Today, we're linking you to five minutes from an unsold pilot for a Li'l Abner TV series allegedly written by Al Capp. I'm supposed to be an expert on this comic strip and its many dramatizations but I don't know a whole lot about this puppy. It bears a 1966 copyright date but it aired on NBC on September 5, 1967. My understanding is that it was prepared for the syndication market, it didn't sell and NBC agreed to run the thing as filler during one of those weeks when they don't measure Nielsen ratings.
I have the vague recollection that when I researched the Abner Broadway show and movie, someone I spoke with told me that there was talk of hiring many of the same actors for a series like this but it never happened. I'm guessing that when they assembled this pilot, they decided to avoid using any of the same casting (or other elements, like the music) because then those with a financial interest in that version could have claimed financial participation in this one.
The cast ain't bad. Sammy Jackson, who'd starred not long before in the short-lived TV series, No Time for Sergeants, played Abner. Jeannine Riley, who'd appeared on the (then) recently-cancelled Petticoat Junction was Daisy Mae. Larry D. Mann — who seems to have played a guest role on every TV series ever produced — played Marryin' Sam. Judy Canova played Mammy Yokum and Jerry Lester played Pappy Yokum. In the role of Jack S. Phogbound, who you'll see a lot of in the clip, was comedian and cartoon voice actor Dave Barry. We wrote about Dave back in this post when he passed away. Robert Reed, who was a few years from starring in The Brady Bunch, had a guest role.
But it's a pretty dreary affair, starting with that generic theme music that doesn't fit a comedy, especially one with a country/hillbilly motif. There's no tangible evidence that Mr. Capp didn't write it but it sure feels like a typical, Hollywood-scripted sitcom of the day and it lacks the sparkle of his strip. Capp was known to complain that the rural sitcoms of the sixties, especially Beverly Hillbillies, were written by "rummaging around in my wastebasket." Maybe he should have rummaged in theirs.
Here's the clip. Thanks to "louis59" who e-mailed me the link…