It was fifty years ago today- September 23, 1968 two shows that would prove to be hits appeared on CBS- Here’s Lucy and Mayberry R.F.D.

Here’s Lucy of course starred the immortal Lucille Ball. This was Lucy’s third network television sitcom. This is the Lucy that I remember best. The other two shows were before my time and of course I’ve seen the original I Love Lucy shows- and they were no doubt landmark television shows, the second The Lucy Show 1962-68 I don’t remember seeing much of but the third one is the one I watched all the time- co- starring Gale Gordon  and her two children Desie and Lucie. I haven’t seen the show probably since my childhood. Here’s Lucy ran 6 years 144 episodes. It was in the top 10 in the rankings the first four years then the last two years began to fall.

Mayberry R.F.D. was a spin-off of the great Andy Griffith Show after Andy had decided to end his show.  In the last year of Andy Griffith two new characters were introduced and they would be the focus of Mayberry R.F.D.- actor Ken Berry starred as Sam Jones a widower with a young son. Some of the old Mayberry crowd remained- Goober, Emmett, Howard and Clara. The show did well in the rating game -in it’s three seasons it ranked 4, 4 and in the final year 15th. It was cancelled after three seasons when CBS did their purge of all their rural shows. 3 seasons and 78 episodes. Again, it was a show I watched and liked in my childhood. Was it as good as Andy? Of course not what is? I have seen episodes off and on over the years not a bad show.