DVD Review by Allen Pollock

Having been voted the top female box-office movie star at the beginning of the 60’s but committed to the world of television sit-com by its end must have been quite a jolt for Doris Day, especially as she had no prior knowledge of the contract which had been signed by husband/agent/manager Marty Melcher whose consequent untimely demise revealed many financial problems for Doris. However, always the survivor, Doris soon changed gears and knuckled down to THE DORIS DAY SHOW, bringing her usual vivacity and charm to her character, Doris Martin, a widow with two kids living with her father on a farm, with the formula ensuring the show’s necessary family-friendly cheerfulness. She soon realized the rural setting had serious plot limitations and for this second series the storylines were expanded with her character seeking a career as a secretary in San Francisco whilst commuting daily from the farm; allowing more story development with scope for romantic entanglements and the added element of sophistication which had typified her latter-day movies.

Opening Credits © Arwin Productions Inc. courtesy MPI Home Video real player video 56k | cable

Still on hand were her likeable and convincing kids (Philip Brown and Tod Starke), grizzled, gruff, kind-hearted father, Buck (Denver Pyle) and hapless accident-prone handyman, Leroy B. Simpson (James Hampton) for rural home-based activities and misunderstandings, whilst Doris’ job at the TODAY’S WORLD magazine office involved interactive fun and complications involving her Editor boss, Mr Nicholson (McLean Stevenson), office colleague, Myrna (Rose Marie) and Assistant Editor and flirt, Ron Harvey (Paul Smith). The transitional early episodes include hilarious job seeking situations with Doris’ realization her rusty office skills have long been overtaken by modern technology. Linking home with office involves a plot about a peripatetic pet frog and the occasional dog is always on hand to disrupt daily routine. As with all sitcoms, plot complications are soon solved to facilitate the inevitable happy ending for each segment. Episodes include Doris standing in as a model and inevitably enjoying the chance to show off her stupendous figure in some bizarre fashions; having a crush on a handsome French movie star (Jacques Bergerac); a fraught office Christmas party with Doris acting as intermediary between intoxicated colleagues with all ending up on the farm to sing SILENT NIGHT with Doris stepping out of character to wish viewers compliments of the season; a rescue operation to aid dogs locked in a car; rubbing shoulders with a billionaire (Lew Ayres – once in Doctor Kildare movies) and receiving a proposal from a foreign prince (Cesare Danova).

With her son, Terry Melcher as Executive Producer, the series promotes the Doris Day screen image, and fans and others will enjoy the lively situations which occur throughout, with many well-known character actors making guest appearances, including Billy de Wolfe and Edward Andrews who both appeared in some of her movies. In other words it’s a warm-hearted show with wholesome qualities which has lost none of its special magic during the intervening years and simply put, its nostalgia will enthral and appeal to everyone in the family whether young or old!

The DVD set covers twenty-six episodes on six discs in a slip case (unlike the US release which managed with just four) and each DVD is available separately. However, I recommend purchasing the box-set, particularly as it is the cheaper option. The final disc also contains indispensable extras; some 1969 promotional trailers, promos, outtakes and greetings for television featuring Doris; a blooper reel (on-screen mistakes), cast interviews with Rose Marie and Larry Storch, plus other rare footage. The remastering is faultless with excellent colour definition and sound quality; the laughter track is for real and not synchronized; and Doris’ biggest hit song, QUE SERA, SERA (WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE) tops and tails the standard quirky cross-cut opening titles which set the scene for each episode.

DORIS GETS A JOB
Original airdate: 22 September 1969

• Doris is advised to hide the fact that she has children at home as she vies for the job of secretary to a San Francisco magazine's managing editor
• Guest(s): Carol Worthington, Eldon Quick, Joel Mell, Larry Gelman
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

A FROG CALLED HAROLD
Original airdate: 29 September 1969

• The loss of Toby's frog causes the magazine to lose a needed bank loan when the amphibian's escape disrupts a tour by bank officials
• Guest(s): David Manzy, Parley Baer, Jack Garner, Issa Arnal, Ralph Neff
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

