Grindl
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| Grindl | |
|---|---|
 Publicity photo of Imogene Coca and Billy Booth in the final episode, "Aunt Grindl" (1964) | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | David Swift |
| Written by | William Davenport Bud Grossman Ed Jurist Lee Loeb John McGreevey Bob Nye Gerald O'Hanlon Jay Sommers Ray Singer Burt Styler David Swift |
| Directed by | Charles Barton |
| Starring | Imogene Coca James Millhollin |
| Theme music composer | Frank De Vol |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 32 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | David Swift |
| Producers | Harry Ackerman Winston O´Keefe |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 mins. (22–24 mins. with commercials) |
| Production company | David Swift Productions |
| Distributor | Screen Gems Sony Pictures Television (current) |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 15, 1963 – May 3, 1964 |
Grindl is an American situation comedy that began in the fall of 1963 on NBC, originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The show, starring Imogene Coca in the title role, lasted for one season.
Synopsis[]
Grindl (Coca) worked for Foster's Temporary Employment service and was employed doing domestic work. The show revolved around the different humorous situations she would get into with each new job she was assigned to each week.
The first show featured guest star Telly Savalas, who would later star as Kojak. Other guest stars included George Kennedy, Paul Lynde, Robert Q. Lewis, Jack Albertson, Robert Karnes, Darryl Richard, and Leif Erickson.
Grindl was scheduled on Sunday nights at 8:30 P.M. in September 1963, sandwiched between Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza, both major hits. The series was pitted against the second half of The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS which greatly contributed to its low ratings. It was canceled in the spring of 1964, after completing a full season of 32 episodes.
Cast[]
- Imogene Coca...Grindl
- James Millhollin...Anson Foster, Grindl's boss
Episodes[]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Gruesome Basement" | David Swift | David Swift | September 15, 1963 | |
| Grindl confuses the police in attempting to explain disappearance of her employer's wife. | |||||
| 2 | "Grindl, Counterspy" | William D. Russell | Charles Tannen & Lou Huston | September 22, 1963 | |
| Foreign spies covet a secret rocket formula which is stored in the house where Grindl works. | |||||
| 3 | "Grindl, She-Wolf of Wall Street" | Sherman Marks | Joe Bigelow | September 29, 1963 | |
| Grindl startles Wall Street with her unconventional approach to high finance by the use of numerology. | |||||
| 4 | "The Ghastly Honeymoon" | William D. Russell | John McGreevey | October 6, 1963 | |
| The owners of a Lonely Hearts Club introduces Grindl to Antoine D'Beauville, a Frenchman who begins a whirlwind courtship. | |||||
| 5 | "Grindl and the Counterfeiters" | William D. Russell | Ray Singer & Dick Chevillat | October 13, 1963 | |
| Grindl innocently passes bogus money, then learns that the crooks plan to kill her so that the phony currency can't be traced. | |||||
| 6 | "Grindl: Femme Fatale" | Stanley Prager | Jerry Davis & Lee Loeb | October 20, 1963 | |
| Grindl becomes involved in a murder case when she is employed as a personal maid to a Broadway actress. | |||||
| 7 | "One Angry Grindl" | William D. Russell | Jerry Davis & Lee Loeb | October 27, 1963 | |
| Grindl stalemates a murder trial jury on which she is serving because she believes that the accused man is innocent. | |||||
| 8 | "Grindl, Witness for the Defense" | Sherman Marks | George O'Hanlon & James O'Hanlon | November 3, 1963 | |
| Grindl thinks a miracle has happened when her wheelchair-bound employer, Mr. Crow, stands up to accept an insurance settlement check. | |||||
| 9 | "Lady Grindl" | William D. Russell | Jay Sommers | November 10, 1963 | |
| Grindl fancies that she's inherited a title, castle and land from a British uncle. | |||||
| 10 | "The Great Bank Robbery" | King Donovan | Budd Grossman & William Davenport | November 17, 1963 | |
| Grindl is able to outwit some bandits scheming to rob the bank where she is working. | |||||
| 11 | "Grindl, the Meddler" | Sherman Marks | Burt Styler & Albert E. Lewin | December 8, 1963 | |
| Grindl causes an uproar when she decides to involve herself in the family problems of her employer. | |||||
| 12 | "The Great Schultz" | Paul Nickell | George O'Hanlon & James O'Hanlon | December 15, 1963 | |
| Grindl tries to convince police that her employer, Prof. Schultz, has turned his wife Hilda into a rabbit with his invention, the cosmic regenerator. | |||||
