Thursday, November 21, 2024

Syndication missed the boat on Joe McDoakes

 63 shorts over 14 years (1942-56). The only time that Joe McDoakes has appeared on television in recent years has been when TCM dusts the shorts off.

McDoakes was your basic Everyman. Depending on the plot, he was either a bachelor or married. If Joe's voice sounds familiar, well, it's George O'Hanlon, who started working on McDoakes 20 years before The Jetsons. O'Hanlon wrote some of the shorts himself, and submitted the story for 1953's "So You Want a Television Set", with Phyllis Coates, fresh off a 1 year stint on The Adventures of Superman, as his wife. Coates' husband, Richard Bare, wrote the final script, and directed.


The shorts are available on DVD, if you can find them.

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