Occasional Wife

"Occasional Wife" ran for one season on NBC from September 13, 1966 until May 9, 1967. The series was one of the first to forego the use of a laugh track. Its narration is by legendary sportscaster Vin Scully. "Occasional Wife" got off to a good start, tying at 18 in the Nielsen ratings with "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". It began facing tougher competition from rival networks, dropping to 64 and was cancelled after 30 episodes.

The show centers around Peter Christopher (Michael Callan), a happy bachelor who is pressured to find a wife to please his family and to advance his career. His boss Max Brahms (Jack Collins) of Brahms Baby Food Company is a firm believer in family men. Peter enlists the help of a young hat check girl Greta Patterson (Patricia Harty), in exchange for paying for her art lessons and setting her up with an apartment two floors above his, to play the role of his wife whenever needed. The series rides this plot with the complications of hiding the fact they aren't married from their colleagues, friends and family.

Reflecting upon the series, after watching each episode, "Occasional Wife" is a rather farcical sitcom featuring an outlandish premise. Early on, I found many episodes struggled to maintain flow with plots feeling somewhat strained. As such, I think the series would have had much more success as a feature film expanding upon the pilot with elements of other episodes. The plot of hiding the "occasional wife" routine became overplayed in my eyes. As the series progressed, I feel the best episodes are those that doesn't depend on this premise.

Michael Callan and Patricia Harty developed a very comfortable chemistry (they married months after the series ended). However, their comedy style was more of that of a straight man, forcing the comedy to come from interactions with others. I like the casting of Jack Collins as Peter's pushy, family-first boss Mr. Brahms.

The series was at its best with the comedy of talented guest stars: John Astin in "I Do, We Don't", Dick Wilson in "One Plus One Equals Too Many", Don Penny in "My Occasional Brother's Keeper", etc.). Stuart Margolin's meek Bernie could engage the viewer and provide comedy. The series would have benefited greatly if he was a regular in some capacity. It was also fun to watch Jack Riley as Peter's snake-in-the-grass office rival, years before he became a treasured deadpan scene stealer in "The Bob Newhart Show".

Among subpar offerings, there are some good episodes in the series.

When this show debuted, I was all of 8 years old. I loved it! Firstly, I would've married Michael Callan in 1966, if he'd only asked! I thought he was gorgeous. And Patricia Harty? Adorable.

The premise of the show sounds ridiculous now, but back then, there really wasn't any fuss and bother about discrimination in the workplace (or sexual harassment - just watch "Mad Men"!). If a boss said you had to be married to receive a promotion in his company, then you had to be married. Now, of course, if your boss laid down such a condition, you'd engage a lawyer and sue. But in 1966, you couldn't. What you could do was find a female friend, and pretend to be married, as far as your boss was concerned.

Luckily for Callan's character, he earned enough money to pay for an apartment in his building to house his "occasional wife". This not only helped to seal the deal - it also ensured that she was close at hand when needed. And having the apartments two floors apart gave us the opportunity to see the comic facial expressions of the guy who lived in between, as the Occasional Spouses ran up and down the fire escape.

The show was pretty racy for its time. The characters appeared to have sexual relationships without intending for them to end in marriage. Woooooooo....

In the pilot, Callan's mother nagged him about still not being married. She said, "You're not... 'eccentric'... are you?" (what a funny way of enquiring about his sexuality!), which he exasperatedly and quickly denied. It cracked me up.

I wouldn't mind seeing more episodes of this show, but I think it really was a bit of a one-trick-pony. There would've been only so many times where the boss showed up uninvited, or one or the other partner was seen with someone else... I don't see how it could've gone on longer than a year, now that I think about it.

Still, I thought it was a fun show to watch, and enjoyed seeing the pilot again.

This series is a complete, total and utter non-sequitur. Visually it's bright colors and stark scenery (this is a 1960's TV budget) are firmly planted in 1959. The story line superficially is pure Doris Day/Rock Hudson. The execution is more Larry David/Monty Python. This situation comedy is so surreal that it could never last more than a season in a world where HBO/Showtime would not exist for 20 years. From the bongos in the opening title music to the avant-garde narration you know you are in a parallel universe. The plots are totally stupid...hello, Jerry Sienfeld! The resolutions make no sense and the stories turn on a dime...Why?...Why not! As the playboy who hires a hat check girl (this is a time when men wore hats) to pose as his wife so he can get a job promotion (the president of a baby food company does not give promotions to unmarried men), Michael Callan makes an excellent self-centered playboy...and he sleeps with women he is not married to. Is this 1966 TV? Patricia Harty proves herself to be an incredible comedian. Cute, perky, smart and thoroughly self-absorbed; she is an utter gem (Coutney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Debra Messing can't hold a candle to her talent). To add to the sideshow, the third billed character who appears in the opening manages to not say a word in the entire series. The guest stars are a "Who's Who" of 60's TV including Sally Field and John Astin. If you are a devoted fan of "The Beverly Hillbillies" or "The Andy Griffith Show", please move on. For the rest of us, sit back and enjoy.

I too loved this show as a teenager. It didn't last long but I remember it well. I thought I might be the only one who did until I looked it up and read the other reviews. It was a funny show with what I thought was a lot of potential for hilarious episodes. There was a lot of climbing in and out of windows and a lot of close calls when they were almost caught in separate apartments or with other people. It seemed to fit with the popular situation comedies of the time (Bewitched, That Girl, I Dream of Jeannie). I've always wondered why it didn't catch on. I wonder what was on the other networks at the same time. Would that explain why it was overlooked? I don't know if I would feel the same if I saw the episodes today but I would love to give it a try.

It seems there were a LOT of 11 year old people (who are all, as of this writing in June, 2019, in their SIXTIES!) who remember series TV from fifty years before. Personally, I believe one of the best and most clever things about "Occasional Wife" (a clever premise in itself) was the casting of a man who not long ago had an L.A. street named after him - the road to Dodger Stadium - the great Vin Scully. Vinnie was "The Voice Of The Dodgers" since The Brooklyn Dodgers became The Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of the 1950's, and he did that better than just about anyone who is the Team Announcer for just about ANY Major League Baseball team. Scully's wry delivery during the opening of the show should have won an Emmy all by itself. "...And so they set up housekeeping. Peter, in his apartment on the 7th floor, and Greta, in her apartment on the 9th floor... to the lasting confusion of the fellow in between!" If you're a real die-hard for this show, please forgive my memory if I messed up a word or two there. At any rate, "Occasional Wife" was a comedy that was actually funny! And that's something many of today's sitcoms only wish THEY were.