Doris Day in...

I don't think this generation realizes how successful an actress and singer Doris Day was in the 50s and 60s (for starters). She starred in movies with some of the greatest leading men of the day. She was a talented jazz singer. She was a fashion icon. She seemed to have no 'dark side' or addictions. And then she had this television series.

From what I've read in scattered reviews of books about her, she didn't want to be a television actress. However, the ineptitude of her husband's managing her career put her so deep in debt that she had to perform in a television series because he had signed a contract obligating her to do so. Such is the danger of power of attorney!

Scriptwriters veered toward the sickeningly sweet dialogue and plots sometimes. When I watched the old 'Doris Day Show,' season 1, there was not much of that defect in the stories. Later, I think the writers fell into bad habits, but early on, Doris just seems to play Doris. That person is just a really nice person, one you love and want to know.

I enjoy seeing these old episodes of Season 1. Doris loves her animals and she loves her family! You would think these themes would be enough. Less talented writers forgot these important things but for a while, the series had the actress coming through as a very natural self, with high aspirations for her parenting role and a commitment to live on the ranch with her family. Nostalgic? Yes. But it's that lovely nostalgia that doesn't prompt you to laugh but instead miss all those 'family values' that used to rule television.

I didn't watch much of the Doris Day Show when it was on, I hated the idea that America's top female movie star was forced to do TV. Because I'm a Doris Day collector, I purchased THE DORIS DAY SHOW First Season.

Now, I remember. I saw the first couple of shows and quit watching. Now watching the later shows from the first season, I can't believe how good this is! Leave it to Doris Day to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Her acting is incredible -- she doesn't miss a trick. As Jack Lemmon said about Day, "It was elevating to act with her." AND THAT BODY! Doris Day had the best figure in Hollywood. Don't get me wrong, I thought that Marilyn Monroe was voluptuous, but Doris' figure was perfect. She could wear anything and look terrific.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the seasons. On this collection, there are some fun extras, including Doris' two appearances on the TV classic, What's My Line?"

Looking back, Doris Day was robbed. She never got nominated as Best Actress in a comedy by the Emmys. Clearly, she was better than Lucille Ball in the messy and overplayed, "Here's Lucy" and as good or better than the actresses that WERE being nominated during this period. But I must point out, this series was done during the "I hate Doris Day" period in the USA. Everybody frowned on Day as being "too clean" and "a virgin." Of course all of that was nonsense and looks silly today, but that was the atmosphere in which Doris filmed this series.

The Emmys often ignored the best. Remember, the marvelous Esther Rolle was never nominated for her formidable work on "Good Times."

When I was a kid this was my first exposure to Doris Day. I was only two when this show first aired and I used to watch it every week. However, it was fairly confusing due to the fact that it changed situations almost every season. In the first season she was the typical widowed mom raising her two kids in an almost carbon copy of "Green Acres", but without the surrealism of that show. In the second season we see her become a writer for a magazine, which she would remain, with slight variations for the next few years. However, in the final season, the show pretty much becomes another version of "Mary Tyler Moore" with her now playing a single girl and without the kids that she had for the first few years. However, despite these changes Doris Day retained the charm and grace that made her one of the most popular stars in television.

Also, one thing that is quite ironic is the fact that this show was set in San Francisco, which was the same locale as her former co-star, and close friend, Rock Hudson's series "McMillan and Wife". That fact could have led to all sorts of guest star possibilities.

This show ran from 1968 until 1973, and I hadn't seen it on TV probably since its initial run until the DVDs came out. The show aired at a time when American culture was going through a great transition. When Doris Day first went on the air Bonanza and The Andy Griffith Show were the top television draws. By the time it went off the air it was All in the Family and M.A.S.H. Thus it is amazing that Doris Day stayed on the air for five years during this time when her clean-cut image probably set her apart from the crowd, and then walked away from her show - the show was not canceled due to poor ratings. In fact, it did quite well throughout its run.

It will take you back to a simpler time, but then so did Doris Day's films and I still find those enjoyable. The show did make major changes to accommodate the changing times. Initially it had a rural setting with Doris being a widow with two sons who played a major part in the show. First the show had her moving to San Francisco. Next she and her sons moved to a more "hip" apartment. By season four the kids and her widowhood status had disappeared and she was single. Her father and her sons just vanished into thin air, never to be mentioned again.

Also, Doris evolved from a secretary to an associate editor. However, she kept her name and the second apartment she had when her sons had existed. It was very confusing. I'd still recommend it, just remember that culture changed so fast in the U.S. during this time that it even had an effect on how Doris Day was presented.

