Ichabod and Me
Ichabod and Me is an American sitcom series set in a small New England town and starring Robert Sterling and George Chandler. It aired on CBS from September 26, 1961, to June 5, 1962, and was produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, in association with Jack Benny's "JaMco Productions".
| Ichabod and Me | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Starring | Robert Sterling George Chandler Reta Shaw Jimmy Hawkins Burt Mustin Forrest Lewis Christine White Jimmy Mathers |
| Composer(s) | Pete Rugolo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Producer(s) | Irving Paley |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | JaMco Productions Kayro Productions Revue Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black and white |
| Original release | September 26, 1961 – June 5, 1962 |
Cast and characters
The storyline features Sterling in the role of 44-year-old Robert "Bob" Major, a widower and newspaper reporter from New York City who moves to the fictional town of Phippsboro to purchase and edit the local paper, The Bulletin. Chandler plays the 63-year-old meddlesome former editor, Ichabod Adams, who has become the municipal traffic commissioner but keeps an eye on Sterling to make sure that the newspaper meets specifications.[1] At the time of his "Ichabod" role, Chandler was also the president of the Screen Actors Guild.[2]
In addition to the two main leads, the cast includes Reta Shaw as Aunt Lavinia, Bob's housekeeper; Christine White as Abigail Adams, Ichabod's daughter and Bob's girlfriend; Jimmy Mathers, the younger brother of Leave It to Beaver's Jerry Mathers, as Benjie, Bob's six-year-old son; Jimmy Hawkins, also a semi-regular on The Donna Reed Show and later Petticoat Junction, as Jonathan Baylor; Burt Mustin, Gus the Fireman on Leave It to Beaver, as Olaf;[1] and Forrest Lewis as Colby.[3]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Bob's Boat" | TBA | TBA | 26 September 1961 |
| 2 | "Tuttle's Wall" | TBA | TBA | 3 October 1961 |
| 3 | "A Letter from Juliet" | TBA | TBA | 10 October 1961 |
| 4 | "Firefighters" | TBA | TBA | 17 October 1961 |
| 5 | "The Phippsboro Story" | TBA | TBA | 24 October 1961 |
| 6 | "The Purple Cow" | TBA | TBA | 31 October 1961 |
| 7 | "Whose Ewe?" | TBA | TBA | 7 November 1961 |
| 8 | "Summer Theater" | TBA | TBA | 14 November 1961 |
| 9 | "The Printer" | TBA | TBA | 21 November 1961 |
| 10 | "Ichabod's Romance" | TBA | TBA | 28 November 1961 |
| 11 | "The Barter System" | TBA | TBA | 5 December 1961 |
| 12 | "Benjie's Spots" | TBA | TBA | 12 December 1961 |
| 13 | "Teenage Journalist" | TBA | TBA | 19 December 1961 |
| 14 | "Bob's Redhead" | TBA | TBA | 26 December 1961 |
| 15 | "The Phipps Papers" | TBA | TBA | 2 January 1962 |
| 16 | "My Friend Lippy" | TBA | TBA | 9 January 1962 |
| 17 | "The Ad Salesman" | TBA | TBA | 16 January 1962 |
| 18 | "The Old Stowe Road" | TBA | TBA | 23 January 1962 |
| 19 | "A Teacher for Bob" | TBA | TBA | 30 January 1962 |
| 20 | "Parking Problems" | TBA | TBA | 6 February 1962 |
| 21 | "Bob's Teenage Guest" | TBA | TBA | 13 February 1962 |
| 22 | "Bob's Housekeeper" | TBA | TBA | 27 February 1962 |
| 23 | "Benjie's Indian" | TBA | TBA | 6 March 1962 |
| 24 | "Big Business" | TBA | TBA | 13 March 1962 |
| 25 | "The Celebrity" | TBA | TBA | 20 March 1962 |
| 26 | "Bob's Bathing Beauties" | TBA | TBA | 27 March 1962 |
| 27 | "Lippy's Horse" | TBA | TBA | 3 April 1962 |
| 28 | "Election Fever" | TBA | TBA | 10 April 1962 |
| 29 | "Bob's Award" | TBA | TBA | 17 April 1962 |
| 30 | "Lippy's Love Affair" | TBA | TBA | 24 April 1962 |
| 31 | "Lord Byron of Phippsboro" | TBA | TBA | 1 May 1962 |
| 32 | "Benjie's Pageant" | TBA | TBA | 8 May 1962 |
| 33 | "Jonathan's Romance" | TBA | TBA | 15 May 1962 |
| 34 | "Ichabod's Niece" | TBA | TBA | 22 May 1962 |
| 35 | "Women's Rights" | TBA | TBA | 29 May 1962 |
| 36 | "Dial Phones" | TBA | TBA | 5 June 1962 |
Overview
The pilot, titled "Adam's Apples", was broadcast on April 24, 1960 on CBS's General Electric Theater with Ronald Reagan.[4] The episodes shown that season were "Ichabod's Niece", "The Phippsboro Story", "The Old Stowe Road" (with Mary Treen), "Ichabod's Romance", "Bob's Housekeeper", "A Letter from Juliet", "Teenage Journalist", "Parking Problems", "Bob's Redhead" (with Merry Anders), "Election Fever", "Jonathan's Romance", "The Purple Cow", and "Big Business".[1] Notably, Rod Serling appears as Eugene Hollinfield in the episode "The Celebrity", which was shown on March 20, 1962.[5]
Summer rebroadcasts continued until September 16. The series ran at 9:30 Eastern on Tuesday in a favorable time slot sandwiched between The Red Skelton Show and The Garry Moore Show, both in the Top 15. At the end of each Skelton broadcast, George Chandler urged viewers to stay tuned to Ichabod and Me. Yet viewers left CBS for that half-hour in droves, as Ichabod and Me failed to develop a loyal audience.[6] The competition for Ichabod and Me was not considered formidable. It consisted of the second half of the Leslie Nielsen police drama The New Breed on ABC (until November 14, when The New Breed moved to 8:30 PM and Bert Parks' game show Yours for a Song began airing at 9:30 Eastern), and the second half of The Dick Powell Show, an anthology series on NBC.[7] Ichabod and Me was co-sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company and P. Lorillard Tobacco Company.
References
- TV.com Ichabod and Me: http://www.tv.com/ichabod-and-me/show/4390/summary.html
- Screen Actors Guild, List of presidents: http://www.sag.org/george-chandler
- IMDB, Forrest Lewis: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507189/
- IMDB Ichabod and Me: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054548/trivia
- IMDB, Ichabod and Me, episode list: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054548/episodes
- Google Books, A Critical History of Television's The Red Skelton Show, 1951-1971
- 1961-1962 American network television schedule