| 13 | "Twas the Week Before Christmas" | Christian Nyby | Charles Tannen & Lou Huston | December 22, 1963 | |
| While working as a department store Santa Claus, Grindl helps expose a robbery plot. | |||||
| 14 | "Grindl, Impractical Nurse" | Sherman Marks | Jay Sommers | December 29, 1963 | |
| Grindl decides she is destined to be another Florence Nightingale, but while applying for a job as a nurse's aid, she is mistaken for a patient. | |||||
| 15 | "The Lucky Piece" | Barry Shear | Paul David & John L. Greene | January 5, 1964 | |
| Grindl helps a government agent trap a notorious gambler for income tax evasion. | |||||
| 16 | "Grindl, the Private Eye" | Paul Nickell | TBA | January 12, 1964 | |
| Grindl forsakes the humdrum existence as a maid and decides to emulate the life of a detective. | |||||
| 17 | "Grindl's Day Off" | Sherman Marks | Jay Sommers | January 19, 1964 | |
| Grindl takes the day off and runs into difficulties at the beauty shop, movie theater and restaurant. | |||||
| 18 | "The Mad Bomber" | Charles Barton | Jay Sommers | January 26, 1964 | |
| Grindl unwittingly helps the police arrest a confused inventor. | |||||
| 19 | "Grindl and the Boodle" | Stanley Prager | Jay Sommers | February 2, 1964 | |
| Grindl impersonates a gun moll in order to help investigators recover millions hidden after a hold-up. | |||||
| 20 | "Dial G for Grindl" | King Donovan | John McGreevey | February 9, 1964 | |
| Grindl is hired by the wife of a man who hires a gang leader to kill his spouse, but Grindl turns a murder plot into a comedy of errors. | |||||
| 21 | "Taming of a Tyrant" | Charles Barton | Paul David & John L. Greene | February 16, 1964 | |
| Grindl spearheads a household strike against an autocratic butler. | |||||
| 22 | "It's in the Bag" | Charles Barton | Charles Tannen & Lou Huston | February 23, 1964 | |
| Grindl is in for a surprise when she checks the vacuum cleaner for mothballs and discovers stolen pearls instead. | |||||
| 23 | "Grindl, Part-time Wife" | Charles Barton | Ed James & Seaman Jacobs | March 1, 1964 | |
| Grindl helps Herman Krumplefelder get a butler's job by posing as his wife, but then realizes that her "husband" is a kleptomaniac. | |||||
| 24 | "Active Retirement" | King Donovan | Phil Leslie & Keith Fowler & Jay Sommers | March 8, 1964 | |
| Grindl helps save a former railroad engineer from a lonely old age by helping him find the perfect job. | |||||
| 25 | "Grindl, Girl Wac" | Charles Barton | TBA | March 15, 1964 | |
| Grindl recalls her days as a WAC when she captured two German officers. | |||||
| 26 | "The Big Deception" | King Donovan | Charles Tannen & Lou Huston | March 22, 1964 | |
| Grindl helps a young couple impress the wife's parents by "borrowing" a model home in which to entertain them. | |||||
| 27 | "Grindl Goes West" | Barry Shear | John L. Greene & Paul David | March 29, 1964 | |
| Grindl heads West to hunt for gold and learns that surveyors made a big mistake when she decides to camp on her Las Vegas property. | |||||
| 28 | "The Moon Killer" | Christian Nyby | Jerry Davis | April 5, 1964 | |
| As Grindl prepares for a lonely birthday celebration, an uninvited stranger enters her apartment through an unlocked window and changes her plans. | |||||
| 29 | "There's No Such Thing as a Bad Barracuda" | Charles Barton | Ed Jurist & Bud Nye | April 12, 1964 | |
| A teenage gang learns discipline when they win Grindl's services as first prize at a police benefit raffle. | |||||
| 30 | "Everything's Coming Up Roses" | Charles Barton | John McGreevey | April 19, 1964 | |
| Grindl discovers a horticulturist's bizarre secret for growing prize blooms. | |||||
| 31 | "Some Dogs Have the Biggest Mouths" | Charles Barton | Jay Sommers | April 26, 1964 | |
| Grindl baffles police with a dog that communicates only with her and identifies a murderer for her. | |||||
| 32 | "Aunt Grindl" | Charles Barton | Jay Sommers | May 3, 1964 | |
| Grindl believes that she has inherited a fortune, but discovers instead that her "legacy" is an ill-mannered 11-year-old boy (Billy Booth). | |||||
Trivia[]
A character similar to Grindl, named Dorcas, appears in the 1963 movie , and is also played by Coca.
The episode, "Grindl's Day Off," was originally scheduled to be broadcast on November 24, 1963, but was preempted by NBC News coverage of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
External links[]
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Categories:
- 1963 American television series debuts
- 1964 American television series endings
- 1960s American sitcoms
- 1960s American workplace comedy television series
- Black-and-white American television shows
- English-language television shows
- NBC original programming
- Television series by Sony Pictures Television
- Comedy television series stubs