As a member of a number of Facebook groups that focus on specific classic TV shows or classic TV in general, I sometimes post questions and talk about the answers here on GleeStreet.com. One such question I asked a while back that received over 200 comments was this, “What is your favorite classic TV show that only lasted one season?” The Honeymooners wound up being the most popular response. Other popular responses included Police Squad, Kolchak, Angie and The Paul Lynde Show. The TV show Angel was mentioned only once.
Angel was a sitcom created by Jess Oppenheimer for the 1960-1961 television season. Yes, it was created by THAT Jess Oppenheimer, the creator, head writer and producer of I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball called him the “brains” behind I Love Lucy. Oppenheimer also created two other one season sitcoms, Glynnis starring Glynnis Johns, and The Debbie Reynolds Show, starring Debbie Reynolds. He also produced, wrote and directed some episodes of Get Smart.
This TV show was similar to both I Love Lucy and Pete and Gladys. Each of those series also featured a married couple and were aired on CBS. When compared to I Love Lucy, the show Angel also featured two friends who lived nearby, similar to Ethel and Fred Mertz. However, its star, French actress Annie Fargé, was not just a French Lucille Ball. She was a good comedic actress minus the slapstick comedy for which Lucille ball was known.
Fargé played Angel Smith, a somewhat ditzy French woman who had come to America and married an architect named John Smith. The shows centered on her often mishaps, that sometimes were made worse by her heavy French accent. Some of the most troublesome of her problems are seen in the episodes, “The Dowry,” “Little White Lies,” and “The Driving Lesson.”
Some guest stars who appeared on Angel during its one and only season included many memorable actors including Madge Blake, Mel Blanc, James Garner, Gale Gordon, and Lyle Talbot. An interesting tidbit is that the aforementioned Madge Blake and Lyle Talbot also appeared on Leave it to Beaver which ran from 1957-1963. Other Leave it to Beaver actors who also appeared on Angel were Frank Wilcox and Howard McNear.
Click here if you’d like to see an episode of Angel on our very own GSTV.
