Bing Crosby's production company came up with a delightful little pilot during the 1965-6 season. Unfortunately, And Baby Makes Three went unsold, even though it was commissioned for ABC.
James Stacy, a couple of years away from Lancer, headlines as a pediatrician who's new in town. He quickly hires a secretary (Joan Blondell, two years away from Here Come The Brides), and finds a prospective girlfriend (Lynn Loring). His clinic is in the same building as a dentist (Gavin McLeod, ex-McHale's Navy), who welcomes him with flowers (???).
Movie veteran Blondell quickly establishes chemistry on screen with Stacy, and the same can be said for his scenes with Loring. Hal Smith (The Andy Griffith Show, Davey & Goliath) appears early on as a sign painter, and Pamelyn Ferdin plays a patient brought into the clinic by her grandmother (Madge Blake, who would appear on Batman). Keep an eye open, too, for an early appearance by Johnnie Whitaker (later of Family Affair) as a Little League ballplayer (billed as John Whitaker). Future Oscar winning composer John Williams, billed as Johnny Williams at the time, scored the music, and was also working for 20th Century Fox (Lost in Space) and Universal (i.e. Suspense Theatre) at the time.
Oh, and the sequence with Stacy and Ferdin is cute and adorable. To think she was only 6 when this was shot in 1965.
ABC passing on this might've been a mistake.
Rating: A.
2 comments:
From what I saw, it seems to be a spiritual ancestor to The Bob Newhart Show (the angle of multiple medical practices in an office building) and Empty Nest (Pediatrician and nurse hijinx). I think this definitely had potential; the execs probably thought it was too pedestrian and would take too much time to find an audience. Just a season later, TV was going into big splashy changes (Star Trek, The Monkees, Batman etc.) and this show seems to be typical of primetime family sitcom fare.
Looks like this aired during the spring or summer of '66, and by then, Madge Blake was on Batman. Once Ben Casey ended, Bing Crosby wasn't able to sell another series to ABC, and had started to turn his attention to making movies aside from the CBS hit, Hogan's Heroes.
Safe to say this was ahead of its time.....
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