Rant #1,817: Good Morning, World

Today, a much lighter topic …

I recently spoke about two series that were being rerun for the first time in ages on TV, the mostly unfunny "The Joey Bishop Show" and the very funny "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."

Now, I want to talk about a third show that is being re-shown for the first time in ages.

Heck, to my memory, it has never been shown in reruns, certainly in the past nearly 50 years after it premiered.

Of course, it only had 26 shows, so few outlets would ever show it … but Antenna TV has come to the rescue!

"Good Morning, World" is a sitcom that came from the same exact people who produced "The Dick Van Dyke Show," Bill Persky, Sam Denoff and Carl Reiner. It plays out almost as a hipper, more up to date (for 1967-1968 or so) version of the classic sitcom, and you can basically fill in the blanks and make links between the characters in that classic show and the characters in the flop "Good Morning, World."

Taking place at a supposedly hip radio station of the late 1960s--as opposed to a supposedly hip writers'  room for a supposedly hip variety show of the early 1960s on "The Dick Van Dyke Show"--the show centers on two radio disk jockeys on the morning show of the station, the good looking, handsome Dave Lewis (played by Joby Baker) in the Rob Petrie role, and the brash, full of jokes Larry Clarke (played by Ronnie Schell) as the Buddy Sorrell character. (Yes, the Lewis and Clarke morning show!)

Then you have the others: Lewis' pretty, perky wife (Linda, as played by Julie Parrish), playing the Laura Petrie role; Lewis and Clarke's boss (Roland Hutton Jr.,  played by Billy DeWolfe) in the Mel Cooley role; and the Lewis' next door neighbor (Sandy Kramer, played by Goldie Hawn in her role before playing the ditzy blonde on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In") in the Millie Helper role.

And as a copy of the more successful show, well, it plays like a copy of the more successful show.

It took "The Dick Van Dyke Show" a few seasons to solidify itself as a top-rated show, but "Good Morning, World" was only given a season, and then it faded into memory, pretty much only remembered as being the vehicle for Hawn's first TV role.

The show does have some merits, but it kind of falls flat under the weight of being linked to the classic show. There is just no comparison.

Incredibly, Ronnie Schell--who most famously played Duke on "Gomer Pyle, USMC" and guest starred on just about every comedy series there was back then--has since said that CBS was thinking about renewing the show for a second season, but problems with the cast--specifically Baker's inability to memorize his lines and Parrish's health (she battled uterine cancer for years, finally succumbing in the 1990s)--doomed the show, although if it were to be brought back, CBS wanted the actors in those roles replaced, further complicating matters.

Whatever the case, after the show was canceled, Schell went back to "Gomer Pyle, USMC," Hawn went on to her first step of real stardom with "Laugh-In," and the rest of the cast continued to turn up as guest stars on various TV shows of the era.

Yes, the show is more a curiosity at this point than anything else, but it is fun to rediscover it after nearly 50 years of dormancy.

It is shown in late night on Saturday nights on Antenna TV, and I would certainly check it out, in particular if you are a fan of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" to see the similarities between the two shows.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, and if that was the driving force behind "Good Morning, World," maybe some originality should have been thrown into the mix.

Yes, this show proves the imitation oftentimes isn't the best thing, in particular for a TV sitcom emulating a true classic of the genre.