June 28, 1960 (1960-06-28) – September 18, 1962 (1962-09-18)
The Comedy Spot is an American anthology television series that aired on CBS in the summers of 1960, 1961 (when it was known as Comedy Spotlight), and 1962. The 30-minute episodes consisted of a combination of unsold television pilots and repeats of episodes aired previously on other anthology series.
Background
By the mid-1950s, the practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – had created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired.[1] By 1954, the American television industry had begun to consider the idea of packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer, providing television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them.[1]ABC and NBC pioneered the concept in the summer of 1956, simultaneously premiering G.E. Summer Originals (on ABC) and Sneak Preview (on NBC), but CBS did not air its first two such series, The Comedy Spot and New Comedy Showcase, until the summer of 1960.[1]
Production and content
Art Gilmore hosted The Comedy Spot in 1960.[1][2] Its name and content changed from year to year. In the summer of 1960, it consisted of a combination of unsold pilots and reruns of episodes of General Electric Theater and NBC's Colgate Theater.[1] It was retitled Comedy Spotlight for the summer of 1961, and that year was composed entirely of reruns of General Electric Theater episodes.[1] For its final run in the summer of 1962, it returned to the name The Comedy Spot and consisted entirely of unsold pilots, one of them a repeat of an episode aired in 1960 on New Comedy Showcase.[1]
On July 19, 1960, The Comedy Spot aired the unsold pilot "Head of the Family," which told the story of Robbie Petrie, a writer for a comedy television show who has trouble explaining to his son Ritchie what he does at work. With a revamped cast but largely the same characters, a reworked version of "Head of the Family" became the successful situation comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show, which aired from 1961 to 1966,[2][3][4] and the plot of "Head of the Family" served as the basis of The Dick Van Dyke Show′s February 1962 episode "Father of the Week."[citation needed]
CBS filmed "A Pony for Chris," a pilot for a proposed series titled Medicine Man, starring Ernie Kovacs and Buster Keaton, in which Kovacs played Dr. P. Crookshank, a traveling medicine salesman in the 1870s who was selling "Mother McGreevy's Wizard Juice," also known as "man's best friend in a bottle."[5] The day after filming some of the scenes for the pilot, Kovacs died in an automobile accident on January 13, 1962. CBS made plans to broadcast the pilot for Medicine Man as an episode of The Comedy Spot in 1962, but dropped the idea after encountering problems with Kovacs's estate.[6][7][8]
Broadcast history
The Comedy Spot ran for 11 episodes over the course of 13 weeks in the summer of 1960, airing on CBS from 9:30 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday evenings.[1] It premiered on June 28,[1] and its last episode aired on September 20. It returned in the summer of 1961 with the title Comedy Spotlight and moved to the 9:00–9:30 p.m. time slot on Tuesdays, premiering on July 25, running for nine consecutive weeks, and concluding its season on September 19. Reverting to the name The Comedy Spot but remaining in the 9:00–9:30 p.m. time slot on Tuesdays, it had its last run in the summer of 1962, premiering on July 3 and airing on 11 of the next 12 weeks. Its final episode aired on September 18, 1962.[2][9]
In an episode performed in pantomime, two inexperienced safecrackers plan the perfect crime, involving one dressed as a police officer and driving up to "arrest" the other in a car marked as a police car and both of them disguising themselves as Groucho Marx. Starring Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Benny Rubin, Joy Rogers, Russell Custer, Charles Fogel, and Hans Moebus, with a cameo appearance by Groucho Marx. A repeat of an episode of General Electric Theater that originally aired on March 8, 1959.
A former American football star on the skids returns to his home town and discovers that he still is a hero there. He decides to take advantage of that, because he and his ex-wife got a very good deal when they bought a rare Picasso painting on their honeymoon – and he needs cash. Starring Ronnie Burns, Ernie Kovacs, Suzanne Pleshette, Roger Til, and Audrey Totter. A repeat of an episode of General Electric Theater that originally aired on October 19, 1958.
An Irish schoolteacher refuses to follow the stringent principles a professor has set up as the foundation of modern education, and her actions almost disrupt the entire country. Starring Greer Garson, John Abbott, Jimmy Fields, John Gallaudet, Charles Herbert, John Hoyt, J. M. Kerrigan, and Ludwig Stössel. A repeat of an episode of General Electric Theater that originally aired on September 23, 1956.
In an episode performed in pantomime, two inexperienced safecrackers plan the perfect crime, involving one dressed as a police officer and driving up to "arrest" the other in a car marked as a police car and both of them disguising themselves as Groucho Marx. Starring Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Benny Rubin, Joy Rogers, Russell Custer, Charles Fogel, and Hans Moebus, with a cameo appearance by Groucho Marx. A repeat of an episode of General Electric Theater that originally aired on March 8, 1959 and then later on The Comedy Spot on August 9, 1960.
A newly married couple has money problems, so the bride takes a job as a vocalist for a dance band to bring in more income. An unsold pilot starring Shirley Jones, Burt Metcalfe, and Gale Gordon.
Alternative title "Charley Angelo." A misfit angel charged with keeping a man from burning down his own nightclub for the insurance money must do battle with the Devil, who is trying to get the man to do the wrong thing. An unsold pilot starring James Komack, Larry Storch, and Bernard Kates.
