The Pruitts of Southampton
Also known asThe Phyllis Diller Show
GenreSituation comedy
Created byDavid Levy
(based on the novel House Party by Patrick Dennis)
StarringPhyllis Diller
Gypsy Rose Lee
Reginald Gardiner
Richard Deacon
Grady Sutton
Pam Freeman
John Astin
Marty Ingels
Paul Lynde
Lisa Loring
Theme music composerVic Mizzy (two different themes were used during the season)
ComposerVic Mizzy
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes30 [17 Pruitts of Southampton/13 Phyllis Diller Show]
Production
Executive producerDavid Levy
ProducersNat Perrin
Everett Freeman
Running time30 min.
Production companiesFilmways TV Productions, in association with PhilDil Productions Limited
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 6, 1966 (1966-09-06) –
April 7, 1967 (1967-04-07)

The Pruitts of Southampton is an American situation comedy that aired during the 1966-67 season on the ABC network. The show was based on the novel House Party (1954) by Patrick Dennis. It was ABC's attempt to turn female stand-up comic Phyllis Diller into a sitcom comedienne very much in the style of Lucille Ball. Child actress Lisa Loring formerly of TV's The Addams Family also had a small role on the show as Phyllis's daughter Suzy Pruitt.

The program starred Diller as Phyllis Pruitt, and featured Gypsy Rose Lee and Richard Deacon in supporting roles with Diller feeling the series was an inverted version of The Beverly Hillbillies.[1] The show's producers originally sought comic actress Beatrice Lillie in the Diller role.[2] Exteriors of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina were used as the locale.

In 2002, TV Guide ranked it number 20 on its TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.[3]

Premise

The Pruitts, a supposedly incredibly wealthy family living on Long Island in the Hamptons, have been approached by the Internal Revenue Service about overdue taxes. An audit revealed that the Pruitts were in fact broke. Rather than reveal this fact publicly and cause the economic depression which would presumably result, an improbably charitable IRS allowed them to continue living in their mansion and maintaining the pretensions of great wealth, which was difficult given their reduced circumstances. By mid-season, in order to raise more money, Phyllis Pruitt had opened the mansion to boarders, attracting a "nutty" collection of tenants as well, a group that included Paul Lynde as her hopeless brother, John Astin as her brother-in-law, and Marty Ingels as a handyman.

In the premiere episode, Phyllis Pruitt unsuccessfully tries to roast a turkey in a front-loading washing machine.[4]

Development and history

The show was created by executive producer David Levy, who also served in the same capacity on the ABC television series The Addams Family from 1964 to 1966. When ABC canceled that show in the spring of 1966, a few Addams Family alumni were recruited for the Diller series. Vic Mizzy, who composed the finger-snapping theme song to The Addams Family, composed the musical theme for Diller's show as well.

According to Television magazine, The Pruitts of Southampton finished 77th among the 91 shows rated during the 1966–1967 season. It began the season airing on Tuesdays, opposite The Red Skelton Hour on CBS, which finished second in the ratings.

On January 13, 1967, with the episode "Little Miss Fixit", the program changed its title to The Phyllis Diller Show. John Astin, who played Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, joined the cast the same month, and the show began airing on Fridays. In addition, the series marked a reunion for Astin and Marty Ingels who had starred in the 1962-1963 ABC-TV sitcom, I'm Dickens, He's Fenster.

In the fall of 1968, NBC signed Diller to a weekly variety series hoping that the comedian would have the same kind of success that Carol Burnett had achieved for the rival network CBS. The program, entitled The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, did poorly in ratings and was canceled after three months.