THE DORIS DAY SHOW (CBS, 1968-73), stars Doris Day in her only weekly comedy series. An actress whose screen career lasted twenty years (1948-1968), ranging from musicals, comedies and heavy dramas, at this point. By 1968, her career was virtually over, until finding herself working for the little screen called television.

THE DORIS DAY SHOW, premiering on CBS in September of 1968, opens with her signature theme song, "Que Sera Sera." The first season finds the widowed Doris Martin (Doris Day), living with her white haired, bearded father, Buck Webb (Denver Pyle) on the family ranch with her two blond-haired sons, Billy (Philip Brown) and Toby (Todd Starke), the little guy with a buck tooth. With similarities to the recent TV show, GREEN ACRES, Doris is a city girl now back on the farm. Supporting her father is the hired hand country boy, LeRoy B. Simpson (James Hampton). There's also a housekeeper, Aggie (Fran Ryan), and later Juanita (Naomi Stevens). The first season followed the tradition of other sit-coms of that time, sugar sweetness with country humor, never rising above the number one TV show of that time, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. The second season found Doris Martin still living on the farm, but now commuting to San Francisco and working as a secretary for Mr. Nicholson (MacLean Stevenson) at TODAY'S WORLD MAGAZINE. Also in support is Myrna Gibbons (Rose Marie, best known as Sally Rogers in THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW). Rose Marie became an added plus in the show, although her character, a single woman always looking for the Mr. Right, was actually no different from her role on Van Dyke's show. Myrna and Doris were given a second banana character in the carnation of Ron Harvey (Paul Smith), a bachelor co-worker on the trail of beautiful female companionship. With this change, the show was slowly finding itself. For season three, Doris moves from her father's farm, taking her the boys and their sheepdog, Lord Nelson, to an apartment in San Francisco over an Italian restaurant run by Angie and Louie Palucci (Kaye Ballard and Bernie Kopell). Doris continues to work at TODAY'S WORLD MAGAZINE. Denver Pyle, no longer a series regular, appeared occasionally mostly in guest spots. While still working woman, Doris manages to find quality time with her boys. Up to this time, THE DORIS DAY SHOW improved, showing both humor and heart to the character and plots, but it was still trying to find itself.

As a youngster growing up during this period, I always enjoyed programs like this, especially whenever they included kids. The big change came with seasons four and five when Mrs. Doris Martin, still working at TODAY'S WORLD MAGAZINE and living in the same apartment on top of Palucci's Italian Restaurant, becomes Miss Doris Martin, a bachelor girl. The format shifted gears, eliminating the Martin boys, their dog, and contradicting everything from the previous seasons. Regardless, the show finally found itself. Of course there were occasional characters reprising their roles from the previous seasons, namely Kaye Ballard, Van Johnson and Billy DeWolfe (hilarious as Mr. Jarvis), so obviously this is the same character and same show with different format. Another difference, being true to life, is Doris now working as a staff writer for a new boss, Cy Bennett (the mustached John Dehner), supported by new co-worker pal, Jackie (Jackie Joseph). Changing her employer from a handsome and easy-going man to a stuffy middle-aged miser was a fine change, which found Doris at wits with her stingy boss. The final two seasons is the format that lasted the longest.

This new format would have worked had Doris Martin remained what she has been previously. Having the boys mentioned as being sent away to boarding school would have explained the emptiness of her apartment. It's surprising it wasn't renamed THE NEW DORIS DAY SHOW. What did happen was Doris Day succeeded in making this dramatic change work. For most, the working girl/family episodes from the second and third seasons are the best. The worst episodes are those with Doris as the only model in the annual fashion shows. A musical show showcasing Doris's fine singing voice would have been preferable, almost as nostalgic as the two Christmas episodes (1970 and 1971) which made them so enjoyable. One episode I remember most but like the least is "Young Love" from Season Three, where Doris appears in the opening segment, comforting a troubled teen named April (played by Meredith Baxter), who tells her story via flashback, taking up the entire episode. In Seasons Four and Five, Doris Martin found a romantic love interest, a middle-aged doctor, played by silver-haired Peter Lawford.

An episode, which I feel might be the one closest to Doris Day's heart, is the one in which she goes on trial for releasing a group of dogs locked in an automobile parked in the hot sun with shut windows. After being taken to court by the owner, she, of course, gets acquitted following her plea in the courtroom for the safety of dogs and other creatures, and her willingness to do what she did again even if it meant serving jail time. No doubt this could be Doris Day's personal favorite since it's more Doris Martin being Doris Day, an animal rights activist.

All episodes of THE DORIS DAY SHOW were produced on film and in color. Interestingly, seldom revived in syndication. Unseen on cable since the 1980s, all 128 episodes are currently available on DVD.