Mary Kay and Johnny
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Template:Infobox television Mary Kay and Johnny was probably the first situation comedy broadcast on television in the United States. It debuted on the DuMont Television Network in the USA on Tuesday, November 18, 1947. The fifteen minute long weekly sitcom starred Mary Kay Stearns and Johnny Stearns, who were married in real life. The Stearns created and wrote all the scripts for the show. The program was broadcast live, most of the action taking place on a set representing the New York City apartment of the title characters, a young married couple.
After a year on DuMont the show moved to CBS for half a year (much of the time being broadcast every week night), and then ran for one more year each Saturday night on NBC, which broadcast the final episode on March 11, 1950.
In 1948 Mary Kay became pregnant and after unsuccessfully trying to hide it her pregnancy was written into the show. On New Years Eve, 1948 their son Christopher appeared on the show and became a character.
Although some episodes may have been recorded via kinescope, there are no known episodes in existence today.
Trivia
- This was the first TV show to show a couple sharing a bed.
- A clip of a later episode can be seen on the TV Land show Inside TV Land
- Featured TV's first on screen pregnancy.
See also
External links
- "Early to Bed" - Snopes article on how Mary Kay and Johnny was the first TV show to portray a married couple sharing a bed