Mickey (TV series)

Mickey
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Bob Fisher Arthur Marx
Directed by	Richard Whorf
Starring	Mickey Rooney Sammee Tong Emmaline Henry
Composer	Robert Hammack
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	17 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Selig J. Seligman
Producers	Bob Fisher Arthur Marx
Cinematography	Fleet Southcott
Editor	Floyd Knudtson
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Selmur Productions Four K's, Inc. ABC Television Network
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 16, 1964 (1964-09-16) – January 13, 1965 (1965-01-13)

Mickey is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 1964 to January 1965. Created and produced by Bob Fisher and Arthur Marx, the series starred Mickey Rooney, and was filmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

Synopsis

Mickey Grady (Mickey Rooney), a retired businessman from Omaha, Nebraska, inherits the luxury Newport Arms Hotel in Newport Beach, California, and decides to run it.

Cast

• Mickey Rooney as Mickey Grady
• Emmaline Henry as Nora Grady
• Sammee Tong as Sammy Ling

Recurring

• Tim Rooney as Tim Grady
• Brian Nash as Buddy Grady
• Bobby Van as Bobby
• Alan Reed as Mr. Swindler

Awards

Rooney won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Actor in a Television Series" at the 21st Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremonies in 1964.[1]

Reception and cancellation

The series failed to sustain ratings to survive the full season in its 9 p.m. Eastern time slot on Wednesdays. Its principal competition was another sitcom, the top-ten series The Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS. NBC ran television movies at the time.[2]

Due to low ratings, ABC was considering canceling Mickey. The network was hesitant to cancel the series due to the popularity of Sammee Tong's character, who had a solid fanbase thanks to Tong's role in Bachelor Father. Rooney wrote in his 1991 autobiography, Life Is Too Short that Tong was upset by the rumor; a heavy gambler who owed money to the mafia, Tong needed the money from the series to pay off his debts. On October 27, 1964, Tong took an overdose of barbiturates and died at his home. Tong's death effectively ended any chance for the series' survival, and ABC canceled Mickey.[3] The series' last episode aired on January 13, 1965.

Episode list

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Seaside, Westside"	Unknown	Unknown	September 16, 1964 (1964-09-16)
2	"The Big Jump"	Unknown	Unknown	September 23, 1964 (1964-09-23)
3	"The Case of the Slippery Slipsy"	Unknown	Unknown	September 30, 1964 (1964-09-30)
4	"How to Raise Children Without Really Trying"	Unknown	Unknown	October 7, 1964 (1964-10-07)
5	"Mickey Crashes the Movies"	Unknown	Unknown	October 14, 1964 (1964-10-14)
6	"The Way the Fortune Cookie Crumbles"	Unknown	Unknown	October 21, 1964 (1964-10-21)
7	"Goodnight, Whoever You Are"	Unknown	Unknown	October 28, 1964 (1964-10-28)
Note: Sammee Tong died of a drug overdose the day before this episode aired.
8	"Nobody Buys Retail"	Unknown	Unknown	November 4, 1964 (1964-11-04)
9	"Hard Work Never Hurt Anyone"	Unknown	Unknown	November 11, 1964 (1964-11-11)
10	"Honest Injun"	Unknown	Unknown	November 25, 1964 (1964-11-25)
11	"Somebody's Been Sleeping in My Bed"	Unknown	Unknown	December 2, 1964 (1964-12-02)
12	"For the Love of Grandpa Toddie"	Richard Whorf	John Fenton Murray	December 9, 1964 (1964-12-09)
13	"One More Kiss"	Richard Whorf	Peter Barry & Bob Kaufman	December 16, 1964 (1964-12-16)
14	"Luck O' the Irish"	Unknown	Unknown	December 23, 1964 (1964-12-23)
15	"The Elephant Mickey Won't Forget"	Richard Whorf	Bob Fisher & Arthur Marx	December 30, 1964 (1964-12-30)
16	"Be My Guest"	Unknown	Unknown	January 6, 1965 (1965-01-06)
17	"Mickey Takes Over"	Unknown	Unknown	January 13, 1965 (1965-01-13)

References

1. The 21st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1964) Archived 2010-11-24 at the Wayback Machine, Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Accessed October 25, 2008.
2. 1964-1965 American network television schedule
3. Rooney, Mickey (1991). Life Is Too Short. Villard Books. p. 266.

External links

• Mickey at IMDb