| Ichabod and Me | |
|---|---|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Starring | Robert Sterling George Chandler Reta Shaw Jimmy Hawkins Burt Mustin Forrest Lewis Christine White Jimmy Mathers |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Running time | Under 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | Black and white |
| Original run | September 26, 1961 – June 5, 1962 |
Ichabod and Me is a 36-episode situation comedy series set in a small New England town and starring Robert Sterling and George Chandler. It aired on CBS from September 26, 1961, to June 5, 1962, and was produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, in association with Jack Benny's "JaMco Productions".
Contents |
The storyline featured Sterling in the role of 44-year-old Robert "Bob" Major, a widower and newspaper reporter from New York City who moves to the fictitious town of Phippsboro to purchase and edit the local paper, The Bulletin. Chandler plays the 63-year-old meddlesome former editor, Ichabod Adams, who has become the municipal traffic commissioner but keeps an eye on Sterling to make sure that the newspaper meets specifications.[1] At the time of his "Ichabod" role, Chandler was also the president of the Screen Actors Guild.[2]
In addition to the two main leads, the cast included Reta Shaw as Aunt Lavinia, Bob's housekeeper; Christine White as Abigail Adams, Ichabod's daughter and Bob's girlfriend; Jimmy Mathers as Benjie, Bob's six-year-old son; Jimmy Hawkins, also a semi-regular on The Donna Reed Show and later Petticoat Junction, as Jonathan Baylor; Burt Mustin, Gus the Fireman on Leave It to Beaver, as Olaf;[1] and Forrest Lewis as Colby.[3]
The pilot, titled "Adam's Apples", was broadcasted on April 24, 1960 on CBS's General Electric Theater with Ronald Reagan.[4] The episodes of the series were titled "Ichabod's Niece", "The Phippsboro Story", "The Old Stowe Road", "Ichabod's Romance", "Bob's Housekeeper", "A Letter from Juliet", "Teenage Journalist", "Parking Problems", "Bob's Redhead" with Merry Anders, "Election Fever", "Jonathan's Romance", "The Purple Cow", and "Big Business".[1] Notably, Rod Serling appeared as Eugene Hollinfield in the episode "The Celebrity" on March 20, 1962.[5]
Summer rebroadcasts continued until September 16. The series ran at 9:30 Eastern on Tuesday in a favorable time slot sandwiched between The Red Skelton Show and The Garry Moore Show, both in the Top 15. At the end of each Skelton broadcast, George Chandler urged viewers to stay tuned to Ichabod and Me. Yet viewers left CBS for that half-hour in droves, as Ichabod and Me failed to develop its own loyal audience.[6] The competition to Ichabod and Me was not a significant threat, either, it included the second half of both Leslie Nielsen's The New Breed police drama on ABC (until November 14, when The New Breed moved to 8:30 PM and Bert Parks' game show Yours for a Song began airing at 9:30 Eastern), and The Dick Powell Show anthology series on NBC.[7]