"Dream Wife" is a failed pilot episode for a TV series that never was bought by the networks. Despite the same name, it has no relationship with the Cary Grant film.
The show stars Shirley Jones as a wife who can read minds...yes, read minds. While this might sound kind of goofy, remember that the 1960s had a lot of shows with strange gimmicks....such as "I Dream of Jeanie", "Bewitched", "My Favorite Martian", "Mr. Ed", and "My Mother the Car".
While she does have ESP, there are two problems. Her friend, the Professor, is apparently the only one who knows the wife has ESP...and he strongly advises her not to tell her husband. The other is that she cannot control the ESP...and sometimes it leads her on kooky adventures and this doesn't help the marriage any. But it also CAN come in handy....as you'll see near the end of the show.
The first thing I noticed about the show, and it's a personal pet peeve, is the brashness and poor use of a laughtrack....a big strike against it. On the other hand, it was at times clever and well made. I particularly liked John Abbott playing an uncharacteristically funny role as well as Jones, who is a joy in pretty much everything. Sadly, however, Ted Bissell's supporting character is a mess and is easy to hate...thanks to the writing. He just could have been decent had the guy been subtle.
So is this a show that could have worked on TV? Probably. The silliness of the shows I mentioned above abounds...yet they were mostly very successful. And, while I wonder how the show could have maintained fun episodes after a while, the above shows somehow managed.
The bottom line is that I didn't love the show...but seeing it is interesting and it's not terrible.
The show stars Shirley Jones as a wife who can read minds...yes, read minds. While this might sound kind of goofy, remember that the 1960s had a lot of shows with strange gimmicks....such as "I Dream of Jeanie", "Bewitched", "My Favorite Martian", "Mr. Ed", and "My Mother the Car".
While she does have ESP, there are two problems. Her friend, the Professor, is apparently the only one who knows the wife has ESP...and he strongly advises her not to tell her husband. The other is that she cannot control the ESP...and sometimes it leads her on kooky adventures and this doesn't help the marriage any. But it also CAN come in handy....as you'll see near the end of the show.
The first thing I noticed about the show, and it's a personal pet peeve, is the brashness and poor use of a laughtrack....a big strike against it. On the other hand, it was at times clever and well made. I particularly liked John Abbott playing an uncharacteristically funny role as well as Jones, who is a joy in pretty much everything. Sadly, however, Ted Bissell's supporting character is a mess and is easy to hate...thanks to the writing. He just could have been decent had the guy been subtle.
So is this a show that could have worked on TV? Probably. The silliness of the shows I mentioned above abounds...yet they were mostly very successful. And, while I wonder how the show could have maintained fun episodes after a while, the above shows somehow managed.
The bottom line is that I didn't love the show...but seeing it is interesting and it's not terrible.
