The Abbot and Costello Show was a comedy TV series which aired for two 26 episode seasons in syndication between 1952 and 1954. The series starred the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Recurring actors included Sid Fields, Gordon Jones, Bobby Barber (who played a carnival barker in an uncredited role on Leave it to Beaver) and Joe Besser. The show centered around Abbott and Costello who played unemployed actors who shared an apartment in a rooming house in Los Angeles. The show did not teach lessons like many sitcoms have done over the years, but focused on funny situations, something comedian Jerry Seinfeld cited as an influence on his own show.
The show was syndicated by MCA and appeared on over 40 different stations across the country. These stations aired the show on different days and different times. Syndicators at one time or another included the CBS and NBC stations in New York City, but at no time was The Abbott and Costello Show broadcast nationally on either network.
Some interesting tidbits on the show include how Bud Abbott was an employee and received a salary while Lou Costello owned the show. Also, Lou Costello’s brother Pat was the executive producer and his brother-in-law Joe Kirk was an actor on the show. In Joe Kirk’s IMDB biography, it’s noted that he left the Abbott and Costello Show after Lou’s sister divorced Joe.
The series enjoyed a long life of reruns beginning in the 1950s and that life lasted into the 1990s.
Get more information on this show at IMDB.
