The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

1950

Seasons & Episodes

  • 8
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  • 1

8.6| 0h30m| TV-G| en
Synopsis

Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.

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Reviews

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
ShangLuda Admirable film.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
angie-65327 Gee whiz I don't think I've ever loved a show quite this much. I thought I'd found the best when I watched the Dick van Dyke show, but I have to say, George and Gracie top it. The wittiness is out of this world and Gracie delivers it with the utmost perfection. I, a person who does not laugh out loud quite often when watching anything, can't keep my mouth shut when watching. Time after time I find myself spending time I that I don't have on the show. It's highly addictive!
brian_m_hass In this American sitcom, George Burns and Gracie Allen bring their "Burns and Allen" radio program to television. George Burns, Gracie Allen, and their son (Ronnie Burns) essentially play themselves. The Burns family and their friends constantly find themselves involved in situations which are usually the result of Gracie's state of perpetual confusion.Many modern audiences have difficulty watching old television sitcoms from the 1950's. The acting seems a bit strange; and, the situations seem a bit exaggerated. One of the reasons why the old sitcoms seem so different from modern ones is that the shows from the fifties were essentially radio programs which were performed in front of television cameras. Audiences might notice that the actors' diction in the old sitcoms is different. Anyone who closes his or her eyes and listens to the audio from a 1950's sitcom will notice that the audio often sounds exactly like a radio show. Furthermore, many of the scenes on Burns' and Allen's show were essentially stand up comedy routines.Members of modern audiences might be somewhat disappointed by George Burns' character in this sitcom. Many probably know George Burns better from his solo period following Gracie Allen's death. While performing alone, Burns proved himself to be a very funny comedian. During his earlier Burns and Allen period, George Burns usually served as the straight man to the ditzy character played by Gracie Allen. While Burns did demonstrate some of his dry wit during the Burns and Allen era, he also seemed a bit more subdued while reacting to the peculiar things which were said by Allen's character. People need to remember that this was a different period in George Burns' career; and, anyone who gives this show a chance will learn to appreciate Burns' role as a member of a comedy duo.Some audience members might have difficulty coping with Gracie Allen's character. Many might be irritated by the character's unrelentingly ditzy personality as well as constant state of confusion. For those people, her character might seem excessively silly or exasperating; and, they might wonder why the Burns character would tolerate being married to somebody who was so infuriating. Modern audiences must remember that the characters were developed for the Burns and Allen stand up routine, and were never intended to be subtle or well rounded."The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" provides modern audiences with a fascinating look at television and comedy from an earlier era. Some viewers might find it difficult to get used to some aspects of the show. However, anyone who gives the show a chance will be rewarded; because, it has a way of growing on a person over time.
raysond This was in the grandstand of classic TV shows from the golden age of the 1950's which from some never got the chance to see one of the greatest comedy acts of all time-the great George Burns and his lovely wife Gracie Allen. The last time Burns and Allen was ever shown was during the 1980's when repeats of this lost or another word for it seldom seen series was shown regularly on cable's CBN-TV,The Christian Broadcasting Network,which shown a lot of these classic shows which nowadays are totally forgotten but remain within our memories. This was classic TV from the golden age of early television during the 1950's. George and Gracie were the perfect couple and this was one of those unique shows that had a flair for its own brand of situation comedy and from there it was magical.....especially for the audiences who kept the show in the top ten of the Nielsens since it ran for eight seasons on CBS-TV from October 12, 1950 until the final episode on September 15,1958 for 291 episodes all in classic black and white. There was one comment that was mention about this show since Burns and Allen were compared to another couple,Lucy and Desi whose own show "I Love Lucy",was on the same network,but in all aspects both shows were fighting for competition here since Lucy's sitcom only ran for seven years,even after "I Love Lucy" went off the air in the summer of 1957,Burns and Allen were still on the airwaves providing the laughs until the final episode of the series in 1958. Repeated episodes for various seasons stayed on the CBS prime-time line until January 12,1959. The show's sponsors from the remainder of it's run were The Carnation Milk Company, The General Mills Corporation and B.F. Goodrich Tires.And they say "I Love Lucy" was better than Burns and Allen? As far as the laughs were provided,Burns and Allen really dethroned the competition and lets face it,it was a better show....Lucy was good,but Gracie was excellent. Better than that Lucy spin off called "I Married Joan?". You bet! And you'll never imagine what Gracie would say next! How can anyone in there right mind be so dumb? Gracie prove it in just about every situation her and George went through,with George shaking his head throughout the course of every episode. Lets face it,in about every episode George would have to bail Gracie and her best friend Blanche(Bea Benederet)out of a tight situation in which they did one crazy stunt after another. You also have the usual characters involved too including George's next door neighbor Harry and the others which included Bill Goodwin and later by Harry Von Zell who would attract all the pretty girls over to the Burns' house for some side-splitting results that were just hilarious to boot! Then you have the Burns' son Ronnie,who was a student at the local university who would come home every so often as well. Then somewhere within the show,George Burns would step out of the scene to narrate the events that went on within the Burns' home,and then at the end of each episode George and Gracie would step out of these scenes together and toward the beginning of the credits at the end of the show...George would say these classic lines...GEORGE: "Say Goodnight Gracie". GRACIE: "Goodnight".This was one television show that really broke the molds during the golden age of classic TV during the early part of the 1950's and so forth. Gracie was sheer poetry to watch and she was one of the pioneers of situation comedy and no comedienne at the time was even better,which was second to Lucille Ball in providing the laughs,and she was the best around! Its kinda sad that this series is not shown on certain cable markets anymore since through the magic of DVD and Video, audiences today who never got to see this show,or who never even heard of George Burns or Gracie Allen need to see this to experience the magic of this classic show. Which is today a neglected milestone to needs to be seen again.
David (doggans) This show was, please don't kill me for saying this, even better than "I Love Lucy". Lucy was good, but this was better. Gracie and Blanche(Bea Benederett, voice of Betty Rubble and original choice for Ethel Mertz) would pull one crazy stunt after another. Meanwhile Bill Goodwin(later replaced by Harry Von Zell) would attract all the girls, and George would step out of the scene to narrate(A technique now used in the Disney cartoon show "The Weekenders"). Gracie's "Illogical logic", as George called it, cracks you up every time. By the way, the radio version featured music of Meredith Wilson(famous for writing "The Music Man").