world I’d love to see you do “Sweepstakes”, the 1979 Love Boat-esque show about a bunch of people trying to win the lottery. It was another Dozier family flop.
Ok I just watched the first two episodes of this show and frankly, it wasn’t that bad. It was actually just as funny as those other 60s madcap comedies.
Tammy was slapstick and just smart enough to pull this off. She was just funny I thought. And once you got used to her voice it just added to the quirkiness of the whole character.
Wow so this more or less is the Pioneer of 13 Week Theater? I can understand why seeing the footage that is available. I feel for Tammy and the staff/cast behind the show, for the time they produced a show that performed so poorly, the network wouldn’t even let them finish the full one season on air. This has become more a norm for TV now or at least from 1970s to the 2000s
Overall, ABC had a terrible track record in the mid-'60s. In fact that's why William Dozier had to devote so much time to Batman in its first season. When ABC originally commissioned the show in 1965, it was supposed to begin in the fall of 1966. However, every single one of the network's new shows for the 1965-1966 season were cancelled by the midpoint of the season, so ABC told Dozier to have the show ready to air in January 1966 instead, resulting in a very frantic production schedule. In fact, in the first publicity photo showing Adam West and Burt Ward with the Batmobile, the car hadn't even been painted yet; only a primer coat had been applied. So it's not surprising that this one also had the plug pulled on it early. Surprisingly, though, I had never heard of this one until seeing Pab's video on it. Just one more thing - I always thought Dick Sargent turned down Bewitched to star in a show that flopped, a la Jerry Van Dyke turning down Gilligan's Island in favor of My Mother the Car. I see now he didn't have a choice in the matter.
Review the Delta House Sitcom
It feels like BATMAN with the Caped Crusaders cut out and comedy spliced in to replace them.
I did say that Tammy Grimes would have made a great Batman villainess!
Yeah, I can see why this bombed. It's like she's trying to be a mix of Marlo Thomas and Ann Sothern.
Tammy Grimes was probably the most publicized examples of how actors who are theatrically trained need to bring it down for the small screen. We wouldn't hear another voice like hers until Fran Drescher but at least she was able to utilize it for her show's benefit. As for Dick Sargent, I hate to say it but I always considered him a bland actor. Capable but not very colorful or interesting. Dick York was always so memorable as the long-suffering Darren and played it to better comic effect whereas Dick Sargent was too sedate. I can see why they added more witches to the cast at the point in the series.
Conversely, great tv actors don't always transition well to stage. I remember seeing Helen Hunt during her "Mad About You" years at Lincoln Center in a Shakesperean comedy, and she just about faded into the scenery, especially as compared to her stage-experienced co-stars
You're just another in a long line of "Sargent haters" when it comes to "Bewitched," and as in the case of the other "haters," you know not of what you speak, both actors were superb in the role of "Darrin," if anything, it appeared as though Elizabeth Montgomery was more relaxed around Sargent and may have preferred working with him, rather than York, anyway, RIP of all.
The Merv Griffin Show🎙, The Danny Kaye Show, The Mike Douglas Show, Art Film Comedy: THE SLAVES OF NEW YORK (Georgette 1989), 2 Episodes of Route 66, Lots of Drama Tele-Plays, and the one I remember the most: Love and The Love Potion from LOVE 💞AMERICAN STYLE. *Filling in the Gaps is Part of the Fun🎆 of This Channel!*
The original pilot episode- of which several scenes were presented during the 1966 ABC fall preview presentation "7 Nights To Remember" (at their affiliate convention in April 1966) [3:09]- was never telecast.
Just have her say "darling" like a stereotypical sitcom blue blood.
it doesnt look that bad for the era
would have made more sense to create a variety show around her
Watching it, I really did have trouble understanding her and she spoke with such a posh voice. When you made mention of it at the end of the video, I almost fell out of my chair because I thought it was just me.
Good job as always. The theme song was done by "Johnny Williams."?? Well, I guess that ended HIS career. ;-)
If I may make a request, Goodtime Girls (1980) which boasted an impressive cast of up and comers and established artists, but fell afoul of the network.
“Goodtime Girls” is next. Production running behind, though. May have to wait another week.
