''Me and the Chimp'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

which aired for one season during 1972 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. It was created by

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American filmmaker and actor. He started his career in the 1960s writing for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play '' The Odd C ...

and Thomas L. Miller and produced by

Alan Rafkin Alan Rafkin (born Alfred Irwin Rafkin; July 23, 1928 – August 6, 2001) was an American director, producer, and actor for television. Biography Rafkin was born in New York City to Til and Victor Rafin. He attended Admiral Farragut Acade ...

for Paramount Television.

Premise

Mike Reynolds (

Ted Bessell TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

) is a dentist who lives with his wife ( Anita Gillette), two children (

Scott Kolden Scott Cary Kolden (born February 11, 1962) is an American sound engineer and former child actor. Beginning his professional show business career at the age of eight, Kolden is perhaps best known for his Disney film roles; as Leonard in '' The M ...

and Kami Cotler), and a chimpanzee named Buttons, who is a washout from the space program (a fact unknown to Mike and his family until an old army sergeant visits). Episodes revolve around Buttons' doings or undoings, such as extending the line Mike drew on a map (to mark their driving route) onward to a ghost town, and stealing an alarm clock which gets Mike arrested for public indecency (in his pajamas).

Cast

as Mike Reynolds * Anita Gillette as Liz Reynolds *

as Scott Reynolds * Kami Cotler as Kitty Reynolds *Jackie as Buttons

Production

The series was created by

and Thomas L. Miller, both of whom are better known for their later work on ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'' and '' Laverne & Shirley''. Bessell originally refused to participate when the title was first given as the grammatically incorrect "''The Chimp and I''". The chimpanzee who portrayed Buttons was owned by veteran animal expert Lou Schumacher and was trained by Bob Rydell who was responsible for teaching the chimpanzee to perform its "acting" tasks on cue by responding to various hand and voice signals.

Episodes

Reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' listed the show at #46 on its 2002 list "The 50 Worst Shows of All Time".

References

External links

*
''Me and the Chimp''
at TVGuide.com 1970s American sitcoms 1972 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings CBS original programming Television series about families Television series by CBS Studios Television shows about chimpanzees Television shows set in California {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub