Me and the Chimp

Ted Bessell was the husband of a friend and we would make fun of this show that he was on before they'd married. Then after watching a few episodes I was shocked upon actually finding the seemingly beyond-horribly titled series not that bad at all. There was a flow and, being produced by Garry Marshall, that's no surprise. The kids were good actors and not annoying as was the wife, and the monkey doesn't seem central in the plot but is just there, really.

"Me and the Chimp" was without a doubt the worst of all monkey shows-and that includes the pathetic Lancelot Link-Secret Chimp. Even its star Ted Bessell(who was a regular opposite Marlo Thomas on "That Girl")HATED this series,as well as its simian co-star who was in fact very difficult to get along with according to its producer Garry Marshall(who survived this fiasco and went one to do two very successful shows of the grand 70's "Happy Days",and "Laverne and Shirley"). The premise: A dentist's family takes in an escaped lab chimp named Buttons,with predictable results. However,there were several players that go through this series including actress Kami Colter(who plays Bessell's youngest daughter),went right on to star in "The Waltons" after starring in this piece of trash which was suppose to be a children's sitcom,but to no avail. However,Bessell wanted top billing over the chimp,and after that CBS executives pulled the plug that same year. The series produced 12 episodes.

Yes that was a naughty simian and I ought to know since I was a kid extra for the pilot. The shot I got to be in was at a miniature golf course around Los Angeles. It was a long shoot on a hot day and trying to get the chimp to do his thing was frustrating. You gotta sympathize with the cast and crew. I remember the chimp wore black briefs.I guess this was for the censors or hygiene.Anyway they weren't visible on film. We all thought it was going to be great since Ted Bessell was part of the cast, but alas,this was not to be. What a stinker. The show just wasn't funny.I remember feeling uncomfortable just watching it.What was really grating on the nerves in those days was the canned laughter for every unfunny, meant to be funny, moment. Thank goodness this one flopped!