Karen: I just discovered this very entertaining, and incredibly detailed, website dedicated to a TV show that never existed! The creators of the site (www.auntpetunia.com - NOTE: the site this link points to is no longer active) have come up with their own 'What If' -namely, what if there had been an unaired Fantastic Four TV show in 1963-1964? The amount of effort they've put into this project, coming up with not only the names of actors but producers, writers, directors, and others, still photos, and an episode guide, is staggering.
Of course, Russell Johnson (Gilligan's Island's Professor) as Reed Richards is no stretch of the imagination (ha!) as Alex Ross has been drawing Mr. Fantastic as Johnson for years. I thought Elizabeth Montgomery as Sue Storm was a great choice. I've never heard of Tim Considine, but he looks good as the Torch. However, I think William Demarest is a very oddball selection for the Thing -Uncle Charlie? Really? There were a lot of other much younger actors that would have worked better.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the episode descriptions (Fabian as Namor?!) and the behind the scenes stories for episodes that never existed. Just imagine if they really had made a FF series with such wonderful writers like Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner Jr., Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon -wow! An episode with the Hate-Monger directed by John Cassavettes? Yeah, it's definitely wish fulfillment. The one episode that doesn't ring true at all is the Harlan Ellison one with hippies and mind-altering drugs -in 63, people were not turning on and dropping out yet. But still, this is an inspired effort and I tip my hat to the creators of the site. Who knows, maybe in an alternate reality, the show DID exist! If only we could join the Watcher in his home on the Blue Area of the moon and scan the many other realities to see if we could find the one where this show is playing in reruns...