Run, Buddy, Run

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Not to be confused with 1961-1962 CBS sitcom called Bringing Up Buddy starring Frank Aletter. Sheldon and Aletter had together co-starred in the 1964-1965 sitcom, The Cara Williams Show.

Run, Buddy, Run
Format	Sitcom
Starring	Jack Sheldon Bruce Gordon Jim Connell
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Color
Original run	September 12, 1966 – January 2, 1967
External links
IMDb profile

Jack Sheldon
Notes (1) Trumpet player Jack Sheldon starred in a 16-segment sitcom in 1966 in which he played a young accountant on the run from comical mobsters. (2) Sheldon, the musician, is still a specialist in jazz, having released a CD in 2007. (3) Though Run, Buddy, Run was quickly dropped from the CBS schedule, there has been interest in the series over the Internet by aging Baby boomers who recall the year 1966.

Run, Buddy, Run is a 16-episode situation comedy starring Jack Sheldon (born 1931), which ran on CBS television from September 12, 1966, until January 2, 1967. Sheldon, also a trumpet player, portrayed Buddy Overstreet, an "ordinary guy", an accountant, on the run from a group of comical gangsters. As the plot unfolds, while he is taking a steam bath, Buddy overhears mobster "Mr. Devere" or "Mr. D", played by Bruce Gordon, plotting the death of a "Chicken Little".^[1] Jim Connell played Gordon's bumbling son, "Junior".^[2]

In a typical segment, Buddy Overstreet enters a new town trying to establish employment, and Mr. D would arrive and force Buddy into a narrow exit. In the ninth episode, Buddy is working as a welder in a factory when he tells a coworker Devere Enterprises has put a price on his head. The colleague double-crosses Buddy, and phones Mr. D's office long-distance.^[3]

In the November 14 episode, Buddy works as a waiter in a nightclub and plays his trumpet to the guests. In the November 21 segment, Buddy turns a Mexican hotel into a tourist spot suddenly frequented by Mr. D and the mob.^[4]

Run, Buddy, Run was produced by Leonard Stern, who in the production of Run, Buddy, Run used many of the same technical persons behind his Get Smart series on NBC. The program aired at 8 p.m. Eastern sandwiched between the last season of Gilligan's Island starring Bob Denver and The Lucy Show with Lucille Ball. It failed to garner sufficient ratings and was dropped at midseason after sixteen episodes were produced.^[2] Its competition was I Dream of Jeannie on NBC and the second half of The Iron Horse, an ABC Western about the railroad.^[5]

In the last episode, "Buddy Overstreet, Please Come Home", Mr. D is chased by tax auditors and faces potential financial ruin, and the secret of Chicken Little is revealed. This means that Buddy can return home, for he is no longer being pursued by Mr. D.^[6]

Among guests on the series were Jack Albertson, J. Pat O'Malley, Vaughn Taylor, Sid Melton, Julie Sommars, and Burt Mustin.^[2]