My Living Doll

My Living Doll
Genre	Science fiction sitcom
Created by	Bill Kelsay Al Martin
Written by	Bill Kelsay Al Martin Russell Beggs Bernard Slade
Directed by	Lawrence Dobkin Ezra Stone
Starring	Bob Cummings (Episodes 1-21) Julie Newmar Jack Mullaney Doris Dowling (Episodes 1-21)
Theme music composer	George Greeley
Composer(s)	George Greeley
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producer(s)	Jack Chertok Leo Guild Bill Kelsay Al Martin Roland Wolpert
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Jack Chertok Television Productions CBS Television Network
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 27, 1964 (1964-09-27) – September 8, 1965 (1965-09-08)

My Living Doll is an American science fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS from September 27, 1964 to September 8, 1965. This series was produced by Jack Chertok and was filmed at Desilu studios by Jack Chertok Television, Inc., in association with the CBS Television Network. The series was unusual in that it was bought by the network without a formal pilot film (at the request of CBS' president, James T. Aubrey), due to the success of Chertok's previous series, My Favorite Martian.

Series background

The series starred Bob Cummings as Dr. Bob McDonald, a psychologist who is given care of Rhoda Miller, a life-like android (played by Julie Newmar) in the form of a sexy, Amazonian female, by her creator, a scientist who did not want her to fall into the hands of the military.

Rhoda's real name was AF 709, and she was a prototype robot that Dr. Carl Miller (Henry Beckman) built for the U.S. Air Force. When Dr. Miller was about to be transferred to Pakistan, he gives his friend, Air Force psychologist Bob McDonald, the job of completing the education of the sophisticated (yet naive) robot. Bob's job is to teach Rhoda how to be a "perfect" woman, and keep her identity secret from the world.

Other regular cast members included:

• Peter Robinson (a somewhat lecherous neighbor who decides that Rhoda is the girl of his dreams – played by Jack Mullaney)
• Irene Adams (Bob's sister who decides to move in as his housekeeper and to make sure that nothing inappropriate is going on – played by Doris Dowling).

Cummings' departure and ratings reception

Bob Cummings was written out of the series after 21 episodes reportedly after he asked to be released from his contract due to the series' initial poor ratings (it initially appeared opposite NBC's Bonanza on Sunday nights, moving to Wednesday nights in December). Writers reassigned his character to Pakistan, and in episode #22, Peter learns Rhoda's secret and takes over the position of watching over her. Nora Marlowe appeared in several of the final episodes as Peter's housekeeper, Mrs. Moffat.

Although My Living Doll was somewhat popular during its short run, it did not rank inside the top 30, as it was scheduled against highly-rated shows such as Bonanza, The Virginian and The Patty Duke Show. As a result, it didn't deliver the ratings that network executives had hoped for and was canceled.

According to The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, My Living Doll is the source of the science fiction phrase "Does not compute" in popular culture.

Episodes

#	Name	Original airdate
1	Boy Meets Girl?	September 27, 1964
2	Rhoda's First Date	October 4, 1964
3	Uninvited Guest	October 11, 1964
4	Rhoda's Debut	October 18, 1964
5	Lesson In Love	October 25, 1964
6	Something Borrowed, Something Blew	November 1, 1964
7	The Love Machine	November 8, 1964
8	Leave 'Em Laughing	November 15, 1964
9	My Robot The Warden	November 22, 1964
10	The Beauty Contest	November 29, 1964
11	Just Lucky, I Guess	December 6, 1964
12	The Language Barrier	December 13, 1964
13	Little White Lie	December 16, 1964
14	I'll Leave It to You	December 23, 1964
15	The Perfect Woman	December 30, 1964
16	Sky Divers	January 6, 1965
17	Pool Shark	January 13, 1965
18	Color Me Trouble	January 20, 1965
19	The Kleptomaniac	January 27, 1965
20	The Astronaut	February 3, 1965
21	The Witness*	February 10, 1965
22	Boy Gets Robot	February 17, 1965
23	Dancing Doll	February 24, 1965
24	The Mannequin	March 3, 1965
25	Murder, He Says	March 10, 1965
26	Brother Harry	March 17, 1965

*Cummings' final appearance

DVD release

On March 20, 2012, MPI Home Video will release My Living Doll- The Official Collection, Volume 1 on DVD in Region. The 2-disc set will feature 11 episodes of the series.

References

• Does not compute (Jesse Sheidlower, American Dialect Society mailing list, 15 September 2001) — cites The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang

External links

• My Living Doll at the Internet Movie Database
• My Living Doll at TV.com
• My Living Doll at epguides.com