A ridiculously unfunny TV movie that was a fortunate failure as a series pilot. I can't imagine anything like this ever getting green lit because in reflection, the whole idea is just plain stupid. I don't care how frustrated a married couple is, hiring a "second wife" who demands a contract and basically she comes like a second mother to the two adolescent children. Simply, she's basically the replacement for housekeeper Carmen Zapata who must return to Guatemala and full-time babysitter. But they make a point of calling her "second wife" so you have to wonder where the head of the writer was when they created it and the head of the network executive who approved it.
With Bill Bixby and Paula Prentiss cast as the frustrated married couple and Valerie Perrine cast as side wifey, the potential for a few amusing moments come along, but when the twist you happen, it's ridiculously embarrassing rather than funny. The issues continue especially with Robert Goulet coming on halfway through the film as Prentiss's client who makes a pass at her.
There's also Nanette Fabray as her boss and Myrna Loy as her mother, and both veteran ladies are completely wasted.
This is a time capsule for the type of ridiculously silly sex comedy that would be attempted for a TV series through a pilot, and I seen about a dozen of them, and the great majority of them are genuinely awful. Perrine seems too intelligent of an actress to be cast as a ditzy floozy, and the scene where she makes a pass at Bixby is truly embarrassing. This is certainly the type of 70's entertainment that you don't want to be in any type of time capsule.
With Bill Bixby and Paula Prentiss cast as the frustrated married couple and Valerie Perrine cast as side wifey, the potential for a few amusing moments come along, but when the twist you happen, it's ridiculously embarrassing rather than funny. The issues continue especially with Robert Goulet coming on halfway through the film as Prentiss's client who makes a pass at her.
There's also Nanette Fabray as her boss and Myrna Loy as her mother, and both veteran ladies are completely wasted.
This is a time capsule for the type of ridiculously silly sex comedy that would be attempted for a TV series through a pilot, and I seen about a dozen of them, and the great majority of them are genuinely awful. Perrine seems too intelligent of an actress to be cast as a ditzy floozy, and the scene where she makes a pass at Bixby is truly embarrassing. This is certainly the type of 70's entertainment that you don't want to be in any type of time capsule.