"Accidental Family"

Originally Published October 24th, 2004

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Accidental Family was Jerry Van Dyke's first television series following the outrageous My Mother the Car. Despite being more mainstream it only lasted a few months. Sadly, the series tried too hard to combine comedy with drama, often at the expensive of both. But while the humor was usually low-key, occasional glimpses of realistic writing elevates Accidental Family above most other obscure sitcoms.

After starring in My Mother the Car on NBC from 1965 to 1966, Jerry Van Dyke returned to network television in the fall of 1967 with a new show, also on NBC. When the network announced its new fall schedule in February of 1967, the new half-hour sitcom was called Everywhere a Chick Chick [1]. It was soon renamed Accidental Family with Sheldon Leonard attached as producer.

Jerry Van Dyke would star as Jerry Webster, a stand-up comic working the nightclub circuit. A widower, Jerry Webster was left to raise his young son, Sandy (Teddy Quinn), on his own. Lois Nettleton co-starred as Susannah Kramer, recently divorced and raising a daughter, Tracy (Susan Benjamin), on a farm in rural California. Her marriage had been rough: her husband Hank would screw up, she would forgive him, and he would screw up again.

After taking him back a half-dozen times, Susannah finally kicked him to the curb and stayed on the farm with Tracy. Hank then proceeded to sell the farm to Jerry Webster, who had decided dragging Sandy along to all his gigs was not the ideal situation for a growing boy. Unfortunately, Jerry Webster bought the farm sight unseen and without actually meeting Hank in person.

View the Opening Credits to Accidental Family

When Jerry, Sandy in tow, shows up at the farm, imagine his surprise to find a woman and her daughter living there! With the farm's true ownership in question due to legal issues, Jerry Webster and Susannah strike a deal: Susannah and Tracy can continue to live on the farm and Susannah will agree to look after Sandy whenever Jerry is out performing. And that's how the four become an accidental family.

Accidental Family premiered on Friday, September 15th, 1967 airing at 9:30PM, opposite ABC's Guns of Will Sonnett and The Friday Night Movie on CBS. With the farm was out in the middle of nowhere, Jerry had to take a taxi to the nearest airport in order to fly to Las Vegas to perform.

While he was away, it was left to Susannah to watch the kids and take care of the farm. She had some help in the form of Ben McGrath (Ben Blue), a farmhand who teaches Sandy how to box in between milking cows and slopping pigs. Matty Warren, Jerry's agent, was played by Larry D. Mann.

Episodes of Accidental Family covered a variety of issues, many stemming from the way the "accidental family" had been tossed together, especially with regard to parenting style. However, there were also some slightly more serious episodes that had to do with Jerry desperately wanting Sandy to be proud of him and Susannah's ex-husband returning in an attempt to win her back.

In "The Woodsman" (aired December 1st, 1967) Sandy and Jerry join the Indian Scouts, a group of fathers and sons who get together, have pow-wows and go on hikes. They even get their very own Indian names. The jig is up when Jerry reveals that he had lied to his son about being a fantastic woodsman, hoping that Sandy would be proud of him.

View a Scene from Accidental Family

When the Indian Scouts plan a hike to Dead Man's Ridge, Jerry is forced to go along to prove himself not only to Sandy but also to Mr. Jennings (the overbearing chief of the Indian Scouts). Jerry manages to cause a cave-in, trapping himself with Sandy. The two share a little quality father-son time in the cave before finding a way out. They run into Mr. Jennings, Susannah and the rest of the Indian Scouts, who had formed a search party to find the two.

In "The Return Of Mr. Ex" (aired December 8th, 1967), Susannah's ex-husband Hank shows up and simply will not leave. He keeps asking Jerry to relay messages to Susannah about this or that and finally reveals he is writing a novel and plans on dedicating it to Susannah and Tracy.

In Las Vegas, Jerry learns from Marty that the so-called novel Hank is simply Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, with the names and locations switched. Anna Karenina was one of Susannah's favorite books and Hank was using that as part of his overall plan to win back Susannah, or so Jerry thought. It turns out Hank was using the farm as a hideout. He owed some people some money and simply needed a place to lay low.

Other episodes ranged from Sandy and Tracy competing against each other in a "best lamb" contest (and in the process also pitting Susannah and Jerry against one another) to Jerry trying to mold his son into school pageant material. Another episode saw Jerry becoming concerned that Sandy wasn't tough enough after the boy bakes a fantastic cake so he teaches his son to box and the Sandy turns into a bully. And, of course, the series wouldn't be complete without an episode in which Jerry mistakes a weekend alone with Susannah as something more than it is.

Accidental Family was cancelled by NBC in late October or early November, due to low ratings [2]. The Friday Night Movie on CBS was and Accidental Family just couldn't pull in enough viewers. On the other hand, ABC's Guns of Will Sonnett would return for a second season in the fall of 1968. But Accidental Family went off the air in January of 1968 after only sixteen episodes

For a show that was classified as a situation comedy Accidental Family really wasn't all that comedic. Certainly there were amusing scenes and funny lines but underneath the laugh track was something more. The series had some depth if viewers could look past some of the more low-brow moments (such as Ben flying across the newly waxed floor of the kitchen in his socks, over and over again).

View a Scene from Accidental Family

Despite its sitcom trappings Accidental Family was often a realistic look at a difficult situation. Here we have two people who are raising their child alone and things are tough. They're stuck together in an awkward situation and Susannah and Jerry sometimes have trouble figuring out what to do. Jerry wants to support Sandy and Susannah wants to support Tracy, but both parents realize they have to try to support both the kids. And that's hard to do.

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Last Updated June 26th, 2008