So You Want a Television Set

Many of us old enough to remember early 1950s recall that owning a TV, even just a B&W console, made you a local neighborhood celeb of sorts. I remember other kids coming to our home to watch shows such as Ding Dong School and Howdy Doody with me as well as the prime time shows I watched with Mom and Dad. ☺ ... .

This is one of the shorts in the Joe McDoakes series. There will be spoilers ahead:

George O'Hanlon (probably best known as the voice of George Jetson in The Jetsons) starred in a series of one-reel live action shorts as Joe McDoakes, a man continually getting himself into situations as a result of either his own stubbornness or his wife's prodding.

Here, O'Hanlon takes the opportunity to take a few semi-good-natured pokes in the ribs at "the enemy"-television, which was making inroads into the movie business. Joe McDoakes is sitting at dinner and reading the paper when his wife asks him for a television set. He argues against it, she begins crying, he caves and she unveils a set already in the house, allowing O'Hanlon to do a "take".

Joe and a buddy "install" the TV, allowing for several mishaps. The bulk of the short consists of Joe and his wife trying to find a program they both want to watch, with all the standard jokes about TV being trotted out-limited programming options, bad reception, annoying commercials and so on. The obligatory reference to pro wrestling is prominent.

They finally settle on a movie when the first of the visitors arrives and basically take over the living room and the TV. Joe tries to be a bad host, but his wife is all to happy to entertain their guests. As more people show up, Joe gets madder and madder, until they start fighting over which program to watch and soak Joe in beer, at which point he blows his top and stomps out to a movie theater.

In contrast to his evening at home, his theater-going experience is a dream come true. The film he goes to see is By the Light of the Silvery Moon, which is probably why this is an extra on the DVD release of the film. There's a hilarious ending, featuring two cameos. I won't spoil it here.

This short is well worth watching.

The story begins with Mrs. McDoakes insisting they have a television...although she had already bought one before she even asked Joe about it. Soon, their dopey neighbor arrives to mess things up and when the television is actually working, lots of moochers show up to watch TV.

"So You Want a Television Set" seems to be an incredibly self-serving installment in the Joe McDoakes series. After all, the short film is all about why having a television set is lousy and overrated. And, at the end, there's a cameo by Doris Day and Gordon McCrea in order to promote their latest film! Because of this and the lack of big laughs, I'd consider this among the weaker entries in the series.

So You Want a Television Set (1953)

*** (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) gets bugged by his wife (Phyllis Coates) to get a new television set, which eventually turns into a disaster. This comedy works not only for the series but also on many other levels including having an attitude about television sets that were probably quite popular back in the day. Joe, a radio man, doesn't see the need of a television and resents being forced to watch commercials and these jokes aimed at that are all very funny. Other funny moments happen when the neighbors wants to come over and eventually get into a fight over what to watch. This whole negative attitude from McDoakes is perfectly done by O'Hanlon but we also get a wide range of supporting guests. In this movie Joe goes to see By the Light of the Silvery Moon (which is the DVD this short is on) and runs into Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in the theater. This is a very funny cameo and another interesting one is when Tor Johnson, from various Ed Wood films, shows up on the wrestling match on television.

What do you expect them to say in the movies? When Phyllis Coates talks George O'Hanlon into finally buying a television set, they find that it brings with it a bunch of freeloaders to drink their beer, change the channel, and a show that consists of a host guzzling the sponsor's beer between ten-second clips from an old movie.

The movie industry had been suffering from the inroads of television since 1946, as people preferred to stay home and watch their shows that way, even with all the freeloaders. Writer-director Richard Bare runs his usual zany collection of people who oppress O'Hanlon, and include a brief bit with Doris Day and Gordon Macrae too.