''Summer Fun'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

television series that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in the summer of 1966. The 30-minute episodes consisted of unsold television pilots.

Background

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 – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired. Packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer provided 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. Along with '' Preview Tonight'', ''Summer Fun'' was one of two such series ABC aired in the summer of 1966, and it consisted entirely of unsold pilots for

situation comedies 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 new ...

, some prepared for the 1965–66 and 1966–67 seasons and most shot in color. Stars appearing in the series included Joan Blondell, Tom Ewell,

Shelly Fabares Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares (; born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom ''The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitcom ...

, Celeste Holm, Bert Lahr,

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

, and Jon Voight.

Broadcast history

''Summer Fun'' ran for seven episodes over the course of seven consecutive weeks in the summer of 1966, airing on ABC from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday evenings. It premiered on July 22, and its last episode aired on September 2.

Episodes

SOURCES

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0451584 1960s American anthology television series 1966 American television series debuts 1966 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming Television pilots not picked up as a series American English-language television shows