Having been a long time fan of both the Chic Young comic strip and the Blondie movies starring Dagwood lookalike Arthur Lake and lovely Penny Singleton, I was looking forward to seeing it all on television. When the show premiered in January 1957 I was thirteen and stayed home from a basketball game I wanted to see just to watch. Arhtur Lake would reprise his role as Dagwood but Pamela Britton, who is best remembered as the nosy landlady in the later popular TV series "My Favorite Martian," would take Penny Singleton's part as the star of the series. Was I disappointed. How I wish I had gone to the ballgame instead.
What went wrong? The writers included Chic Young himself. All the characters were there with one of my favorite radio personalities Harold Peary, The Great Gildersleeve, in the role of Herb Woodley. The humor fell flat. The show was one big bore. The cast did their best with what they had. Yet none of it jelled. I only watched the first few episodes, hoping that it would improve. Alas, I finally stopped watching as did all the other Blondie fans apparently. The show was canceled the same year it premiered.
By all means, watch those wonderful Blondie movies (nineteen or so) or read the cleverly written comic strip. Don't waste your time on trying to track down any of the 26 episodes that are stored away in that great early television library somewhere.
