If you've wondered why Warner Bros. had so much trouble with sitcoms in the 60's, such that the only comedy series that lasted, The Bugs Bunny Show, was moved to Saturday mornings after a few years in primetime, well, it's one of life's great mysteries. WB was cranking out Westerns and crime dramas, but the occasional sitcom just didn't connect. F-Troop, of course, lasted two seasons (1965-7), but there was a mid-season replacement in the winter of 1962 that deserved a better fate.
Room For One More was based on a novel, and the premise was a couple adopting a couple of children to expand their family. Radio & TV vet Peggy McCay teamed with Andrew Duggan (ex-Bourbon Street Beat) as the parents. Tim Rooney, son of Mickey, was one of the children.
Room lasted exactly six months, absent late summer repeats, from late January to late July. Following is a sample open/close. Dick Tufeld is the announcer.
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For the record:
Room For One More was made as a theatrical feature by Warner Bros. in 1952.
The parents were played by Cary Grant and his then-wife Betsy Drake.
When WB sold its movie library to TV, the title was changed to The Family Way (nobody knows why for sure).
This TV series was rushed into production as a kind of space-filler on the ABC sweetheart deal; nobody really expected anything to happen, one way or the other.
That sort of thing happened quite a bit back then ...
And yet they went with the original title for the series. Go figure.
I think the only other time I've seen Andrew Duggan in a comedy is when he guested on M*A*S*H several years later.
Andrew Duggan and "comedy":
The hard-and-fast definitions are hard to make fit on many shows from the classic TV era.
I do remember Duggan in an F Troop episode as 'Major Chester Winster', inventor of the Chestwinster 76, "The Gun That Will Win The West!" - very broad comic character.
On the other hand, the MASH episode, where he played Margaret Houlihan's father, was one of the more serious stories that they did.
And on the other other hand, some of Duggan's guest shots on "serious" shows had comic elements to them, at least as often as his out-and-out heavies; one example to serve for many would be a McMillan & Wife, in which he played a pro-football owner who was trying to quit smoking - very funny indeed.
Bottom line: Andrew Duggan was a terrific actor, who could do anything you wanted him to do.
Forgot about the F-Troop gig, and I have it on DVD!!!
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