The Donna Reed Show
| The Donna Reed Show | |
|---|---|
First season title screen
|
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring |
Donna Reed Carl Betz Shelley Fabares Paul Petersen Patty Petersen |
| Theme music composer | John Seely |
| Opening theme | "Happy Days" |
| Composer(s) | Irving Friedman William Loose Stu Phillips Hans J. Salter |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 275 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Tony Owen William S. Roberts |
| Cinematography | Gert Andersen |
| Editor(s) | Richard Fantl Robert B. Hoover |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Screen Gems Todon |
| Distributor |
Colex Enterprises Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Tristar Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 24, 1958 – March 19, 1966 |
The Donna Reed Show is an American situation comedy starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958 to March 19, 1966. When Fabares left the show in 1963, Petersen's younger sister, Patty Petersen, joined the cast as adopted daughter Trisha. Patty Petersen had first appeared in the episode, "A Way of Her Own", on January 31, 1963. Actress Janet Landgard was a series regular from 1963-1965 as Karen Holmby.
Bob Crane and Ann McCrea appeared in the last seasons as Dr. Dave Kelsey and his wife, Midge, friends of the Stones, and Darryl Richard became a near regular in thirty-two episodes as Smitty, Jeff's best buddy. The show featured a variety of celebrity guests including Esther Williams as a famous dress designer, baseball superstars Don Drysdale and Willie Mays as themselves, teen heartthrob James Darren as a pop singer with the measles, canine superstar Lassie, and young Jay North of CBS's Dennis the Menace.
The series was created by William S. Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen. Episodes revolved around typical family problems of the period such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children. Then-daring themes such as women's rights and freedom of the press were occasionally explored.
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