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Loosely based on the 1947 motion picture of the same title "The Farmer's Daughter " that starred Joesph Cotton and Loretta Young that won Loretta Young the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Katy Holstrum. Fast forward sixteen years later and we have the television version based on the movie of the same title. This was one of the most wholesome family oriented sitcoms of the 1960's that lasted three seasons during it's initial run.

Under executive producer Harry Ackerman along with producers James Fonda, Bob Claver, and Peter Kortner along with associate producer Paul Junger Witt, the series starred Inger Stevens in the title role as Katy Holstrum who becomes the housekeeper and the governess for Minnesota congressman Glen Morley(William Windom) who was a widow with two sons Steve Morley(Mickey Sholdar) and Danny Morley(Rory O'Brien) along with the congressman's mother Agatha Morley(Cathleen Nesbitt) and Charles the Butler (Phillip Coolidge in the first season only). The series was produced by Associated Arts Productions in association with Screen Gems and the ABC Television Network. During it's three season run, a total of 101 episodes were produced with 73 episodes in black and white from September 20, 1963 until May 28, 1965. The third and final season produced 28 episodes in color from September 13, 1965 until April 22, 1966

It was sponsored by Lark Cigarettes and Clairol for whom the two leading stars often appeared at the show's end, promoting the advertisements products. Other sponsors for the show were the Colgate-Palmotive Company and the Quaker Oats Company. During it's three year run, "The Farmer's Daughter" was nominated for four Prime Time Emmys for Outstanding Conedy Series, Outstanding Actress and Actor in a Comedy Series and won Inger Stevens the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1964. The guest star roster included Peter Graves, Harold Gould, David White, John McGiver, Jeanette Nolan, Shelley Morrison, Paul Lynde, Ellen Corby, Patricia Barry, Barry Atwater, Edward Mulhare, and David Hedison just to name a few that appeared on the series.

Some of the best episodes of the series would include the two part pilot episode "The Speechmaker", "Where's Katy", "Comes The Revolution", "The Playboy Of Capitol Hill", "The Next Mrs, Morley", "Real Life Congressman", "Katy and the Prince", "The Waiting Game","Love On the Picket Line", "Rich Man,Poor Man", "Here Comes The Bride's Father", and "To Have and to Hold" just to name a few, On the November 5, 1965 episode "To Have And to Hold"(season 3, episode 7) finally saw Glen Morley and Katy Holstrum walk down the aisle of martial bliss (just in time for the ratings sweeps) that garnered huge ratings but after the wedding episode the ratings plummeted and by the spring of 1966, ABC canceled the series after three seasons and 101 episodes. ABC kept in reruns until August 29, 1966.

This was one of the fantasy themed situation comedies of the 1960's and it is ranked with the other television sitcoms as "The Munsters", "Bewitched", "I Dream Of Jeannie", "My Mother The Car", "The Flying Nun", "The Beverly Hillbillies",and "Gilligan's Island" just to name a few that came from that decade. The half hour science fiction-situation comedy series "My Favorite Martian" premiered at a time when science fiction themed shows were the norm at the time where it combined comedy with out of the world special effects.

"My Favorite Martian" aired for three seasons on CBS' Sunday night prime time schedule where it was between "Lassie", and "The Ed Sullivan Show" and went up against strong competition with "The Wonderful World Of Disney " during its run. The series was the brainchild of creator and producer John L. Greene along with producer Jack Chertok and executive producer Harry Poppe, "My Favorite Martian" premiered on September 29, 1963 and lasted until May 1, 1966. The series was produced by Jack Chertok Productions in association with the CBS Television Network. A total of 107 episodes were produced with the first two seasons produced and filmed in black and white while the third and final season of the series was produced and filmed in color. A total of 75 episodes were produced in black and white from September 29, 1963 until June 27, 1965 and was filmed in Hollywood at Desilu Studios for Seasons 1-2. The third and final season of the series produced 32 episodes in color from September 12, 1965 until May 1, 1966 and was filmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.