MARRIED FOR A DAY
Original airdate: 6 October 1969

• Doris poses as the wife of her boss in a desperate scheme to convince a husband-hunting female that he's out of circulation
• Guest(s): Julie Adams
• Written by Norman Paul, Jack Elinson; Director: Earl Bellamy
  
  

THE WOMAN HATER
Original airdate: 13 October 1969

• Doris works to change a writer's negative opinion of women, then finds that she has succeeded too well
• Guest(s): Anthony Eisley, Johnnie Collins III, Pete Kellett, Judy March, Julius Johnsen, Luis de Cordova, Mike Sterling
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

THE CHOCOLATE BAR WAR
Original airdate: 20 October 1969

• Doris helps Billy combat the aggressiveness of a competitor's mother in a candy-selling contest
• Guest(s): Max Showalter, Amzie Strickland, Jan Arvan, Marshall Kent, Walter Mathews, Tim Weldon, Lynn Wood, Brad Trumbull, Mary Foran, Howard Culver, Don G. Ross
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul; Directed by Harry Falk
  
  

THE HEALTH KING
Original airdate: 10 November 1969

• Doris finds herself dodging punching bags and eating kelp salad when she's given the assignment of getting the publishing rights to a health addict's book
• Guest(s): Michael Forest, Ernest Harada, Lavina Dawson, Joan Lemmo, Bunny Summers
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

DORIS, THE MODEL
Original airdate: 17 November 1969

• Doris and Myrna are assigned to ride herd on a group of French models prior to the debut of a noted Paris designer's new collection in a fashion show
• Guest(s): Johnny Haymer, Bobbi Jordan, Gail Stevens, Arlyn Genson, Paul Marin, Larry Gelman, Sam Javis, Jerry Fitzpatrick
• Written by Norman Paul, Jack Elinson; Directed by Hal Cooper
  
  

DORIS STRIKES OUT
Original airdate: 24 November 1969

• Doris is in a momentary state of shock when a handsome, debonair French movie star invites her to the premier of his new motion picture
• Guest(s): Jacques Bergerac, James Chandler, Gordon Jump, Darrell Rice, Alan DeWitt
• Written by Norman Paul, Jack Elinson; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
   

SINGLES ONLY
Original airdate: 8 December 1969

• Myrna rents an apartment in a "swinging singles" building, but is disappointed with the apartment as well as the building's male tenants
• Guest(s): Sid Melton, Ed Fury, Michael Lerner, Joseph Perry, Joe Ross, Alice Backes, Carol Worthington
• Written by William Raynor, Myles Wilder; Directed by William Wiard
  
  

TOGETHERNESS
Original airdate: 15 December 1969

• After having to work overtime several nights, Doris plans a full weekend of "family fun," not realizing that it will cause the boys to have to cancel plans they'd already made
• Guest(s): Karen Arthur
• Written by William Raynor, Myles Wilder; Directed by Alan Rafkin
  
  

A TWO FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Original airdate: 22 December 1969

• Doris invites Myrna and Ron to have a family Christmas on the ranch, but they all have more glamorous plans and decline
• Guest(s): David Manzy, Carleen Frans, James B. Douglas
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul; Directed by Larry Dobkin
  
  

YOU'RE AS OLD AS YOU FEEL
Original airdate: 29 December 1969

• Buck decides he's falling apart when a toothache calls for an extraction
• Guest(s): Totty Ames, Herb Vigran, George Ives, Hal Smith
• Written by Norman Paul, Jack Elinson; Directed by Larry Dobkin
  
  

THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY
Original airdate: 5 January 1970

• A boxer who'd rather dance than fight develops a crush on Doris while she's trying to interview him
• Guest(s): Larry Storch, Buddy Lester, Sidney Clute, Jim Cross, Gerald York, Chick Casey, Lauro Salas, Frankie Van
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Denver Pyle
  
  

DORIS VS. THE COMPUTER
Original airdate: 12 January 1970

• Doris wages war against the electric company when its computer indicates that she hasn't paid her bill
• Guest(s): Frank Corsentino, Christina Dean, Gregg Jakobson, Jerry Jones
• Written by Arthur Alsberg, Don Nelson; Directed by Denver Pyle
  
  

