The Mothers-In-Law

The opening credits sequence of THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW was one of the best ever. The theme song was quite manic, and was accompanied by clips of the actors getting hit with flying objects, splashed with water, and crashing into walls and through floors and ceilings. What's more, the appropriate sound effects for each mishap were dubbed in. The result was one of the most wild opening credits sequences I have ever seen, which emphasized the madcap events in the episodes themselves. All of this is made even more hilariously bizarre (or bizarrely hilarious) by the almost complete absence of memorable opening credits sequences, and memorable theme songs, on television today.

This was a fun show cast in the same die as "I love Lucy." Who could believe Desilu could strike gold twice with casting Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard in essentially the Lucy and Ethel roles? I just barely remember watching an original run of an episode or two, but like several others have mentioned, they did run them briefly in the late 70's. How cool was it to live in a converted garage where the garage door opener was still installed? That device made for a fun episode where Eve and Kaye get stuck on top of the door while spying on "the kids" when someone decides to open up the garage door. The opening credits were frantic and colorful, it should have lasted longer. If you were a fan of Dharma & Greg, this was essentially a remake of The Mothers-In-Law.

This is a show which had two of the greatest writers in TV history, Caroll & Pugh who co wrote I Love Lucy. The cast was great as the talented Eve Arden & Kay Ballard were very good comedians who played off each other very well. The legend Roger C. Carmell is great in this show too. Herb Ruddley, if I recall his name correctly, played off Carmell well too as the straight man to Rogers classic funny man.

For some obscure reason, NBC tried putting this on Sunday nights when Ed Sullivan was still big and put it in a killer time slot. That is the main reason this show only lasted 2 seasons. The shows were funny and the format of the main cast going after each other week after week was a fresh approach.

The show naturally had a lot of ties to Lucy as the writers and Desi Jr. were on the show sometimes too along with other well known guest stars. This series is on DVD now,folks who saw it then have fond memories and folks who see it for the first time will wonder how network Execs at NBC killed such a promising & well done show in two seasons. Of course it was consistent with NBC's track record then as they also killed the original STAR TREK too.

I remembered seeing a few episodes of this show growing up, most likely in reruns, and thanks to Amazon Prime, I was able to watch both seasons.

What made this show enjoyable to view were the actors, not the scripts. I found most of the story lines to be childish, dopey, and often predictable. I know the team of writers, who wrote most of the scripts, was the same team from I LOVE LUCY, but the times had changed. What worked for Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz didn't always work here for this series. Many times, I felt as I were watching a retread of a Lucy episode. I often found myself saying "This was such a dumb episode." In the show's defense, I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching a show that ran from 1967 to 1969, and that so much had changed in society over those decades. However, what always made me keep watching to its final episode was the talent displayed by its cast. When you have great actors involved, it certainly raises the levels of many mediocre scripts. Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard certainly raised the level of many of these episodes with their experience, personality, and talent. They were a great team, and they really played off each beautifully. Plus, it was fun to hear Kaye Ballard singing in many of the episodes. The series is worth watching, and it has to be viewed knowing it is a piece from the late 1960s. It is certainly a time capsule look at the time.

Reading all the great comments from readers of this website made my Sunday morning! It is too bad, indeed, that "The Mothers-in-Law" is not in syndication and Lucie Arnaz and I have talked about this often. It has something to do with Desi's estate, I believe, and legal complications...

However, be that as it may, everything wonderful written about "my little Italian Mama", Kay Ballard is all true - she is, was and will always be the very best!!!! I can only say that those days, back in 1966-1968, were the best 56 weeks of my life! Thanks, all, for watching and enjoying the program! Jerry Fogel (Jerry Buell)