The Mothers-In-Law

In the very early '70's, my local station WNEW-TV in New York ran this series over and over again. Since then, "The Mothers-in-Law" disappeared into oblivion. Probably nobody has seen it on TV since the mid '80s when Desi Arnaz died. Well, it ever comes back, you have to see the great chemistry between Arden and Ballard. The show was written by the same writers as "I Love Lucy", Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr. That being said, the scripts, although considered "old-hat", were very funny. Kaye and Eve get into some very funny situations and are real pros! Too bad it only lasted two seasons. This is also one of the rare TV shows where everybody (except Deborah Walley) used their real first name!

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.

Despite mixed reviews,"The Mothers-In-Law" was executive producer Desi Arnaz' last stand at producing another half-hour situation comedy that lasted two seasons. Not only that it had astounding talent,it had two of the greatest comedy television writers ever,the spectacular team of Bob Carroll,Jr. and Madelyn Davis(who were the creators as well as having full production control during the show's entire run),the same team who wrote many of the hilarious scripts for "I Love Lucy","The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour","The Lucy Show",and "The Ann Sothern Show". For the 56 color episodes that it produced,"The Mothers In-Law" was placed on NBC's Sunday Night Schedule sandwiched in the 8:30PM/EST time slot between "The Wonderful World of Disney","Bonanza",and "The High Chapparal". When it premiered on September 10,1967,the show was placed opposite the long-running "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS,and the crime drama series "The FBI" that was produced by Quinn Martin over at ABC which didn't help it in the ratings. Maybe if the powers that be over at NBC,put "The Mothers-In-Law" at another time slot it would be progressed into some more,but it didn't. This was a series that have some great comedy chemistry between it's two stars....one was Eve Arden,and the other was Kaye Ballard. Along with Roger C.Carmel and Herbert Rudley and you had to major hit. However the chemistry between Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard was much as the same as Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance did for "I Love Lucy". The magic between these two actresses was phenomenal. Even some of the physical predicaments or the comical situations these two ended up in were priceless in the age of situation comedy shows of the mid-1960's. Another great piece of casting were the newlyweds(Jerry Fogel and Deborah Walley)and from there you have a television classic that was funny then as it was when audiences saw it back in 1967. However,during the first season,actor Roger C. Carmel(Roger Buell)appeared in only 30 episodes airing September 10,1967 until April 28,1968. Carmel's final appearance on the series was in "How Not To Manage A Rock Group"(aired April 28,1968 with musical guests "The Seeds"). His replacement for the show's second season? He was replaced in Season 2 by Richard Deacon who was a fine veteran of many classic television shows. Deacon was Fred Rutherford on "Leave It To Beaver",and he was also Mel Cooley from "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Deacon appeared in 26 episodes of the series running from September 15,1968 until the show's final episode on April 13,1969.

Though the show never fails to provide laughs,there are some that really stand out that were the best of the series....

"A Night To Forget"(Season 1,Episode 4:airing October 1,1967)-where Eve and Kaye get locked in a department store. They try to call their husbands for help but get a wrong number in Barcelona,Spain!

"Through the Lurking Glass"(Season 1,Episode 12:airing November 26,1967) -Roger is writing for a TV show about the Masked Martian. So,he dresses up in the costume and jumps out at people in the park in order to gauge their reactions for his script. Naturally,he gets arrested and has trouble trying to explain since he is dressed up as a martian. So,he calls for help only to get Eve and Kaye coming in dressed by grasshoppers followed by Herb in an "Arabian Nights" type costume,then Jerry and Suzy dressed as a kangaroo and a rabbit.

"You Challenge Me To What?"(Season 1,Episode 12:airing December 17,1967)

"The Hombre Who Came To Dinner"(Season 1:airing January 14,22,1968)-a two part episode that had special guest star Desi Arnaz.

"Didn't You Used To Be Ozzie Snick"(Season 2,Episode 13:airing December 22,1968)-with special guest star Ozzie Nelson.

When "The Mothers-In-Law" was canceled by NBC on April 13,1969 after 56 episodes,the executives didn't take long to find a replacement when "The Bill Cosby Show" took over the time slot that was once "The Mothers-In-Law"...that show lasted two seasons as well.

Mostly funny sitcom because of the comedic talents of Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as the mothers-in-law. The show was produced and often directed by Desi Arnaz so if there's a "Lucy & Ethel" vibe, it's not a coincidence.

Basic plot revolves around neighbors, the Hubbards and the Buells, whose kids marry, making the neighbors in-laws. The mothers are clinging, nosy, and very funny. While Ballard does a lot of her explosive Italian schtick, Arden gets to cut loose from her famous "Our Miss Brooks" persona and display her talent for slapstick. For example: in one episode while the mothers are standing on the garage door handles and peering through the windows (it's been converted into the newlyweds' apartment), the door goes up with Arden and Ballard going up with it.

Being a late '60s show, the women wear wild colors and the houses are decorated with lots of bright orange and yellow. Set against this garish backdrop, the relatively normal husbands are played by Herbert Rudley and Roger C. Carmel (replaced in season 2 by Richard Deacon). The newlyweds are played by Deborah Walley and Jerry Fogel.

Desi Arnaz makes a few guest appearances and both Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucie Arnaz show up in a few episodes. Lots of familiar faces show up in guest spots. TV fans will easily spot Paul Lynde, Rob Reiner, Ozzie Nelson, Doris Packer, Beverly Garland, Percy Helton, Jeanette Nolan, Herb Edelman, Joi Lansing, Don Rickles, Alice Ghostley, Mary Jane Croft, Teri Garr, and even Jimmy Durante in various episodes.

But it's really all about Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard.

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.