The series starred Ray Walston(of "South Pacific", "The Apartment") and Bill Bixby(of "The Joey Bishop Show", and "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father ")along with Pamela Britton, Alan Hewitt, and J. Pat O'Malley. A human looking extraterrestrial in a one man spaceship collides with an Air Force rocket plane as it crashes nearby. A newspaper reporter locates the spaceship nearby and rescues the man from his spaceship whose secret identity is kept confidential between the reporter and the human looking extraterrestrial who goes by the name of "Uncle Martin". Only the reporter knows who he really is and the reporter treats him as part of the family never to reveal his identity as a Martian from another planet.as he attempts to rebuild his spaceship while being watched under the eyes of the police detective Bill Brennan whom Uncle Martin dislikes. The Martin's next door neighbor is the nosey Lorelei Brown.

This half hour comedy series had some impressive special effects of it day while providing the hilarious hijinks that follows in every episode. Top named directors from Sheldon Leonard(who directed the pilot episode) to Leslie Goodwins, Oscar Rudolph, James Komack, Sidney Miller, David Alexander, Jean Yarbrough, Alan Rafkin, James Kern to Bryon Paul contribute to some of the episodes. The best episodes were the pilot episode "My Favorite Martin", followed with"The Matchmaker" to "There Is No Cure For The Common Martian", "Man On The Couch", "Dreaming Can Make It So",to the two part episode "Go West Young Martian" that were among the others that made this series stand out even after 60 years later it still entertains.

As we commemorating on the 60th anniversary of a classic television series the critically acclaimed "Mr. Novak" was in fact the absolute best among the finest of programs to be produced during the 1960's. It ranks with "The Fugitive", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Ben Casey", "The Defenders", "The Twilight Zone", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and others as the absolute pinnacle of brilliant television programming that came from that decade. The series "Mr. Novak" was nominated for four Prime Time Emmys including Outstanding Dramatic Series and won the Peabody Award in 1963 Best Dramatic Series. It also was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor In A Dramatic Series and Outstanding Writing In A Dramatic Series.

Created by E. Jack Neuman (who was also the executive producer of the series)along with producer Boris Segal and producers Joesph Calvelli and David Victor, the critically acclaimed dramatic series aired on NBC's prime time Tuesday night schedule that ran for two seasons producing 60 episodes all in black and white airing from September 24, 1963 until the final telecast on April 27, 1965. The series was produced by Arena Productions in association with MGM Television for the NBC Television Network. The first season alone had impressive ratings where it faced strong competition against ABC's World War II drama "Combat!" and CBS' variety series "The Red Skelton Show". The second season saw solid ratings as well as it faced numerous casting changes during its run.

The award winning series stars James Franciscus(of Naked City) in the title role as John Novak who is a first year English teacher at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles who often gets involved in the lives of his students and fellow teachers and other employees of the school while under the guidance and the watchful eye of the school principal Albert Vane (Dean Jagger in Season 1 only) and later under the school principal Martin Woodbridge (Burgess Meredith in Season 2). The series took on the issues of its time as it dealt with controversial subjects that were intense for network television at the time but in turn brought solid riveting performances.

The guest stars that were on this program consisted of some of Hollywood's best that included June Lockhart, Robert Culp, Edward Asner, Eddie Albert, Johnny Crawford, Sherry Jackson, Shelly Fabares, Martin Landau, Beau Bridges, Don Grady, Kim Darby, Tony Dow, Tommy Rettig, Brooke Bundy, Steven Frankel, Frankie Avalon, Diane Baker, Peter Breck, Billy Gray, Tige Andrews, George Takei, Harold J. Stone, Mark Slade, and Patricia Crowley just to name a few. Big name directors like Richard Donner, Alvin Ganzer and Mark Rydell contributed to some of the great episodes. "Mr. Novak" was the forefront of shows that became the trailblazer for others to follow later like "Room 222" and later "Lucas Tanner",and "The White Shadow". A brilliant series that should have stay on the air longer but was abruptly canceled after two seasons.