I MARRIED JOAN REVIEWED
I Married Joan was a fun series that ran between 1952 and 1955. For the early days of TV, that was a near Gunsmoke record of longevity. While it was NBC’s top comedy, it was hard not to see how bad it aped I Love Lucy. Joan Davis had her own production company, but ran things even cheaper. Hell, she made her daughter play her sister on the show. Everything was kept to a handful of sets and the series recycled jokes from time-to-time. But, there is some early Jim Backus performances!
This VCI release is the fourth volume of something that I’m not sure if I want to check out the first three volumes. It’s not a knock on the effort, but more of a testament to the lack of I Married Joan fans. Hell, most of the fanbase died out before your grandparents. So, what now? The release has 10 carefully selected episodes spread across four discs. You couldn’t identify one from the other, but that was the mold for the early TV era.
I wish that this set would’ve been released in season installments or some variation. I know that the audience isn’t huge, but a sense of proper airing history could only help.