ThiefHott Too much of everything

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Jordan Hall "Occasional Wife" ran for one season on NBC from September 13, 1966 until May 9, 1967. The series was one of the first to forego the use of a laugh track. Its narration is by legendary sportscaster Vin Scully. "Occasional Wife" got off to a good start, tying at 18 in the Nielsen ratings with "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". It began facing tougher competition from rival networks, dropping to 64 and was cancelled after 30 episodes. The show centers around Peter Christopher (Michael Callan), a happy bachelor who is pressured to find a wife to please his family and to advance his career. His boss Max Brahms (Jack Collins) of Brahms Baby Food Company is a firm believer in family men. Peter enlists the help of a young hat check girl Greta Patterson (Patricia Harty), in exchange for paying for her art lessons and setting her up with an apartment two floors above his, to play the role of his wife whenever needed. The series rides this plot with the complications of hiding the fact they aren't married from their colleagues, friends and family.Reflecting upon the series, after watching each episode, "Occasional Wife" is a rather farcical sitcom featuring an outlandish premise. Early on, I found many episodes struggled to maintain flow with plots feeling somewhat strained. As such, I think the series would have had much more success as a feature film expanding upon the pilot with elements of other episodes. The plot of hiding the "occasional wife" routine became overplayed in my eyes. As the series progressed, I feel the best episodes are those that doesn't depend on this premise. Michael Callan and Patricia Harty developed a very comfortable chemistry (they married months after the series ended). However, their comedy style was more of that of a straight man, forcing the comedy to come from interactions with others. I like the casting of Jack Collins as Peter's pushy, family-first boss Mr. Brahms. The series was at its best with the comedy of talented guest stars: John Astin in "I Do, We Don't", Dick Wilson in "One Plus One Equals Too Many", Don Penny in "My Occasional Brother's Keeper", etc.). Stuart Margolin's meek Bernie could engage the viewer and provide comedy. The series would have benefited greatly if he was a regular in some capacity. It was also fun to watch Jack Riley as Peter's snake-in-the-grass office rival, years before he became a treasured deadpan scene stealer in "The Bob Newhart Show".Among subpar offerings, there are some good episodes in the series.

TimGiangiobbe Peter Christopher was the lead man . He played a bachelor (Michael) who was determined to never marry in spite of his bosses family values Peters boss baby food mogul Max Brahms was controlling and Michael had to ask a beautiful hat check clerk (Greta Patterson) to pose as his wife and the charade became out of control and the antics off the wall. Yet they continued to fool Michaels boss.What Michael did not realize is that his neighbor (Bryan Obyrne) was a peeping Tom because he watched the comings and goings from the Sixth floor where Michael lived to the eighth floor where Greta lived.There may have been a few sparks of love but cupids arrow did not hit its target in the first season and cupid had no other seasons to score . So the possibility of them marrying was left hanging

theowinthrop On a scale (for television sitcoms) I'd be generous if I gave OCCASIONAL WIFE a "4" out of "10". I seem to be in a minority on this thread, but I watched it two or three times while it was on the air in 1966, and it was always too situation oriented. Meaning it was too mechanical to be believed.The story is that Michael Callan works for a baby food company: the Brahams Baby Food Company. It is run by Mr. Brahms (Jack Collins - an obscure moon faced character actor). Since the company is named for it's owner, the attempt to do a type of pun (for want of a better term) regarding Johannes Brahms famous musical piece (his lullaby, that we sing the words, "Lullaby, and good night..." to.)is there. Mr. Brahms is one of those hundreds of self-centered bosses on television (and in the movies) who think they know best. He has a company that deals in baby food, so the executives should be married men, preferably with children. Brahms tells Callan that unless he is married, he cannot work for Brahms. That this stupid point of view overlooks that Callan is a hard working young man who does a good job never enters the idiot boss's mind. He reminds me of Edward G. Robinson in GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM, as the puritanical dairy company millionaire, Mr. Nurdlinger.Facing dismissal, Callan gets the idea that he must have what is a stand-in wife. He knows Patricia Harty from her job as a hat check girl (and she lives in his apartment house - how she does this given the disparity of their salaries is never explained). He offers her money if occasionally she will agree to be his "occasional wife." One of the running jokes is that they will both use the interconnecting fire-escape outside the living room window to meet on the floor between in front of the window of their other neighbor (Bryan O'Byrne) confusing him while he is in the middle of a wide variety of personal activities which he proceeds to botch up while he watches them on his fire escape.Each episode dealt with a different "crisis" that Callan had to face dealing with his own boss and job, and how his arrangement with Harty keeps interfering with her own personal life (it's hard for her to go out on dates if she is on call for Callan to satisfy the idiocies of his boss). I recall (vaguely) an episode where the situation gets reversed, with Harty being romanced by a pest named Bernie, who learns of the existence of Callan. Instead of simply introducing Callan as her husband, she introduces him to Bernie as her brother. Wonderful - Bernie introduces Callen to his dippy sister Bernice. So in that episode Callan and Harty had to keep running between his and her apartments to satisfy the idiot boss about being married, while then satisfying the stupid brother and sister thinking they were on a cool, promising double date with another unattached brother and sister.The acting was reasonably good, but not the most memorable. As it lasted one season, I suspect the script writers did not know how it would end exactly, but presumably (had it lasted as long as CHEERS or COSBY) Callan's and Harty's characters would have eventually actually married. But it was not worth keeping beyond one season - it was a mediocre comedy.

O'Malley This was my favorite show when I was in the sixth grade, and I was heartbroken when it was canceled. Michael Callan and Patricia Harty had terrific chemistry (they would later marry, although not for long). Jack Collins was also perfect as Callan's boss, and the reaction shots of the Man In The Middle (i.e. the guy who had the apartment in between those of Callan and Harty) were priceless. Back in the 60s, we accepted absurd premises on TV shows without giving it a second thought -- the beauty of Occasional Wife was that the actors performed as if there was nothing at all absurd in their situations. Sure would love to see it again!