Occasional Wife

Occasional Wife
Main Cast
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Lawrence J. Cohen Fred Freeman
Written by	Richard Baer Peggy Chantler Dick Lawrence J. Cohen Robert Riley Crutcher Stan Cutler William Davenport Martin Donovan John Erman Fred Freeman Lila Garrett Bernie Kahn Gene Thompson Martin Ragaway Shorty Rogers
Directed by	Jerrold Bernstein Bob Claver Danny Dayton Paul Junger Witt Richard Kinon Russ Mayberry Gary Nelson Ernest Pintoff
Starring	Michael Callan Patricia Harty
Narrated by	Vin Scully
Theme music composer	Ernest Pintoff Howard Greenfield
Composers	Ernest Pintoff Shorty Rogers
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producer	Harry Ackerman
Producer	Bob Claver
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Screen Gems
Release
Original network	NBC
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 13, 1966 (1966-09-13) – August 29, 1967 (1967-08-29)

Occasional Wife is an American sitcom which aired on NBC beginning September 13, 1966 and running until May 9, 1967 (repeats were aired through August 29). It was originally on NBC's Tuesday night schedule, airing from 8:30–9:00PM ET/PT. Reruns were aired on Comedy Central in 1992.

Synopsis[]

The lead character was Peter Christopher, a bachelor who enjoyed the single life, but was blocked from professional advancement by not having a wife. Peter's boss, baby-food manufacturer Max Brahms, was, because of his product, a strong believer in marriage and family. Christopher asked a young hat check girl, Greta Patterson, to pose as his wife at company functions. In return, Peter set up Greta in an apartment two floors above his own in a Manhattan building. Greta would use the fire escape to slip into Peter's 7th floor apartment from her apartment on the 9th floor whenever his boss would drop by unexpectedly. As a silent running gag, Bryan O'Byrne played the "Man in the middle" who bemusedly watched the comings and goings of the two from his 8th floor vantage point. The sitcom's uncredited narrator was the well-known sports announcer Vin Scully.

The series first experienced good ratings, tying at #18 with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in the Nielsen ratings. The series then fell to #64 in the ratings after having to compete against ABC's popular series The Invaders and the CBS staple The Red Skelton Show. Occasional Wife was canceled after one season.^[1]

The series was also notable for being one of the first sitcoms to completely eliminate the use of the laugh track, which set the series apart from other sitcoms on at the time. Its practice of not using canned laughter has now become an industry standard with most modern day single camera sitcoms.^{[citation needed]}

Cast[]

• Michael Callan as Peter Christopher
• Patricia Harty as Greta Patterson
• Jack Collins as Max Brahms
• Stuart Margolin as Bernie Kramer
• Chris Noel as Marilyn
• Bryan O'Byrne as Man-in-the-Middle
• Jack Riley as Wally Frick
• Sara Seegar as Mrs. Christopher (Peter's mother)
• Susan Silo as Vera Frick
• Joan Tompkins as Mrs. Brahms (two episodes)

Episodes[]

Footnotes[]

References[]

• Brooks, T. & Marsh, E. (1979). The Complete Directory To Primetime Network TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books, pp. 454–455
• Brooks, T. (1987). The Complete Directory To Primetime TV Stars. New York: Ballantine Books, p. 141
• Tucker, D. C. (2010). Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, pp. 171–177

External links[]

• Occasional Wife at IMDb