TV Trivia
by Michael Karol
& Craig Hamrick

1. Rob Lowe and an actress in a Disney Snow White costume tried to energize the televised 1989 Oscar ceremony in a poorly planned and woefully executed opening production number.

2. Jackie Gleason forsook his variety show format for a disastrous one-shot game show, You're in the Picture in 1961; four panelists (Keenan Wynn, Pat Carroll, Jan Sterling and Arthur Treacher) poked their heads through cutouts in famous pictures and tried to guess what picture they were in. Gleason came back the following week, apologized to his audience for a half hour, and away he went back to his safe variety format.

3. Ann Sothern provided the voice of Mom, reincarnated as a 1928 Porter (automobile) in the most debasing sitcom of all time, My Mother the Car. Somehow, it managed to run for a full season, 1965-66; 30 episodes! Jerry van Dyke turned down the lead in Gilligan's Island to star in this show. Jerry, I hope you fired your agent!

4. No more chimps -- EVER! Peggy Cass and Jack Weston starred with the Marquis Chimps in The Hathaways (1961-62) as a suburban couple who had three chimps as their "kids." It fared so poorly that some wise TV executive, 10 years later, decided to try it again: Ted Bessel, fresh from a hot streak playing Marlo Thomas' boyfriend on That Girl (1966-71) chose to follow his hit show with Me and the Chimp. It lasted for half a season (January to May 1972); Bessel hated the show after committing to it, and had to fight CBS brass to get top billing over the chimp (as the "me" of the title).

5. Lucille Ball attempted to come back one mo' time on Life with Lucy, in 1986, but found that audiences looked on aghast at an almost 80-year-old grandma performing slapstick (when she pratfalls, will she break a leg?). The show was cancelled after eight episodes. (Thirteen episodes were shot and the remaining five have never aired on commercial TV. Producer Aaron Spelling was kind enough to donate all 13 episodes to the Lucy-Desi Museum, in Jamestown, N.Y., where they are played during various Lucy festivals throughout the year.)

6. Turn-On was a blatant, nausea-inducing attempt to channel then-current TV darling Laugh-In. Animation, videotape, stop-action film, electronic distortion, and computer effects were used to throw sketches and bits at the screen audience as fast as possible. Laugh-In performer Teresa Graves was a guest-star, in the first episode, which was cancelled by ABC 10 minutes in, February 5, 1969.

7. Dean Martin, at the end of his variety show run, divorced his long-time wife (22 years) Jeanne; horrified fans responded to his turning to a younger woman by turning him off; his show was cancelled soon thereafter.