Over the weekend I finished revising my article on The Good Life. For those not familiar with the series, here’s the new article summary:
Larry Hagman and Donna Mills starred in this short-lived NBC sitcom, which ran for 15 episodes during the 1971-1972 season. The played a couple who are sick of the rat race and want to live the good life. So, they get jobs as live-in servants for a wealthy family and get to enjoy all the finer things. The only problem? They don’t know anything about being servants. David Wayne, Hermione Baddeley and Danny Goldman rounded out the cast.
As I mention in the article, the series was based on a 1968 novel by Douglass Wallop (better known for writing The Year the Yankees Won the Pennant, which he helped adapt for the stage as Damn Yankees!). The novel is now long out of print but I’d be interested in one day reading it. I’d also love to see more episodes of the series, which like so many other seems destined to never make its way to DVD or a streaming service. As far as I know, it was never syndicated within the United States, although it was likely sold internationally.
Revisions include an expanded section on the pilot episode, which was aired in March 1971 after NBC had announced the series had been picked up, as well as additional critical reviews and a longer discussion of episodes.
