''The Funny Side'' is an American

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

program that aired on NBC as part of its 1971 fall lineup.

Synopsis

''The Funny Side'' was hosted by

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

and starred five pairs of actors and actresses who were presented as married couples. Each week was an examination of the "funny side" of a potential issue in real-life marriages, such as health, money, sex, and the like. Each couple was a

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

. Kelly also appeared as an actor in the sketches, and there was also a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

aspect with production numbers.

Cast

* John Amos and Teresa Graves as the Black couple * Warren Berlinger and Pat Finley as the blue collar couple * Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon as the wealthy couple * Michael Lembeck and Cindy Williams as the teenage couple *

Burt Mustin Burton Hill "Burt" Mustin (February 8, 1884 – January 28, 1977) was an American character actor.Obituary ''Variety'', February 2, 1977, page 94. Over the course of his career, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. He ...

and Queenie Smith as the

elderly Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

couple

Cancellation

''The Funny Side'' received poor

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

and was cancelled after less than four months on the air.

References

* Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, '' The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows''

External links

* NBC original programming 1970s American musical comedy television series 1970s American sketch comedy television series 1971 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub