The Great Gildersleeve

The summary pretty much says it all. Waterman's talent can't save the tedious scripts, but the show does give a lot of incidental if unintended info about life in the 50s--not only the material furnishings and styles, but also production values. For example, one can readily see the early stages of evolution of sit-coms with how light and harmless (un-controversal) the issues are. Strictly check your brain in at the door type of comedy. It seems that some of the transitional features from radio are readily apparent in this TV version of its radio namesake. The acting seems a little campy and "stagey" -- which makes sense when you consider how young the TV medium was at this point.