The Kallikaks

Last updated
The Kallikaks
David Huddleston as J. T. Kallikak.jpg
A promotional photo for The Kallikaks, showing David Huddleston as J. T. Kallikak.
Genre Sitcom
Created by Roger Price
Stanley Ralph Ross
Starring David Huddleston
Edie McClurg
Bonnie Ebsen
Patrick J. Peterson
Peter Palmer
Theme music composer Stanley Ralph Ross
Opening theme"Beat the System", performed by Roy Clark
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes5
Production
Executive producer Stanley Ralph Ross
Producer George Yanok
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseAugust 3 (1977-08-03) 
August 31, 1977 (1977-08-31)

The Kallikaks is an American sitcom television series starring David Huddleston which centers around a family from Appalachia that moves to California to run a decrepit gas station. The show aired from August 3 to August 31, 1977 on NBC. [1] [2]

Contents

Cast

Synopsis

Jasper T. "J. T." Kallikak is a coal miner from Appalachia. He inherits a run-down two-pump gas station in the fictional town of Nowhere, California. Thinking that as his own boss he will have a better life, he moves his impoverished family his big-hearted and overly affectionate wife Venus, his status-seeking teenage daughter Bobbie Lou, and his 10-year-old son Junior (who is a smarter version of his father, prone to using big words, and a genius with mechanical things) from West Virginia to California to run the gas station, selling no-name gasoline.

J. T.'s boarder and only employee there is Oscar Heinz, a German immigrant who can barely speak English (he does say "Jawohl, Mr. Kallikak" often) and as a result often gets things mixed up. Bobbi Lou gets a job at a nearby fried chicken stand. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

J. T. is conniving, greedy, and inclined toward get-rich-quick schemes; he boasts of never having paid taxes, saying that there is no need to as long as there are fools who do pay their taxes. He and his family are always trying to in the words of the show's theme song "beat the system;" for example, they try to apply for welfare even though they are employed, and a social worker turns them away. The pumps at their gas station are rigged, and generally, their schemes to get ahead which always seem to fail involve conning and cheating someone else. [2] [3] [4]

Production

Stanley Ralph Ross and Roger Price created The Kallikaks. Ross was its executive producer and George Yanok was its producer. Ross, Price, and Ron Kantor wrote the episodes. [3]

Episode directors were Kantor, Bob LaHendro, and Dennis Steinmetz. [3]

Ross wrote the show's theme song, "Beat the System," which Roy Clark performed for the opening credits. Tom Wells wrote other music used in the show. [2] [3]

Bonnie Ebsen was the daughter of Buddy Ebsen, who had starred from 1962 to 1971 in The Beverly Hillbillies . [2] [3]

Broadcast history

The Kallikaks premiered on August 3, 1977, and aired on NBC on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. throughout its brief run. Broadcast during a time of the year when television viewership was low and criticized as an uninspired show with unlikeable characters, The Kallikaks never had much of a chance to succeed. Only five episodes were produced, the last one airing on August 31, 1977. [1] [2]

Trivia

The name of the family in the series title would seem to have come from The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness which was a 1912 book by the American psychologist and eugenicist Henry H. Goddard.[ citation needed ]

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1"You Auto Buy Now"UnknownUnknownAugust 3, 1977 (1977-08-03)
J.T. tries to get rid of a jalopy that has been abandoned at the gas station.
2"TV or Not TV"UnknownUnknownAugust 10, 1977 (1977-08-10)
The Kallikaks receive a television set from an audience-rating service, and a television producer wants them to watch his shows on it.
3"The Bells Are Wronging"UnknownUnknownAugust 17, 1977 (1977-08-17)
Thanks to a computer error, the Kallikaks mistakenly get a $140,000 refund from the telephone company, and J.T. tries to keep the money.
4"I Coulda Been a Contender"UnknownUnknownAugust 24, 1977 (1977-08-24)
After seeing the movie Rocky at a drive-in movie theater, J.T. tries to make Oscar into a prize-fighter and organized crime takes an interest in putting Oscar into the ring.
5"Swami, How I Love Ya"UnknownUnknownAugust 31, 1977 (1977-08-31)
The Kallikaks greedily hire a medium, Dr. Wally Walla (Jay Robinson), to find out if Venus's notoriously thrifty deceased brother has left them an inheritance.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Beverly Hillbillies</i> American sitcom (1962–1971)

The Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family from the Ozark Mountains of Missouri who move to posh Beverly Hills, California after striking oil on their land. The show was produced by Filmways and was created by Paul Henning. It was followed by two other Henning-inspired "country cousin" series on CBS: Petticoat Junction and its spin-off Green Acres, which reversed the rags-to-riches, country-to-city model of The Beverly Hillbillies.

<i>The Mary Tyler Moore Show</i> American television sitcom (1970–1977)

The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970, to March 19, 1977. Moore portrayed Mary Richards, an unmarried, independent woman focused on her career as associate producer of a news show at the fictional local station WJM in Minneapolis. Ed Asner co-starred as Mary's boss Lou Grant, alongside Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Georgia Engel, Betty White, Valerie Harper as friend and neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern, and Cloris Leachman as friend and landlady Phyllis Lindstrom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Ebsen</span> American actor and dancer (1908–2003)

Buddy Ebsen, also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971); afterwards he starred as the title character in the television detective drama Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).