HOT DOGS
Original airdate: 19 January 1970

• Doris doesn't worry about the consequences when she takes six poodles from a private, locked automobile and ultimately finds herself in court on a robbery charge
• Guest(s): James Millhollin, Jerome Cowan, Charles Lane, Issa Arnal, Owen Bush
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul, Don Genson; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

TODAY'S WORLD CATCHES MEASLES
Original airdate: 26 January 1970

• Doris invites Mr. Nicholson and Ron for a relaxing weekend on the farm, but instead they are exposed to the measles and all quarantined together
• Guest(s): Edward Andrews, Walter Sande, Joe Hoover, Breland Rice, Issa Arnal, Geri Ewing
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul; Directed by Fred de Cordova 
  
  

THE GAS STATION
Original airdate: 2 February 1970

• Doris volunteers herself and Myrna to run Leroy's gas station so he can visit his wife who's in the hospital having a baby
• Guest(s): Bob Jellison, Herman Griffith, Charles Dugdale, Herb Weil, Virgil Frye, John Carter, Martin Ashe, Jon Kowal, Eric Scott, Eddie Quillan, Kristina Holland
• Written by Jack Elinson, Norman Paul, Don Genson; Directed by Hal Cooper
  
  

KIDNAPPED
Original airdate: 9 February 1970

• Doris goes to pick up an article exposing a gangster, but finds herself kidnapped along with a very nervous writer
• Guest(s): Kaye Ballard, Bruce Gordon, Avery Schreiber, Hagen Smith, Gene Dynarski, Rico Cattani, Scott Perry
• Written by Doug Tibbles; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

BUCK'S PORTRAIT
Original airdate: 16 February 1970

• Buck is initially reluctant about posing for an artist who is doing a cover for the magazine Doris works for, but he soon warms up to the idea of fame
• Guest(s): Mabel Albertson, Hal Smith, Charles Wagenheim, Bob Jellison, Issa Arnal, Riza Royce, J.P. [Patrick] Cranshaw, Woodrow Parfrey
• Written by Doug Tibbles; Directed by Earl Bellamy
  
  

DORIS HIRES A MILLONAIRE (Part 1 & 2)
Original airdates: 23 February & 2 March 1970

• Doris mistakes a publicity-shy billionaire for a bum and gives him a job on the farm
• Guest(s): Lew Ayres, Ross Elliott, John Stuart, John Lawrence, Issa Arnal
• Written by Budd Grossman/Jack Elinson, Norman Paul; Directed by Fred de Cordova
  
  

A WOMAN'S INTUITION
Original airdate: 9 March 1970

• Doris's intuition seems to be uncannily accurate until she convinces her boss to take a plane that ends up being hijacked to Cuba
• Guest(s): Bernie Kopell, Sandy Kenyon, Carol Worthington, Rico Cattani, Perla Walter, Gordon Jump
• Written by Rick Mittleman; Directed by Denver Pyle
  
  

DORIS MEETS A PRINCE
Original airdate: 16 March 1970

• A visiting prince asks Doris to marry him and become his princess
• Guest(s): Cesare Danova, Roy Roberts, Eric Mason, Luis de Cordova
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Fred de Cordova
  
  

THE DUKE RETURNS
Original airdate: 23 March 1970

• Duke Farentino has retired from the ring to become a dance instructor, and turns to Doris for help with his labor problems
• Guest(s): Larry Storch, Michael Lerner, George Dunn, George Mann, Margaret Wheeler
• Written by Norman Paul, Jack Elinson; Directed by Denver Pyle
  
  

THE OFFICE TROUBLESHOOTER
Original airdate: 30 March 1970

• Mr. Jarvis returns to Doris' life as the magazine's newly-hired efficiency expert, and he predictably makes everyone's life miserable
• Guest(s): Edward Andrews, De De Young, Geraldine Ewing
• Written by Budd Grossman; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

COLONEL FAIRBURN TAKES OVER
Original airdate: 6 April 1970

• The publisher of "Today's World" arrives unexpectedly and assumes control of the office staff, taking a very personal interest in Doris
• Guest(s): Edward Andrews, Scott Perry, Issa Arnal, Titus Moody, Fredericka Myers
• Written by Rick Mittleman; Directed by Coby Ruskin
  
  

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