Alfred Hitchcock: How to Get Rid of Your Wife
From Season 2, Episode 8
Original Airdate: December 20, 1963
A man dreams up an elaborate scheme to get rid of his domineering wife.
The great comedian Bob Newhart here plays it straight (sort of) as the hen-pecked wife. Jane Withers, the hen pecker, started her career as a child star, often playing a bit of a meddlesome child. You might remember her best in all those commercials as Josephine the Plumber. Finally, Harold Gould, who recently passed away, plays the District Attorney in the last act. He was in tons of TV series and played the role of Martin Morgenstern, the father of Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) in Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda.
Dragnet: Homicide: The Student
From Season 4, Episode 2
Original Airdate: September 25, 1969
Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon discover their suspect in a double slaying is an ardent reader of stories about strange attitudes toward death.
Virginia Gregg was a favorite of Jack Webb favorite, playing roles in the original Dragnet in the fifties, Emergency and Adam-12. She had a long career in radio and guest roles in lots of television series. If her voice seems to have a creepy edge to it, she was the voice of Norman Bates “mother” in Psycho.
Bewitched: Nobody But a Frog Knows How to Live
From Season 3, Episode 32
Original Airdate: April 27, 1967
A frog turned into a man wants Samantha to change him back.
John Fiedler plays Fergus, who wants to be changed back into a frog. If you needed a high-pitched, squeeky voiced, pipsqueek of a character, then John Fiedler was your man. His long career included roles as the nervous Juror #2 in “12 Angry Men,” in Star Trek’s “Wolf in the Fold” and in the role of Mr. Peterson on one of my favorite shows, The Bob Newhart Show. He was also the voice on numerous Walt Disney animated films including the “Winnie the Pooh” films as the voice of Piglet.
