Karen (1964 TV series)

Karen
Genre	Situation comedy
Created by	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Directed by	Earl Bellamy
Starring	Debbie Watson Richard Denning Mary LaRoche Gina Gillespie
Theme music composer	Jack Marshall Bob Mosher
Opening theme	"Karen", performed by the Beach Boys
Composer	Jack Marshall
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	28
Production
Producers	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Kayro-Vue Productions Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	October 5, 1964 (1964-10-05) – April 19, 1965 (1965-04-19)

Karen is an American sitcom that stars Debbie Watson in the title role of 16-year-old Karen Scott, and Gina Gillespie as her tomboyish little sister Mimi. It aired from 1964 to 1965.

Synopsis[edit]

Karen centers on the social life of 16-year old Karen Scott, a typical mid-1960s American teenager who lives in a fashionable apartment complex at 90 Bristol Court in Los Angeles, California, with her tomboyish younger sister Mimi and parents Steve and Barbara. Karen and the impish Mimi are a counterpoint to one another, each girl confounding the tolerant and loving Steve and Barbara in her own way. Karen is focused on having fun, and her impulsiveness often leads to misadventures when she ignores her parents' advice. Karen's friends include Janis, Candy, Peter, Spider Gibson, and David Rowe III. Cliff Murdock is the building superintendent and handyman at 90 Bristol Court.^[1][2][3]

Cast[edit]

• Karen Scott — Debbie Watson
• Steve Scott — Richard Denning
• Barbara Scott — Mary LaRoche
• Mimi Scott — Gina Gillespie
• Janis — Bernadette Withers
• Candy — Trudi Ames
• Peter — Teddy Quinn
• Spider Gibson — Murray MacLeod
• David Rowe III — Richard Dreyfuss (recurring)
• Cliff Murdock — Guy Raymond (October 1964–January 1965)

90 Bristol Court[edit]

Karen was one of three 30-minute sitcoms broadcast Monday nights under the umbrella title 90 Bristol Court; the other two were Harris Against the World, which followed Karen, and Tom, Dick and Mary, which completed the 90-minute programming block. Despite all three shows being set at the same Los Angeles apartment complex with the address 90 Bristol Court, the only connection the three series had was the character of handyman Cliff Murdoch (portrayed by Guy Raymond), who greeted the residents and visitors to 90 Bristol Court. After the last episodes of Harris Against the World and Tom, Dick and Mary aired on January 4, 1965, 90 Bristol Court ceased to be a programming entity, and handyman Murdoch disappeared from Karen as well.^[3]

Production[edit]

The Beach Boys performed Karen′s theme song, also entitled "Karen."^[4][5]

Broadcast history[edit]

The show premiered on NBC as 90 Bristol Court: Karen on October 5, 1964, and continued under that title through the broadcast of January 4, 1965. It drew low ratings: For the November-to-December 1964 reporting period, the Nielsen ratings ranked it 87th among the 96 prime-time network television shows. Tom, Dick and Mary fared only slightly better, and Harris Against the World had even lower ratings than Karen. In mid-November 1964 The New York Times reported that NBC planned to cancel both and Harris Against the World and Tom, Dick and Mary, effective in early January 1965.^[6][3] Their last episodes aired on January 4, 1965.^[3]

With the demise of Harris Against the World and Tom, Dick and Mary and with them the 90 Bristol Court programming concept, the 90 Bristol Court umbrella title was dropped from Karen and handyman Cliff Murdock disappeared from the show. From January 11, 1965, until the end of its run, the show ran as a stand-alone series, titled simply Karen. Although Karen outlasted the other two 90 Bristol Court shows, NBC announced in February 1965 that it would not renew Karen for the 1965-1966 season.^[3] The last of the 28 original episodes of Karen aired on April 19, 1965. NBC then broadcast prime-time reruns of Karen in its regular time slot, the last of them on August 30, 1965. Karen aired at 7:30 p.m. on Monday throughout its run.^[1][2][3][6]

Peter Tewksbury wrote, produced, and directed all three episodes that aired as part of 90 Bristol Court on November 23, 1964, and used the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau regarding simple living as a starting point for each of them: On Karen, Thoreau influenced Karen and her complicated love life when she mistakenly made three dates for the same Saturday night; on Harris Against the World, Thoreau inspired Harris to take his family fishing, only to find that he has to renew his driver's license that day; and on Tom, Dick and Mary, Dick used Thoreau's philosophy as he attempted to fix several broken household appliances.^[3]

Episodes[edit]

SOURCES ^{[3][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (2003) ISBN 0-345-45542-8
• TV Guide Guide to TV 2006 (2006) ISBN 0-7607-7572-9

External links[edit]

• Karen at IMDb
• 90 Bristol Court at Television Obscurities
• Retro Review: Karen (1964) – “Who’s Seymour?” at Television Obscurities Accessed 4 November 2021
• Karen opening credits on YouTube
• Karen opening credits on YouTube
• Karen opening credits with sponsor on YouTube
• Karen closing credits on YouTube
• Karen episode "Holiday in Ski Valley" on YouTube
• Karen episode "Mimi's First Love" on YouTube