The Farmer's Daughter (TV series)

The Farmer's Daughter
Opening title card of The Farmer's Daughter's 3rd season
Genre	Sitcom
Starring	Inger Stevens William Windom
Theme music composer	Barry Mann Cynthia Weil
Composers	Van Alexander George Duning Jerry Fielding Charles Albertine Dave Grusin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	101 (73 in black-and-white, 28 in color)
Production
Executive producer	Harry Ackerman
Producers	Bob Claver Peter Kortner
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Associated Arts, N.V. Screen Gems
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television (syndication)
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Black-and-white (1963-65) Pathécolor (1965-66)
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 20, 1963 (1963-09-20) – April 22, 1966 (1966-04-22)
Chronology
Preceded by	The Farmer's Daughter

The Farmer's Daughter is an American sitcom, loosely based on the identically titled 1947 film, that was produced by Screen Gems Television and aired on ABC from September 20, 1963, to April 22, 1966. It was sponsored by Lark Cigarettes and Clairol, for whom the two leading stars often appeared at show's end promoting the products. (The commercials were also filmed.) It also enjoyed a brief run in syndication when it aired on CBN Cable in the 1980s.

Overview[]

The series starred Inger Stevens as Katy Holstrum, a young Swedish woman who becomes housekeeper for a widowed U.S. Congressman, Glen Morley (played by William Windom). In the series Glen has two sons, aged 14 and 8 at the time of the premiere. Steve, the older of the two boys, was played by Mickey Sholdar, while Danny was played by Rory O'Brien. The Congressman's mother, Agatha Morley, was played by Cathleen Nesbitt.

Inger Stevens (holding baby) and Beverly Garland, 1963.

In its first season (filmed in black-and-white), The Farmer's Daughter competed against Twilight Zone on CBS and the short-lived Larry Blyden series Harry's Girls on NBC. The series never broke into the top 30, but during its first two years it earned respectable ratings and proved to be moderately successful. The last episode of the second season (which was also filmed in black-and-white) featured the two leads becoming engaged.

The third season brought some changes to the format, as the series began filming episodes in color. However, the third and fourth episodes had been shot in black and white.^[1] On Monday, November 1, 1965 (just in time for Sweeps), Katy Holstrum and Glen Morley were married in a wedding ceremony attended by 300 invited guests. When the couple went on their honeymoon, the network censors objected to the original script that had Glen bringing his new bride to a hotel room with twin beds, then saying, "But I asked for a double bed!" Forbidding use of the word "bed," the censors allowed it to be replaced with "accommodations," along with a glance at the bed.^[2]

After the wedding episode the show's ratings fell, and ABC canceled The Farmer's Daughter. In the second to last episode, "Is He or Isn't He?", Katy adopted Glen's sons, thereby providing the series closure as well as a "happy ending."^[3]

Unlike the 1947 film, Katy never ran for (nor was elected to) Congress in the series.

Cast[]

The Farmer's Daughter wedding

Cathleen Nesbitt in The Farmer's Daughter

• Inger Stevens as Katrin "Katy" Holstrum (later, Morley)
• William Windom as Glen Morley
• Mickey Sholdar as Steve Morley
• Rory O'Brien as Danny Morley
• Cathleen Nesbitt as Agatha Morley
• Philip Coolidge as Cooper, the butler (1963–1964)

Episodes[]

Season 1 (1963–64)[]

All episodes in black-and-white

Season 2 (1964–65)[]

All episodes in black-and-white

Season 3 (1965–66)[]

The third and fourth episodes in black-and-white, the remainder in color

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

Notes

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Farmer's Daughter (TV series).

• The Farmer's Daughter at IMDb
• The Farmer's Daughter at epguides.com