Me and the Chimp

Starring:  Ted Bessell, Anita Gillette, Scott Kolden, Kami Cotler
First Aired: January 13, 1972
Number of Seasons: 1
Estimated Production Cost: $1 million* per episode

CBS learned very little from the Hathaways about how not to behave on television. Instead, they chose not to learn from the mistakes of others and instead produced a similar show in the 1970s called Me and the Chimp, which was a hit at the time. Starring Ted Bessell as dentist Mike Russell, the show followed a typical American family as they lived with Buttons, a former space chimp who had returned to Earth. The chimpanzee that starred in this CBS sitcom was actually owned by Lou Schumacher, an experienced animal expert who worked on the show. Thomas L. Miller and Garry Marshall came up with the idea for Me and the Chimp. It would be Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days that Marshall and Miller would become most known for, as they were significantly more successful and better written than their previous work on the show. As you might guess, Buttons was the cause of much mayhem in and around the Russell household, but the notion didn’t resonate with the intended audience. Instead, Buttons returned to his trainer, and Bessell went back to making television movies before directing The Tracey Ullman Show in 1989.

Me And The Chimp

Cain’s Hundred

Starring: Peter Mark Richman, Carol Rossen
First Aired: September 19, 1961
Number of Seasons: 1
Estimated Production Cost: $150,000 per episode*

Cain’s Hundred is a crime drama with a plot that is unlike many other crime dramas from the time period. Peter Mark Richman starred in the show, which had over twenty writers on board. Richman portrayed a former Mafia member who married and wanted to “go straight” after his marriage. The Mafia took exception to this and placed a hit on Richman. Richman wanted vengeance and teamed up with the FBI to take down one-hundred of the mob’s deadliest members when the gunman inadvertently shot his fiancée. The show lasted for one season and thirty episodes.

Cain’s Hundred