The Shari Lewis Show

{{Short description|1960–1976 NBC and BBC One television series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox television | presenter = [[Shari Lewis]] | country = United States | language = English | runtime = 30 minutes (NBC) <br>10-15 minutes (BBC One) | related = ''[[Lamb Chop's Play-Along]]'' | network = [[NBC]] (1960-1963) <br> [[BBC One]] (1968-1976) | first_aired = {{Start date|1960|10|01}} | last_aired = {{End date|1976|08|28}} }}

'''''The Shari Lewis Show''''' is an American children's television program that first appeared on [[NBC]] Saturday mornings from October 1, 1960 to September 28, 1963,<ref name=Daytime>{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/392/mode/2up|accessdate=22 March 2020|page=392}}</ref> and then on BBC One from April 13, 1968 to August 28, 1976.

==Premise== The show starred [[Shari Lewis]], who was both the show's [[Television presenter|host]] and the [[puppeteer]] for the characters [[Lamb Chop (puppet)|Lamb Chop]], Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse.<ref>{{cite book |last1=LoBrutto |first1=Vincent |title=TV in the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas |date=2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440829734 |page=299 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMVADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299}}</ref> The show also starred [[Ronald Radd]], who played Mr. Goodfellow and [[Clive Russell]], who made his television debut on the series. [[Fred Gwynne]] also made appearances as Lamb Chop's doctor. Lamb Chop made her debut on ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]'' in 1956. The show was awarded a [[Peabody Award]] in 1961. Despite warm reviews, the show was cancelled after three seasons.

==NBC series== The NBC series premiered on October 1, 1960 as part of NBC's Saturday morning lineup, which replaced ''[[Howdy Doody]]''. The show ran until September 28, 1963.<ref name="Woolery">{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series |date=1985 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1651-2 |pages=445–448}}</ref>

==BBC One series== In 1968, BBC One picked up the series, broadcasting from 13 April 1968 to 28 August 1976. The series was picked up at a time when the BBC was experimenting with using American performers in light entertainment.{{Source?|date=July 2025}}

==Archive== Almost no full episodes of the NBC show are known to exist today. The original tapes of many episodes were wiped and reused by NBC to record coverage of the 1964 [[Democratic National Convention|Democratic]] and [[Republican National Convention|Republican]] [[United States presidential nominating convention|national convention]]s. Lewis said in an interview decades later that this "was a shame, since the shows were beautifully done as a showcase of NBC's early color broadcast work." However, some episodes and some clips of the show have survived, and the existing footage was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and some episodes are available on DVD.

The same fate has befallen the BBC series, but a few episodes are known to exist.{{Source?|date=July 2025}}

==References== <references/>

==External links== * {{IMDb title|tt0165595}}

[[Category:1960s American children's television series]] [[Category:1960 American television series debuts]] [[Category:1963 American television series endings]] [[Category:NBC original programming]] [[Category:Television series by Universal Television]] [[Category:Peabody Award–winning television programs]] [[Category:American television shows featuring puppetry]] [[Category:English-language American television shows]] [[Category:BBC children's television shows]]