''The Tammy Grimes Show'' 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 ...

starring Broadway actress

Tammy Grimes Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress. Grimes won two Tony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role of Molly Tobin in the musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' and the ...

that aired during the 1966–67 season on the

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 ...

network. ''The Tammy Grimes Show'' was one of the few prime time series of the era canceled after only four episodes.

Overview

Grimes played Tammy Ward, a spendthrift heiress under the financial thumb of her Uncle Simon (

Hiram Sherman Hiram Sherman (February 11, 1908 – April 11, 1989) was an American actor. Biography Hiram Sherman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Clifford Leon Sherman, worked in the art department of ''The Boston Globe''. He made his Bro ...

). The series also stars

Dick Sargent Richard Stanford Cox (April 19, 1930 – July 8, 1994), known professionally as Dick Sargent, was an American actor, notable as the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on ABC's fantasy situation comedy ''Bewitched''. He took the name ''Dick ...

(billed as Richard) as Tammy's uptight twin brother Terrance with whom she works at their Uncle Simon's bank.

Maudie Prickett Maudie Prickett (born Maudie Marie Doyle; October 25, 1914 – April 14, 1976) was an American character actress who performed in over 300 stage, film, and television productions during a career that spanned nearly four decades. Death In ...

appeared as Tammy's nosy housekeeper.

Reception

Upon its September 8, 1966 premiere, the series received generally negative reviews and failed to find an audience. In an unusual move for a major television network at the time, ABC opted to cancel the series after just four episodes. ''The Tammy Grimes Show'' is one of the few prime time series of the era that was canceled after one month as major networks, at the time, generally allowed a series to run a full thirteen weeks. Starting from October 6, the show was replaced by ''

The Dating Game ''The Dating Game'' is an American television game show that first aired on December 20, 1965, and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s. ABC dropped the show on July 6, 1973, but it ...

''. In a 1967 interview, executive producer

William Dozier William McElroy Dozier (; February 13, 1908 – April 23, 1991) was an American film and television producer, writer and actor. He is best known for two television series, ''Batman'' and ''The Green Hornet''. Early life Dozier was born in Omaha, ...

called the series an "organized disaster". He added, "It was the wrong idea for the wrong person at the wrong time. Movies were not for

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (194 ...

; television was not for Tammy Grimes."

Production notes

''The Tammy Grimes Show'' was created by

George Axelrod George Axelrod (June 9, 1922 – June 21, 2003) was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play ''The Seven Year Itch'' (1952), which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Marilyn Mon ...

and executive produced by

. The series was produced by

Richard Whorf Richard Whorf (June 4, 1906 – December 14, 1966) was an American actor, writer and film director. Life and acting career Whorf was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts to Harry and Sarah (née Lee) Whorf. His older brother was linguist Benjamin Le ...

and Alex Gottlieb and filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in

Century City, Los Angeles Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

. The theme was written by composer John Williams (credited as "Johnny Williams"), with Lionel Newman. Williams also wrote the incidental music, except for the first episode which was scored by

Warren Barker Warren Barker (April 16, 1923 – August 3, 2006) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor known for work in film, radio, and television, as well as for original band and symphonic compositions. Education He attended the University ...

Cast

as Tamantha "Tammy" Ward *

as Uncle Simon *

as Terrence Ward

Episode list

ABC aired four episodes of the series. The original pilot episode, written by Axelrod (in which Tammy posed as a "Texas millionaire" in order to apply for the bank's credit card, sparking a spending spree), was never shown; scenes from it were presented during ABC's "fall preview" presentation at their annual affiliate meeting in the summer of 1966. A fifth episode entitled "The Great Charge Account War" was scheduled to air on October 6, 1966 but ABC pulled the episode from its lineup after it canceled the series in late September 1966. Scripts for eleven additional episodes were written but were never produced.

References

External links

*
''The Tammy Grimes Show''
at Television Obscurities {{DEFAULTSORT:Tammy Grimes Show 1966 American television series debuts 1966 American television series endings 1960s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television series by 20th Century Fox Television