Famous First: The series premiere of Lidsville (1971)

It's the first of the month, and that means we start with a Famous First episode.

Today, it's "World in a Hat", the series premiere of Lidsville, Sid & Marty Krofft's first sale to a network other than NBC. The series marked the return of Butch Patrick (ex-The Munsters) to television after five years away. Butch plays Mark, a curious teenager who pays a visit to the circus one day to catch Merlo The Great's act. Post-show, Mark lingers around and sneaks backstage, and that gets him in a world of trouble.

The voiceovers of the hat people, both good & bad, are divided among three actors--Walker Edmiston, Len Weinrib, & Joan Gerber, the latter also heard as Mata Hairi on Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, which was in a rerun cycle for its second year. Behind those costumes, you'll find ex-Mouseketeer Sharon Baird, Felix Silla (ex-The Addams Family), and Jerry Maren ("The Wizard of Oz"), among others. Wikipedia's entry claims that Weenie (Billie Hayes) is an androgynous genie. Could've fooled me. Charles Nelson Reilly (ex-The Ghost & Mrs. Muir) chews up so much scenery as Hoo-Doo (and appears in the open as Merlo, too), you'd swear he was on a steady diet of ham.

Here's "World in a Hat":



I think you can see why this show was actually out of production after one season.

Rating: B--.