It: Kate Jackson on The Jimmy Stewart Show

[patrickm]

For those who might be interested, Kate Jackson's episode on The Jimmy Stewart Show entitled The Identity Crisis will air on Get TV on Tuesday May 10th at 7:35am. If you are recording it, allow for 40 minutes in that Get runs extra commercials w/o editing down the show.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This is the first of two eps that she did of the show. They're also the first jobs she got after moving from NYC to LA. And they're also completely ridiculous - though that's not her fault because the show itself, which I suppose was aiming from some heartwarming throwback to 50s and early 60s sitcoms, came across as unbelievably dated for 1971. One of the biggest eye roll moments in this first ep happens when Jackson's character, who is one of Stewart's students, arrives at his house and he says that he didn't know her in her "vacation outfit" - but considering what she's wearing seems perfectly normal for a girl in '71, one really has to wonder what girls had to wear at Stewart's character's college that rendered a girl unrecognizable when she simply wore normal clothes?!

I accused the Bonanza ep Jackson appeared in (last week on MeTV) of being innocent, but this one is innocence X 1000 by comparison! And the sweetness is so high as to be a danger of causing diabetes!!

But be that as it may, thanks for the heads up, patrick. Anyone who hasn't seen The Jimmy Stewart Show really should see it at least once, if for no other reason than to be confronted with the fact that a show like it actually did exist in '71.    And all ridiculousness aside, it is a hoot to see Jackson in her first primetime gig (even if the supposed joke at the end of her appearance falls flatter than a crepe run over by a steamroller).

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Those who weren't completely turned off by the ridiculousness of today's ep might want to tune into Kate Jackson's second ep, which I see will be on Monday, May 16th. I haven't seen it since it was first shown back in '71, so I don't remember if it's as foolish as today's. But the bottom line is that she got what she wanted out of these eps because they lead to her getting other guest starring parts, a pilot, and a role of The Rookies, so that was probably all that was important to her. 

[patrickm]

Was just going to post about it, but see you beat me to it MB. I think your review pretty much nailed it. I vaguely remembered this show being on Sunday night's but didn't watch it -guess 13 year old's weren't their target audience.
3 things stuck out -1. Did they ever resolve Kate's'character issue or did I not pay attention? 2. It felt weird having him talk to the audience as Jimmy Stewart then play a college professor in the episode-I think it made him look like he was just collecting a paycheck. 3. Seeing him ride a bicycle reminded me of Jack Albertson riding a bicycle in Grandpa goes to Washington - I bet paramedics were on call for those takes...

[Uncle Roger]

I made a point to watch one of the episodes back then because I wanted to see Kate. Stewart has never been one of my favorite performers and the show itself wasn't especially clever, funny or heartwarming, so I didn't watch Kate's second episode. As I recall, the show was so unbearably wholesome that it made Ozzie and Harriet look cutting edge.

[Patti Feinberg]

quote from MB:

Stewart has never been one of my favorite performers

Dude, it's a good thing how much we love you....cuz you're pretty close to blasphemy. REPENT!!

Patti

[Midnite]

Patti, it wasn't MB that you were quoting.  The Help section explains both ways to use the quote feature under Posting / Quoting a Post.

[Patti Feinberg]

Can a mod please DELETE the post (of me ALLEGEDLY quoting MB)?

 

Gotta stop hittin' the bottle so early. 

Patti

[patrickm]

I did watch the 2nd episode with Kate Jackson. Besides having some jibes about politicians, it sort of reminded me as a knockoff of Lucy and Ethel running against each other for club president. Kate's part could have been done by anybody - but yes, it give her a look and maybe helped her getting a shot on The Rookies.

I also took a look on imdb.com on the show and found a couple of tidbits. First, Jimmy Stewart's hawkish views on the war didn't go over so well with the younger cast.It was 1971 so not real surprising. More disturbing was that Stewart had Hal Williams fired from the show because he didn't feel it was appropriate for a black character to be ordering him around on television with a family audience watching. Really?.....That doesn't exactly match his closing words on every episode wishing everyone peace love and laughter.I assume NBC was hoping even with an older audience it could compete against Ed Sullivan but failed miserably.Oh well.interesting to look back on it regardless.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for the info, patrick - very interesting.