What Might've Been: Jan & Dean On The Run (1966)

All that was really missing was the "Little Old Lady From Pasadena".

60's pop icons Jan (Berry) & Dean (Torrence) could've beaten The Monkees to the small screen by about a year if ABC had picked up their pilot from 20th Century Fox in 1965. Jan & Dean On The Run appears to be meant to be a documentary series chronicling the career paths of the two singers, narrated by baseball icon Vin Scully. I think now we know how Scully ultimately landed the role of narrator for Occasional Wife a few months later.

Producer-Director William Asher (Bewitched) wasn't completely tied down to Screen Gems, it seems. Fox production chieftain William Self hired Asher's production company, Ashmont, to work on Jan & Dean, and Asher, along with his then-wife, Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery, gets in a cameo. Production supervisor Jack Sonntag came over to Fox from Four Star, and began a long association with Fox.

Unfortunately, On The Run fails to fire. If it was meant to be a sitcom, you wouldn't know since there isn't a laugh track. As a result, this pilot, written by the esteemed Ruth Brooks Flippen, ends up hitting---wait for it---"Dead Man's Curve" (just couldn't resist).

Scope it out for yourselves.

Rating: D.