Randy H. Farb
Jess Oppenheimer must have been an optimist. His most successful production, "I Love Lucy", centered around a female wanting to make it big in her husband's career. Unfortunately, lightning doesn't always strike twice. Glynis Johns plays Glynis, a novice mystery writer married to a criminal defense attorney. Glynis finds herself involved in murders by accident, and of course, comes out in the end a winner. Her husband (a bland Keith Andes) is usually clueless, and instead of a female friend for Glynis, which would be too much of an obvious rip-off of "I Love Lucy"s premise, she has a retired policeman friend to rely on. The trouble with this show is the laugh track. Murder can be funny, when it's played straight, but the actors on the show seem confused; they don't know when to play for laughs or dramatic effect. So, you have a mish-mosh of comedy and drama, and that annoying laugh track doesn't help one bit. What is so funny about a schizophrenic murderess? Did anyone really laugh at Anthony Perkins in "Psycho"? I notice that Oppenheimer later got the mixture right when producing "Get Smart". It's a shame he didn't have the creative forces with him during "Glynis". The cast gave it their best efforts, though.