@@PabSungenis What ?? I live in a "Next Day Delivery" world !!! I can't wait a week. ( LOL ) Post it when you can and thank you for all your hard work.
@@PabSungenis I remember that show. Scott Baio guest starred as Annie Potts little brother and flirted with one of her roommates.
I only knew her from the Village People movie. She had a completely unique voice and presence, and might have worked well in British TV or films, but this was definitely not the right vehicle for her. I learn so much from these videos. Thanks!
If you'd told me that George Axelrod and William Dozier had collaborated on a show, I'd have been very curious to watch it. But I think I would've been mighty disappointed by The Tammy Grimes Show. This would never have been a hit in a million years. I'm surprised it got past the pilot stage. Whoops!
The only work I was familiar with of by Ms. Grimes was on CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Watched parts of the episodes from her old TV show - I thought it was a little tone deaf and I was unsympathetic to her character. But I always liked Ms. Grimes herself!
Tammy Grimes hated this show, and was relieved when it was cancelled.
This was the premise of the Lucy Show and that is not a comparison anyone should invote.
ABC comes across like early FOX Network. Is there any chance you will do Women In Prison? It was a very strange launch show that could only have aired on FOX.
Amanda Plummer's mother.
Right! The one in "Pulp Fiction," also with the annoying voice. You can hear it in that scene when her mother is sticking up the bank teller.
Am I the only one that thought this was actually pretty funny? Underplayed humor by Ms. Grimes, I actually like her character quite a bit!
Same, actually. But I think I'm used to that simultaneously broad-yet-understated stage acting style, and her voice reminds me of Beverlee McKinsey, so I think I have something of a predisposition. 😂
The original name on "Bewitched" was "Cassandra," not "Tamantha," Montgomery changed it to "Samantha."
Please do a 13-week theater on the short-lived Howie Mandel sitcom from 1990 Good Grief
Ooh! I remember that show! Unfortunately there was only one really funny scene in the whole show that still hangs with me to this day!
Looks like America’s own The Trouble With Tracy….except with more budget and talent.
Imagine a story where Dick Sargent is the winner.
Gorgeous woman, gorgeous voice. Wrong script. Happens to the best of them
Her voice is annoying.
MTM stole that bit about tossing the hat
Maybe she should have had a variety show.
You should do something in 'Dusty's Trail' the frontier Gilligan's Island rip-off that starred Bob Denver and Forrest Tucker.
I just saw Dusty's trail for the first time on ME TV... Denver was the exact same character, wonder if Alan Hale Jr turned it down
It's interesting, considering how similar the shows were, that one is considered a TV classic while the other is forgotten. Maybe it's a matter of going back to the same well once too often.
Dusty’s Trail feels like such a rip off of Gilligan’s Island because Sherwood Schwartz was literally copying his own formula.
@@rodriguez1025He could've successfully sued himself for plagiarism.
Splendid!! Love it!!
Well, John Williams did compose the theme.
Um you're incorrect on one glaring point towards the end. Dick Sargent had a 6 year gap between the pilot of Bewitched and actually being hired for the show in 1969. You weren't even close by saying 3 years....where are YOU getting your information?
She was before my time but she seems kind of interesting. Although I'm sure it would get old really fast.
Catchy theme tune, written by "Johnny" Williams
Not to be confused with the same network's "Tammy" from the season before, starring Debbie Watson.
I wonder if that was her real voice? Anyway, I would prefer Miss Grimes in anything compared to today's reality drek.
I find the real Miss Crimes very appealing, but there is something off about her energy in this. 🤷♂️
This WAS her real voice! She once said "When you have an exaggeration, you might as well go with it!" She did, hard.
My Mother the Car is better than reality shows.
She plays an annoying passenger in a 1970’s tv Movie of the week horror set on an airplane where ghosts were freezing them all out and Tammy vibed with the ghosts in think. So weird. It wasnt really her voice that annoyed me, it was her face. I do like her tv themesong tho!!
Awesome!!
idk I think Tammy had a cute voice
Misinformed, the show was Asher and Elizabeth Montgomery’s creation. Watch the biography of Elizabeth Montgomery.
My source was Herbie J. Pilato, who knows more about “Bewitched” than anyone else. Asher and Montgomery did most of the work developing the show but Harry Ackerman first offered it to Tammy Grimes.
