A few years ago, someone thought it'd be a cool idea for Adam Sandler to headline a comedy remake of Frank Capra's classic, "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". The critics weren't exactly fond of this version of "Mr. Deeds", but then, somewhere in between these two films, there was a short-lived TV series that deserved a better fate.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was coupled with another 1969 freshman series, The Brady Bunch, at the front of ABC's Friday lineup. Monte Markham, who had flopped two years earlier with another ABC-Screen Gems entry, The Second Hundred Years, was cast in the lead as Longfellow Deeds, small town newspaper publisher-turned-millionaire who relocates to the big city. Even with Capra himself directing the pilot, Deeds was gone by the holidays, having lost viewers from Brady Bunch.
Unfortunately, no episodes are available at the moment. All we have is this intro supplied by Gilmore Box to YouTube:
A few years earlier, another Capra classic, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", was similarly adapted for television with a pre-Daniel Boone Fess Parker in the title role. Yep, that failed, too. These are the mysteries of television I just don't get.
No rating. Never saw the show.
I was part of the production staff on the show (2nd AD). It was a lovely show to work on and Monte was a great guy. I, too, felt the show was neglected, but there is no predicting audiences.
ReplyDeleteI do wish I could find copies of the episodes, but I don't think anyone ever recorded it, and it was never sent to tape or dvd. Alas.
John Poer
Hello. I collect Screen Gems tv shows and have 2 episode of Mr Deeds goes to town on 16mm film so they are out there just not easy to find. Great show. It must of been put on at a bad time. I would like to find the complete series.
DeleteIn those days, John, I think the networks had a practice of wiping master tapes so they could be reused. Whether or not that was done with filmed material such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, I cannot be certain.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, thank you for sharing, and welcome, albeit 4 1/2 months late..
The show was shot on "conventional" 35mm color film, and recorded on Nagra tape machines, on set.
ReplyDeleteThe sound was, of course, edited, and matched up with the film and then transferred to tape for broadcast. This show was shot on the "Columbia Ranch" in Burbank, CA, and the exteriors were shot at Paradise Cove (up the PCH from Malibu...where James Garner supposedly had a trailer home in "The Rockford Files").
I suspect the original prints (maybe the negatives) are buried in some vault, unless they were discarded. Film can't be "reused" but it certainly can be destroyed.
Thanks for the comment.
jp
Wow. I can imagine there are a number of others buried in the Sony vaults that deserve better treatment.
ReplyDeleteBelatedly:
ReplyDeleteFrank Capra, long retired from filmmaking, had nothing to do with the Mr. Deeds tv series.
As near as can be determined, the director here was the showrunner, Bob Claver, who'd worked with Monte Markham before on Second Hundred Years.
E.W. Swackhamer directed the Pilot, and he and Richard Michaels directed several of the episodes. There were other driectors for episodes, too, and if I can get into my archive, I can find their names. I am not sure if Claver ever directed one without checking.
ReplyDeleteProducers were:
Bob Sweeney ... producer (16 episodes, 1969-1970)
Harry Ackerman ... producer (1 episode, 1969)
E.W. Swackhamer ... producer (1 episode, 1969)
I have all the scripts and production notes for the shows, if I can still find them. I was present for the entire run of the show (short but sweet.)