But like so many Sherwood Schwartz shows, it had a very memorable theme song that explained the whole premise.

RadioActive wrote:

But like so many Sherwood Schwartz shows, it had a very memorable theme song that explained the whole premise.

This particular episode, which would evidently be the premiere episode, was directed by Richard Donner. A check of IMDB.com would indicate that this is the same Richard Donner that would later go on to produce/direct the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeve as well as the four Lethal Weapon films.



PJ
 

I actually watched this show as a kid and recall that when it started to tank in the ratings, the show runners completely flipped the script. Instead of astronauts trapped in prehistoric times, they revamped the thing so that the space travellers returned to modern day 1966, with the cave people stowing away on board.

So instead of the two heroes having to get used to pre-historic times, the Neanderthal-like characters had to try and figure out modern day America. Much hilarity (and I use the term loosely) ensued, but not enough to save the series.  

RadioActive wrote:

Bill Brioux is a name well known to many here, a longtime local TV critic who has his own website. But his latest posting isn't a review or an interview. It's a small list of some of the 16 mm film of TV shows he's acquired over the years. For some time, he's been renting out a theatre and screening these gems in their original form. 

But now he says he's planning to put some of them online, although he has not yet said which ones and when. Worth keeping an eye on, though, because he says he has some pretty amazing stuff. 

Among the titles in my collection are several sitcoms, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I Love Lucy, The Bob Newhart Show, The Honeymooners, I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Leave it to Beaver, The Odd Couple, Green Acres, Phil Silvers’ Bilko, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The Partridge Family.

Obscure or forgotten shows? How about It’s About Time, Love on a Rooftop, Good Morning World or He & She? Canadian shows? I have a couple of Littlest Hobo black and whites from the ’60s, right on up to a couple of Degrassi's...

What also makes them fun are that many include commercials from the day they were first broadcast — some featuring stars from those shows smoking, eating cereal or doing dishes."

Worth keeping an eye on his site to see what - and when - they turn up. 

My world of 16mm TV shows and welcome to it

Seeing some of the original commercials would be a hoot. Plus seeing the sponsor's product placement during the closing credits or the clever additions in the opening credits. Two memorable ones were the extra verse added to the Beverly Hillbillies theme explaining how wonderful Kellogg's breakfast cereals, and later Winston cigarettes, were. Then you had the opening credits to Bewitched where a cartoon  Samantha and Darrin are riding a broom stick. When Samantha twitches her nose, the broom stick turns into the Chevrolet logo.