First clue was crappy Darrin.
Fran Drescher made her voice work.
Love the series… with love, get rid of background music.
I always found Dick Sargent completely unlikable, especially as the second Darren.
And as for Tammy Grimes... I have heard of her but don't remember seeing her before this video. I will be charitable and say that she must have been much better on the stage.
I'm usually a big fan of these silly old sitcoms but this one looks unwatchable.
I personally liked her brother Frank a lot more.
Tammy looked eccentric, sounded eccentric and acted in an eccentric style. She was almost always too much...even on the stage. She might have worked as a nutty sidekick on TV, but never as the star of a series.
I was a teenager then but never heard of her.
Tammy Grimes was a wonderful theater actress and singer...but oooooh that speaking voice! It was great for the stage, TERRIBLE for television! No one could stand to hear that on a weekly basis! She would have made a great Batman villianess, though.
Oh, her character's name on this show was Tamantha Ward. One critic said of it "God, what a name!"
Interestingly, Elizabeth Montgomery came to the network with an idea about a rich wife and her husband who always tries to stop her from spending too much money. The network passed on the idea but suggested she try out for Samantha on Bewitched - in other words, WITCHcraft instead of RICHcraft.
And the Tammy Grimes Show sounds an awful lot like Liz Montgomery's original concept. So, it's the original Samantha and the original Darrin with Montgomery's original idea! Proving in the end that it needed a lot of magic to succeed.....
“Bewitched” wasn’t a hit because of the concept, the writing, or even the cast. It was alchemy. The perfect cast for the concept and some great writing in its early seasons. I honestly think that if Tammy Grimes and Dick Sargent were the original stars, it would not have lasted more than one season. And Elizabeth Montgomery as Tamantha Ward would not have lasted long either. She was perfect for Samantha and the part was right for her. Same with Darrin and Dick York.
@@PabSungenis Totally agree with you, especially about the early seasons of Bewitched. Our local station only showed the color episodes in reruns and I wasn't impressed with the show. When I saw the black and white episodes on Nick at Nite I thought it was truly...magical! The cast had such wonderful chemistry and the writing was MUCH better in the early seasons. Honestly, if Tammy Grimes and Dick Sargent were the stars in the beginning the show would have seemed hokey and on the level of My Mother the Car or My Living Doll.
The genius of the first season and a half of “Bewitched” is that a lot of it was an allegory about cultural assimilation. Gay and Jewish writers channeled their own experiences with “passing” and hiding your true self to avoid persecution into Samantha being forced to “act mortal” and deny her true nature and culture. I’d also like to think this was one of the reasons why Dick Sargent’s portrayal of Darrin was a lot more accepting of Samantha’s powers.
Listen to Endora’s confrontation with Darrin in episode 3. “What you people call normal we call asinine.” That underlying theme is one reason Samantha is right up there with Dorothy in the gaytheon.
Now I know where Amanda Plummer got her distinctive if slightly annoying voice.
She talks like Meatwad from ATHF
😂🤣😂 I would never have thought of that... But I like it! I just thought that I could barely make out her words and she doesn't have that sitcom "energy" you expect. 🤷♂️
Such an interesting face.
She sounds like Eva Gabor, but worse.
I think Ms. Gabor was easier to understand. :)
@@jehobden True.
I watched an episode and I can see why it bombed. Complete rip-off of I Love Lucy/The Lucy Show and the Tamantha character was clearly intended to be Lucy Ricardo 2.0. Why have Tammy Grimes when you could just watch Lucille Ball and I Love Lucy/The Lucy Show instead
This is absolutely unwatchable. Starting with the screechy theme song. It’s a good thing this was junked.
...she doesn't have a voice for TV.
This. Exactly. I have three musical cast recordings that Tammy Grimes sung in (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, High Spirits and 42nd Street) and her singing and speaking sound wonderful. Trouble is on television, an entirely different medium from live theater, her exaggerated inflections come off as incoherent and grating. Also, it's totally different seeing and hearing Tammy perform one night on a stage in a theater than having to see and hear her every week on television. This is coming from someone that LOVED Tammy Grimes on-stage!