Buried on Disc 2 on the King and I DVD is the pilot episode for Anna and the King.
The fact that it made me want to see all 13 episodes must be saying that the pilot did its job. Yul was of course, outstanding as a small screen king. Samantha Eggars was a great choice for Anna. The writing was very thoughtful and the sets were very pretty for a 30 minute sitcom.
Actually, I didn't think it was a sitcom per se until the laugh track jarred me out of the show. This was the quiet muffled version of the laugh track that we grew up hearing in shows like Andy Griffith, Green Acres, Doris Day and MASH. It was really out of place in Siam. Nothing would have been so much better. But really, this is a very minor point.
As family sitcoms go, this one is charming and delightful and actually has aged better than many shows from that same era.
