Down to Earth

I have fond memories of "Down to Earth" possibly because I have never met a single living soul who remembers this show. I can still recite most of the theme song! It is amazing what you absorb at age seven. Anyway, Ethel was a flapper who was killed by a trolley (this was hilariously illustrated in the opening credits with old-style photographs) and had to wait 60 years to be set up with a family so that she could earn her wings and become an angel. Of course, she was a wild woman so the dad (2nd Darrin from Bewitched) was frazzled and the 3 kids loved her (can you say surrogate Mom?) There wasn't much to the show as far as I can remember, but i do recall Rip Taylor as her mentor angel throwing a lot of confetti about. Weird premise, cute show; it pretty much hinged on Ethel becoming acquainted with modern technology and mores. As promised, here are (most of) the words to the theme song:

Back in the days of Valentino, we know A maid named Ethel was so bright and alive (wacky doo,wacky doo) But she was struck down by a trolley, golly Said good-bye in nineteen twenty and five (toodleloo,toodleloo)

Ethel in heaven waited patiently To earn her wings and be An angel fancy-free Sixty years later the opportunity To help a family came through (Boo boo be doo, twenty-three skiddoo)

[something about "Richard, Lizzie, Duane, and JJ, too] Now she must be a nineteen eighties, lady [blah, blah, blah] She's Down to Earth, Down to Earth

I know, I have no life.

Love, Traci B.

I saw this show a few times in the 1980s when it was new. First I heard the theme song as I was going to sleep. About the next day I watched the show (I had to stay up to do that, and it it was because of the theme song!) I saw an episode where Ethel tutored the older son in Algebra and I was most impressed by the honesty of that story. I also enjoyed seeing Dick Sargent again because I remember the "Darrin Switch" on "Bewitched" when it originally happened and I have admired him in other roles. This brief show should be produced on DVD just so we can examine it fully. I had to figure out after only one or two episodes that apparently the living people did not know that Ethel was an angel.

See This Show, John Martin, 44

I very much remember "Down To Earth" as I acted in one of the episodes. I believe it was entitled "The Burro" and it is where young J.J. (or Jay Jay) ordered a donkey via mail order. I played the "delivery person" who brought the donkey to their door.

Not to ring my own bell, but what may be of interest to trivia fans is that I,Peter Ackemran, am the son of late TV Producer Harry Ackerman, who, among his many accomplishments was the Executive Producer of a TV show called "Bewitched" - which also starred Dick Sergent! The day I worked on the show was a wonderful opportunity for Dick and I to reconnect since the time I visited the set of his former show as a young boy.

I also fondly remember watching this show as a child. I used to watch it every day at 4:30 on TBS after school while everyone else was watching ABC afterschool specials. I remember the opening sequence was in the style of an old 1920's newsreel with the theme song being a little like a swing song and saying something about Valentino. It's horrible that this show is not too familiar, because with Hollywood remaking the Dukes of Hazzard, The Addams Family and other old TV shows, this would seem like the perfect premise for a Hollywood remake. There was another show that used to show after it that I can only remember had Louis Arquette as a dirty old man. Maybe someday, TV will come back to what it used to be, instead of reality shows.

I barely remember this show, given that I moved in 1986 from a place that didn't have cable, and subsequently missed half the show's run. I also was only about 8 years old at the time. I haven't much else to add to the previous person's summary, except that she WASN'T the only person who saw it, that the premise

was very clever and original, and despite having the world's worst actor (the late Dick Sargeant), I remember the show being awfully charming and, oddly

enough, the credits being especially interesting. I also remember asking my

mom what "23 skidoo" meant. I credit the show for sparking my personal interest in 1920s history. So if you were a writer for this sitcom, bravo for hitting at least one kid on the head! Let's hope more interesting premises as such come forth in TV in the future! Vive le flapper! (Question: did she actually get her wings? And did a bell ring?)