Episode list

Nº Title Directed by: Written by: Original air date
1"Phyllis Goes Broke"Gene NelsonT : Stanley Roberts;
S/T : Lawrence J. Cohen,
Fred Freeman		September 6, 1966 (1966-09-06)
Series pilot.
2"Phyllis, the Milkmaid"Oscar RudolphT : Leo Rifkin;
S/T : Sidney A. Mandel,
Roy Kammerman		September 13, 1966 (1966-09-13)
3"Phyllis Beats the Rap"Nat PerrinLou Derman,
Elon Packard		September 20, 1966 (1966-09-20)
4"Phyllis, Take a Letter"UnknownUnknownSeptember 27, 1966 (1966-09-27)
5"Phyllis, the Cookie Tycoon"UnknownUnknownOctober 4, 1966 (1966-10-04)
6"Phyllis Fires the Butler"UnknownUnknownOctober 11, 1966 (1966-10-11)
7"Phyllis Saves the Day"UnknownUnknownOctober 18, 1966 (1966-10-18)
8"Phyllis Goes Commercial"UnknownUnknownOctober 25, 1966 (1966-10-25)
9"Phyllis Entertains Royalty"UnknownUnknownNovember 1, 1966 (1966-11-01)
10"Phyllis, the Upstairs Girl"UnknownUnknownNovember 15, 1966 (1966-11-15)
11"Phyllis, the General Stealer"UnknownUnknownNovember 22, 1966 (1966-11-22)
12"Phyllis, the Dress Maker"UnknownHoward Harris,
Sydney Zelinka		November 29, 1966 (1966-11-29)
13"Phyllis Goes Arty"UnknownUnknownDecember 6, 1966 (1966-12-06)
14"Santa Was a Lady"UnknownLou Derman,
Elon Packard		December 13, 1966 (1966-12-13)
15"The Hubcap Caper"Nat PerrinLou Derman,
Elon Packard		December 20, 1966 (1966-12-20)
16"Phyllis, Queen of the Road"Hollingsworth MorseLou Derman,
Elon Packard		December 27, 1966 (1966-12-27)
17"My Brother Harvey"UnknownUnknownJanuary 3, 1967 (1967-01-03)
18"Little Miss Fixit"Arthur LubinUnknownJanuary 13, 1967 (1967-01-13)
First episode as The Phyllis Diller Show
19"Learn to Be a Millionaire"Nat PerrinLou Derman,
Elon Packard		January 20, 1967 (1967-01-20)
20"The Ghost of Pruitt Mansion"UnknownUnknownJanuary 27, 1967 (1967-01-27)
21"Portrait of Krump"UnknownUnknownFebruary 3, 1967 (1967-02-03)
22"How to Rob a Millionaire"Nat PerrinLou Derman,
Elon Packard		February 10, 1967 (1967-02-10)
23"Nobody Here But Us Chickens"UnknownUnknownFebruary 17, 1967 (1967-02-17)
24"Phyllis, the Bat Girl"Arthur LubinLou Derman,
Elon Packard		February 24, 1967 (1967-02-24)
25"Marry a Million"UnknownUnknownMarch 3, 1967 (1967-03-03)
26"Goddess of Love"UnknownUnknownMarch 10, 1967 (1967-03-10)
27"My Sister-in-Law Phyllis"Ralph LevyS : Carol & Joseph Cavella;
T : Nat Perrin		March 17, 1967 (1967-03-17)
28"Krump, the Playboy"UnknownUnknownMarch 24, 1967 (1967-03-24)
29"Phyllis, the Beauty Queen"Arthur LubinUnknownMarch 31, 1967 (1967-03-31)
30"The House Is Not a Zoo"Arthur LubinUnknownApril 7, 1967 (1967-04-07)

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Diller, Phyllis; Buskin, Richard (2005). Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy. New York: The Penguin Group. pp. 190–193. ISBN 1-58542-396-3.
  2. ↑ The Curtain Will Rise Soon for 34 New Television Programs, published August 28, 1966, in the Reading Eagle, page 27; via Google News Archive
  3. ↑ TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. pp. 228. ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.
  4. ↑ 100 Favorite Moments in Television at scrubbles.net

See also

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