Saturday, October 16, 2010

Saturtainment: Here Come the Double Deckers (1970)

ABC took a chance on importing a British series, Here Come the Double Deckers, to the US in 1970 for their Saturday morning lineup. Well, actually, the importing was done by 20th Century Fox, which assigned David Gerber as executive producer. At the time, Gerber was overseeing the studio's sitcoms, such as Nanny & the Professor and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, but would leave Fox for Columbia Pictures Television (nee Screen Gems, now Sony Pictures Television) and move to dramatic series like Police Woman. I digress.

A British program on American television was not uncommon back then, and ABC had their fair share of prime time imports from across the pond, including The Avengers and variety shows starring Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. Unfortunately, the Double Deckers, presented to American audiences as a sort of British take on the beloved Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals), but with a pop soundtrack (the cast performed the title song), failed to click here, and was shunted off to Sundays after 1 season.

Following is a sample clip with a young Jane Seymour as the guest star:



Rating: B.

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