<i>Corner Gas</i> Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt

Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, MTV, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The series was followed by a feature film titled Corner Gas: The Movie, with the entire cast reprising their roles. The film was released for a limited theatrical run in December 2014.

<i>Barnaby Jones</i> American television series (1973–1980)

Barnaby Jones is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was originally introduced as a midseason replacement on the CBS network and ran from 1973 to 1980. Halfway through the series' run, Mark Shera was added to the cast as a much younger cousin of Ebsen's character, who eventually joined the firm.

<i>The Kallikak Family</i> Eugenics book by Henry Herbert Goddard

The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness was a 1912 book by the American psychologist and eugenicist Henry H. Goddard, dedicated to his patron Samuel Simeon Fels. Supposedly an extended case study of Goddard’s for the inheritance of "feeble-mindedness", a general category referring to a variety of mental disabilities including intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and mental illness, the book is noted for factual inaccuracies that render its conclusions invalid. Goddard believed that a variety of mental traits were hereditary and that society should limit reproduction by people possessing these traits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Tayback</span> American actor (1930-1990)

Victor Tayback was an American actor. He was best known for his role as diner owner Mel Sharples on the television sitcom Alice (1976–1985), as well as his multiple guest appearances on The Love Boat (1977–1987). The former earned him two consecutive Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Meriwether</span> American actress and former model

Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughter-in-law in the 1970s crime drama Barnaby Jones starring Buddy Ebsen. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in 1975 and 1976, and an Emmy Award nomination in 1977. She is also known for her portrayal of Catwoman, replacing Julie Newmar in the film version of Batman (1966), and for a co-starring role on the science fiction series The Time Tunnel. Meriwether had a recurring role as Ruth Martin on the daytime soap opera All My Children until the end of the series in September 2011.

<i>Lou Grant</i> (TV series) American drama television series

Lou Grant is an American drama television series starring Ed Asner in the title role as a newspaper editor that aired on CBS from September 20, 1977, to September 13, 1982. The third spin-off of the American sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant was created by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Wallace (American comedian)</span> American comedian and actor (born 1952)

George Henry Wallace is an American comedian and actor. Wallace has had supporting roles in a number of films, including 3 Strikes and the Coen Brothers film The Ladykillers. Wallace also appeared in Batman Forever (1995) as the Mayor of Gotham City. Other film credits include A Rage in Harlem (1991), The Wash (2001), Punchline (1988), Things Are Tough All Over (1982), Postcards from the Edge (1990), and Mr. Deeds (2002).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe E. Ross</span> American actor

Joe E. Ross was an American actor known for his trademark "Ooh! Ooh!" exclamation, which he used in many of his roles. He starred in such TV sitcoms as The Phil Silvers Show and Car 54, Where Are You?.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Huddleston</span> American film and television actor (1930–2016)

David William Huddleston was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films, including Rio Lobo, Blazing Saddles, Crime Busters, Santa Claus: The Movie, and The Big Lebowski.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Ralph Ross</span> American screenwriter

Stanley Ralph Ross was an American writer and actor. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, starting his career in advertising with Chudacoff and Margulis Advertising in West Los Angeles, then soon going to work as a writer on various television shows such as the 1960s Batman series starring Adam West and also The Monkees, and developed Wonder Woman for television with Douglas S. Cramer. Ross was sometimes credited as Sue Donem, a pun on "pseudonym".

"The One at the Beach" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the third season of the American television sitcom Friends. It premiered on the NBC in the United States on May 15, 1997.

The Andersonville Trial is a 1959 hit Broadway play by Saul Levitt. It was later adapted into a television production and presented as part of the PBS anthology series Hollywood Television Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Palmer (actor)</span> American actor (1931–2021)

Peter Webster Palmer was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Li'l Abner, alongside Edie Adams, both on Broadway and on film.

The Last Show (<i>The Mary Tyler Moore Show</i>) 24th episode of the 7th season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

"The Last Show" is the 168th episode and series finale of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and it was written by Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed Weinberger, Stan Daniels, David Lloyd, and Bob Ellison. Internationally, it was first aired in Canada on CBC Television, March 18, 1977 at 8 p.m. In the U.S., it was one day later on Saturday, March 19, on CBS.

<i>Bonnie</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Bonnie is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 1995 to April 7, 1996. Bonnie Hunt plays Bonnie Kelly, a television reporter who moves from Wisconsin to take a job with a Chicago television station where she encounters an eclectic group of coworkers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demetria McKinney</span> American actress and singer (born 1979)

Demetria Dyan McKinney is an American actress, model, and singer. From 2006 to 2012, during its original run, she starred in the TBS sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, a BET revival of the show was announced in 2020. Her other series regular roles include TV One sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show, Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners and Syfy horror drama Superstition, as well as Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform.

References

  1. 1 2 3 McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 445.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9 ed.). New York: Random House Publishing. p. 726. ISBN   978-0-345-49773-4 . Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Leszczak, Bob. Single Season Sitcoms, 1948-1979: A Complete Guide. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2012. ISBN   978-0-7864-6812-6, p. 98.
  4. 1 2 Holsopple, Barbara (July 31, 1977). "'Kallikaks' Distasteful Comedy". Pittsburgh Press . TV section. p. 2.
  5. "Huddleston Heads Kallikaks". Lakeland Ledger . August 7, 1977. p. 4.