The Bill Dana Show
The now forgotten Bill Dana Show was one of the most influential sitcoms ever. It aired in 1964 as a spinoff of Make Room For Daddy with Danny Thomas. Humor is subjective, but I found it really funny back then and still do. It has never been restored for vhs or DVD. You can only find about a half dozen episodes on YouTube
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It’s musical connection had to do with series regular Gary Crosby, the son of Bing Crosby. Gary worked in a hotel with house detective Don Adams(Get Smart), bellhop Bill Dana(My name Jose Jimenez) and Hotel Manager Jonathan Harris (Lost in Space.). Gary plays guitar and sings in at least one episode.
Despite being nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy, it is one of the rare exceptions where the show and main character were cancelled around the same time. Bill Dana a brilliant comedy writer who wrote the All in the Family Episode where Sammy Davis Jr kisses Archie Bunker, had to retire the Jose Jimenez character after criticism accusing Dana of negative stereotyping.
Dana would bring Don Adams and Buck Henry together for the show, only to have them make Get Smart after it’s cancellation.Dana pulled Jonathan Harris from the theatre for the show, only to have Harris write the same lines he read for Bill Dana for Lost in Space. Adams & Harris took Bill Dana’ s bits and carried his characters onto starring roles in future series which became pop culture phenomenoms. Few remember Bill Dana. That’s showbiz
