Leave It to Larry is an American television situation comedy that was broadcast on CBS from October 14, 1952, until December 23, 1952,[1] for a total of 11 episodes.[2]

Premise

Larry Tucker (portrayed by Eddie Albert in his first TV series[2]) was a married man who, with his wife and two children, lived in a two-family house with his father-in-law, Mr. Koppel (portrayed by Ed Begley). Tucker also was "a bumbling shoe salesman"[3] in Koppel's shoe store. That combination often put Tucker in the middle of conflicts.[1]

Cast

At the time of its premiere (classified by one source as a pilot[4]), the show was titled Leave It to Lester,[5][6] but "almost immediately" the title was changed to Leave It to Larry.[1] Other changes occurred in the cast, with only Albert and Begley continuing. The title character's name went from Lester Tucker to Larry Tucker.[4] Betty Kean played Tucker's wife, Amy, replacing Katherine Bard. Lydia Schaeffer portrayed the Tuckers' daughter (whose name was changed from Helen to Harriet), replacing Patsy Bruder. Glenn Walken had the role of the son, Steve, replacing Bradley Huston.[4]

Production and rating

Leo Solomon was the producer of, and a writer for, Leave It to Larry, with Mervyn Nelson as the director. Other writers were Vinnie Bogert and Billie Friedberg. The program originated at WCBS-TV.[6]

Leave It to Larry was broadcast on Tuesday nights from 8 to 8:30 Eastern Time.[1] Its competition was Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater on NBC[3] and (beginning the week of November 22) Bishop Fulton Sheen's Life Is Worth Living on DuMont. Sheen's Trendex rating for that week was 14.6 while Berle's program dropped to 35.2 and Albert's dropped to 7.6.[7] When Leave It to Larry was cancelled, it was replaced on CBS by the second half of Ernie Kovacs' new hour-long evening program.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 779. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Bawden, James; Miller, Ron (2019). Conversations with Legendary Television Stars: Interviews from the First Fifty Years. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-7765-6. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  3. ^ a b McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 473. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  4. ^ a b c Terrace, Vincent (2018). Encyclopedia of Unaired Television Pilots, 1945-2018. McFarland. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-4766-3349-7. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  5. ^ Lohman, Sidney (October 12, 1952). "News of TV and Radio: All-Night Programming -- Other Studio Items". The New York Times. p. X 11. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "This Week (Cont'd)". Ross Reports. October 12, 1952. p. 2. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  7. ^ "CBS and NBC jolted by Sheen's Du Mont Stanza". Billboard. November 29, 1952. p. 4. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  8. ^ "Ernie Kovacs gets TV night program". The New York Times. December 24, 1952. p. 22. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
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