The Pride of the Family

The Pride of the Family
Cast photo from Pride of the Family: Bobby Hyatt, Fay Wray, Paul Hartman and Natalie Wood.
GenreSituation comedy
Written byPaul Schneider
Clint Comerford
Fred Howard
Irving Phillips
Al Gordon
Jack Fleischman
Hal Goldman
Directed byBob Finkel
StarringPaul Hartman
Fay Wray
Natalie Wood
Bobby Hyatt
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes39
Production
ProducerSam Perrin
Running time30 minutes
Original release
ReleaseOctober 2, 1953 (1953-10-02) –
September 24, 1954 (1954-09-24)

The Pride of the Family is a 30-minute American television situation comedy that was broadcast on ABC from October 2, 1953, until September 24, 1954.[1] CBS showed reruns of the program in prime time in the summer of 1955.[2]

Premise

Albie Morrison headed a newspaper's advertising department and was head of a family that included his wife, Catherine; teenage daughter, Ann; and son, Junior.[1]

Cast

Production

Sam Perrin was the producer, for Revue Productions. Bob Finkel was the director.[3] Writers included Paul Schneider, Clint Comerford,[4] Fred Howard, Irving Phillips, Al Gordon, Jack Fleischman, and Hal Goldman.[2]

Thirty-nine episodes were filmed in black-and-white with a laugh track.[2] Sponsors included Bufferin pain reliever, Ipana toothpaste,[5] and Dial soap and shampoo.[3]

Reception

A review in TV Guide compared The Pride of the Family to many other situation comedies in that its "situations are contrived to the point of absurdity".[6] The review attributed most of the laughs in the program to Hartman's "wonderfully mobile face"[6] and said that Wray "deserves better" after she came out of retirement to be in this show.[6]

The trade publication Billboard's review of the show's first episode described it as "a rather slow-moving situation comedy series with a competent cast, but only so-so scripting".[4] Although it complimented Wray as "gracious and telegenic" and Hartman as revealing "an unexpected gift for pathos", it summarized the show overall as "average".[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 672. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. ^ a b c Leszczak, Bob (2012). Single Season Sitcoms, 1948-1979: A Complete Guide. McFarland. pp. 156–157. ISBN 978-0-7864-9305-0. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Reviews of TV Film Shows: Pride of the Family". Billboard. December 26, 1953. p. 10. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Bundy, June (October 10, 1953). "Pride of the Family". Billboard. p. 10. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  5. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings since 1949. Scarecrow Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-8108-9250-7. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Pride of the Family". TV Guide. November 13, 1953. p. 23. Retrieved March 26, 2022.