The Farmer's Daughter (TV series)

The Farmer's Daughter
Opening title card of The Farmer's Daughter's 3rd season
Genre	Sitcom
Starring	Inger Stevens William Windom
Theme music composer	Barry Mann Cynthia Weil
Composer(s)	Van Alexander George Duning Jerry Fielding Charles Aubertine Dave Grusin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	101
Production
Executive producer(s)	Harry Ackerman
Producer(s)	Bob Claver Peter Kortner
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Associated Arts, N.V. Screen Gems
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television (syndication)
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Black-and-white (1963-65) Pathécolor (1965-66)
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 20, 1963 (1963-09-20) – April 22, 1966 (1966-04-22)
Chronology
Preceded by	The Farmer's Daughter

The Farmer's Daughter is a filmed American situation comedy series, loosely based on the identically titled 1947 film, that was produced by Screen Gems Television and aired on ABC from September 20, 1963 to April 22, 1966. It was sponsored by Lark Cigarettes and Clairol, for whom the two leading stars often appeared at show's end promoting the products. (The commercials were also filmed.) It also enjoyed a brief run in syndication when it aired on CBN Cable in the 1980s.

Overview

The series starred Inger Stevens as Katy Holstrum, a young Swedish woman who becomes housekeeper for a widowed U.S. Congressman, Glen Morley (played by William Windom). In the series Glen has two sons, aged 14 and 8 at the time of the premiere. Steve, the older of the two boys, was played by Mickey Sholdar, while Danny was played by Rory O'Brien. The Congressman's mother, Agatha Morley, was played by Cathleen Nesbitt.

Inger Stevens (holding baby) and Beverly Garland, 1963.

In its first season, The Farmer's Daughter competed against Twilight Zone on CBS and the short-lived Larry Blyden series, Harry's Girls, on NBC. The series never broke into the top 30, but during its first two years it earned respectable ratings and proved to be moderately successful. The last episode of the second season featured the two leads becoming engaged.

The third season brought some changes to the format as the series began filming episodes in color. On Monday, November 1, 1965, Katy Holstrum and Glen Morley were married in a wedding ceremony attended by 300 invited guests. When the couple went on its honeymoon, the network censors objected to the original script that had Glen bringing his new bride to a hotel room with twin beds, then saying, "But I asked for a double bed!" Forbidding use of the word "bed," the censors allowed it to be replaced with "accommodations," along with a glance at the bed.^[1]

After the wedding episode the show's ratings fell, and ABC canceled The Farmer's Daughter. In the final episode, Katy adopted Glen's sons, thereby providing the series closure as well as a "happy ending."

Unlike the 1947 film, Katy never ran for (nor was elected to) Congress in the series.

Cast

The Farmer's Daughter wedding

Cathleen Nesbitt in The Farmer's Daughter

• Inger Stevens as Katrin "Katy" Holstrum
• William Windom as Glen Morley
• Mickey Sholdar as Steve Morley
• Rory O'Brien as Danny Morley
• Cathleen Nesbitt as Agatha Morley
• Philip Coolidge as Cooper, the butler (1963–1964)

Episodes

Awards and nominations

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Farmer's Daughter (TV series).

• The Farmer's Daughter on IMDb
• The Farmer's Daughter at TV.com
• The Farmer's Daughter at epguides.com