Blondie (1968 TV series)
{{Short description|American television sitcom}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Bumstead Family Blondie 1968.JPG
| caption = The Bumstead family.
| alt_name = The New Blondie
| genre = Sitcom
| based_on = {{based on|comic strip Blondie|Chic Young}}
| writer = Danny Simon
| director = Norman Abbott
Peter Baldwin
Bruce Bilson
Gene Nelson
| starring = Patricia Harty
Will Hutchins
Peter Robbins
Pamelyn Ferdin
Jim Backus
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 14 (1 unaired)
| executive_producer = Al Brodax
| producer = Joe Connelly
| runtime = 24 mins.
| company = Kayro Productions
King Features Syndicate
| channel = CBS
| first_aired = {{start date|1968|09|26}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1969|01|09}}
| related = {{Plainlist|
}}
}}
Blondie (also known as The New Blondie) is an American sitcom that aired on CBS during the 1968–69 television season. The series is an updated version of the 1957 TV series based on the comic strip of the same name. The series stars Patricia Harty as the title character and Will Hutchins as her husband, Dagwood Bumstead. Jim Backus played Dagwood's boss Mr. Dithers, with his real-life wife, Henny Backus, playing Cora Dithers. The series also featured Peter Robbins as the Bumsteads' son, Alexander, Pamelyn Ferdin as their daughter, Cookie, and character actor Bryan O'Byrne as the hapless mailman, always getting run over by Dagwood hurrying out the door, late for work.
Synopsis
Blondie stars Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins as Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead, a suburban couple raising two precocious children. Plots mixed typical sitcom tropes from home life and work life. The series is best remembered for its opening theme, which featured the comic strip characters in animated form before transforming into the actors playing the characters.
Like the 1957 version, which lasted only one season, the series was not a hit, lasting a total of 13 weeks before being canceled, with the final episode remaining unaired.{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=David C. |title=Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen|url=https://archive.org/details/lostlaughssstele00tuck|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-44466-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/lostlaughssstele00tuck/page/n107 99]}} Two further episodes were planned, "The Dying Swan" and "Dagwood's Private War", but were never completed.
Cast
File:Jim and Henny Backus 1969.JPG
- Patricia Harty as Blondie
- Will Hutchins as Dagwood Bumstead
- Jim Backus as Mr. Dithers
- Pamelyn Ferdin as Cookie
- Peter Robbins as Alexander
- Henny Backus as Mrs. Cora Dithers
- Bobbi Jordan as Tootsie Woodley
- Bryan O'Byrne as the mailman Mr. Beasley
Ferdin and Robbins would later reunite on the 1969 television special It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown and the 1969 film A Boy Named Charlie Brown, being the last time Robbins played Charlie Brown.
Production notes
This version of the series, jointly produced by CBS Productions (which owns the distribution rights in the United States), King Features Syndicate and Kayro Productions, ran from September 26, 1968, to January 9, 1969.
Cast member Pamelyn Ferdin recalls the series was cancelled so abruptly that the cast was dismissed during the lunch break while an episode was being filmed.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Episode list
{{Episode table |total_width=75 |background=FFD700 |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |prodcode= |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 1
| Title = Sayanora Dagwood
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy = Gary Belkin and George Tibbles
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|9|26}}
| ProdCode = 1
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 2
| Title = My Camp Runneth Over
| DirectedBy = Peter Baldwin
| WrittenBy = Gary Belkin & John McGreevey
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|10|3}}
| ProdCode = 8
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 3
| Title = Blondie-Flower Child
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|10|10}}
| ProdCode = 4
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 4
| Title = The Gladiators
| DirectedBy = Gene Nelson
| WrittenBy = Danny Simon
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|10|17}}
| ProdCode = 9
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 5
| Title = Angel in Disguise
| DirectedBy = Bruce Bilson
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|10|31}}
| ProdCode = 10
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 6
| Title = Dither's Damned Dog
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|11|7}}
| ProdCode = 2
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 7
| Title = Dagwood the Wheeler Dealer
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|11|14}}
| ProdCode = 6
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 8
| Title = Blondie's Good Citizen
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|11|21}}
| ProdCode = 3
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 9
| Title = Blondie's Birthday
| DirectedBy = Gene Nelson
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|12|5}}
| ProdCode = 13
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 10
| Title = Marriage Menders
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy = Lois Hire
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|12|12}}
| ProdCode = 5
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 11
| Title = Blondie's Masquerade
| DirectedBy = Gene Nelson
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|12|19}}
| ProdCode = 11
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 12
| Title = Once Upon a Guru
| DirectedBy = Norman Abbott
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1968|12|26}}
| ProdCode = 7
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 13
| Title = Pick on a Bully Your Own Size
| DirectedBy = Peter Baldwin
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1969|1|9}}
| ProdCode = 14
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 14
| Title = Run Bunny Run
| DirectedBy = Gene Nelson
| WrittenBy = Bob Mosher
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ProdCode = 12
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = FFD700
}}
}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Blondie Goes to Hollywood, by Carol Lynn Scherling. Albany, 2010. BearManor Media. {{ISBN|978-1-59393-401-9}}.
External links
- {{IMDb title|0062547|Blondie}}
- [http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/Blondie_1968.htm Blonde_1968 at ctva.biz]
{{Blondie (comic strip)}}
Category:1968 American television series debuts
Category:1969 American television series endings
Category:1960s American sitcoms
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Television shows based on comic strips