My World and Welcome to It

My World and Welcome to It
Created by	Melville Shavelson, based on works by James Thurber
Starring	William Windom (John Monroe) Lisa Gerritsen (Lydia Monroe) Joan Hotchkis (Ellen Monroe) Harold J. Stone (Hamilton Greeley) Henry Morgan (Phil Jensen)
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sheldon Leonard
Producer(s)	Danny Arnold
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Sheldon Leonard Productions, in association with NBC
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 15, 1969 – March 6, 1970

My World... and Welcome to It is an American half-hour television sitcom based on the humor and cartoons of James Thurber. It starred William Windom as John Monroe, a Thurber-like writer and cartoonist who works for a magazine closely resembling The New Yorker called The Manhattanite. Wry, fanciful and curmudgeonly, Monroe observes and comments on life, to the bemusement of his rather sensible wife Ellen (Joan Hotchkis) and intelligent, questioning daughter Lydia (Lisa Gerritsen). Monroe's frequent daydreams and fantasies are usually based on Thurber material. My World — And Welcome To It (note slight variation from television title) is the name of a book of illustrated stories and essays, also by James Thurber.

The series ran one season on NBC 1969-1970. It was created by Mel Shavelson, who wrote and directed the pilot episode and was one of the show's principal writers. Sheldon Leonard was executive producer. The show's producer, Danny Arnold, co-wrote or directed numerous episodes, and even appeared as Santa Claus in "Rally Round the Flag."

Most episodes open with Monroe arriving in front of the house from the Thurber cartoon "Home," which in the original cartoon has a woman's face on one side of it. In the show the house is initially house-shaped. The woman's face is often animated to appear, as Ellen says something to John. The "Home" house, without the face, is used as an establishing shot throughout the episodes. Other Thurber cartoons are similarly animated over the course of the series, sometimes in the opening sequence, sometimes later in the episode. The episode "Cristabel" begins with Monroe lying on top of a cartoon doghouse, a reference to the non-Thurber cartoon character Snoopy. The animation for the series was by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. Humorist Henry Morgan had a recurring role as a humor writer for The Manhattanite (clearly a reference to The New Yorker), which was said to be based on the real-life humorist/actor Robert Benchley. Harold J. Stone played the editor, with whom Monroe is often at odds about cartoon content. A female writer who appeared in one episode was also loosely based on Dorothy Parker. Guest-stars included Lee Meriwether, Paul Ford, Joe Besser, Ray Walston, Craig Stevens, Danny Bonaduce, Talia Shire (as Talia Coppola), Cindy Williams, James Gregory and Noam Pitlik.