The Bob Cummings Show Information

The Bob Cummings Show (also known as Love That Bob) is an American sitcom starring Robert "Bob" Cummings which was produced from January 2, 1955 to September 15, 1959. The Bob Cummings Show was the first series ever to debut as a midseason replacement.

The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for two full seasons on CBS, and returned to NBC for its final two seasons. The program was later rerun in the daytime hours on ABC and then syndicated under the title Love That Bob. A similar, but less successful, follow-up series, The New Bob Cummings Show, was broadcast on CBS during the 1961-62 television season.

Synopsis

The series stars Cummings as a dashing young Hollywood photographer, Air Force reserve officer, and ladies' man, Bob Collins. The character's interest in aviation and photography mirrored Cummings' own in real life, with his character's name the same as the role he played in the film You Came Along (1945). The series also stars Rosemary DeCamp.

The Bob Cummings Show was important in the development of several careers. Its creator, producer and head writer was Paul Henning, later producer of major 1960s hits such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Regulars in the show included Ann B. Davis, who twice won Emmy Awards for playing Schultzy. Henning apparently remembered cast members Nancy Kulp and Joi Lansing favorably, as both had roles on The Beverly Hillbillies, Miss Kulp as Miss Hathaway (secretary to banker Milburn Drysdale " a character similar to the one she appeared as (Pamela Livingston) on Cummings' show) " and Miss Lansing as Gladys. A decade after The Bob Cummings Show left the air, Davis went on to play the housekeeper Alice in The Brady Bunch; in the 1995 film The Brady Bunch Movie, which featured another actress playing Alice, Davis reprised the role of Schultzy for a cameo that suggests the character went on to become a truck driver.

Versatile actress Kathleen Freeman appeared in six episodes as Bertha Krause.

Perhaps the biggest career boost was received by young Dwayne Hickman, a student at Loyola University in Los Angeles, who appeared as Bob's nephew and became a favorite with young women in the audience. After The Bob Cummings Show ended, he was cast as the lead in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

This program represented the height of Cummings' television career. Although he made many further appearances as a guest star and again starred in two other series in the early 1960s, The New Bob Cummings Show and My Living Doll, he never again achieved the success on television that he had with The Bob Cummings Show.

Cast

• Bob Cummings - Bob Collins - A womanizing photographer specializing in lovemaking
• Rosemary DeCamp - Margaret MacDonald - Bob's sister who always tried her best in raising her brother's morality.
• Dwayne Hickman - Chuck MacDonald - Margaret's son and Bob's nephew, who was a crazy-driven teenager, who in turn, vying for his uncle's action.
• Ann B. Davis - Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz - Bob's young, hilarious secretary, pining for him who nixes his love schemes, one way or the other.

Syndication

Reruns with the title Love that Bob appeared on the CBN Cable Network in the mid-1980s, and the show remains in syndication on smaller stations and networks today.

Episodes

See List of The Bob Cummings Show episodes for more information

DVD release

As of spring 2012 the entire series has yet to be released on DVD in any region. However, selected episodes have been released by DigiView Productions in 2004, Critics' Choice Video in 2004-5, Platinum Disc, LLC in 2005, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2005 and Alpha Home Entertainment in 2006. Also, on March 20, 2012, MPI Home Video released a Region 1 DVD collection of episodes from Cummings' mid-1960s series My Living Doll, and a standalone episode of The Bob Cummings Show was included as a bonus feature.

See also

• My Living Doll (episodes)
• The Bob Cummings Show (episodes)
• The New Bob Cummings Show (episodes)