Occasional Wife
Occasional Wife is an American sitcom which aired on NBC beginning September 13, 1966 and running until May 9, 1967 (repeats were aired through August 29). It was originally on NBC's Tuesday night schedule, airing from 8:30–9:00PM ET/PT. Reruns were aired on Comedy Central in 1992. Synopsis. The lead character was Peter Christopher, a bachelor who enjoyed the single life, but was blocked from professional advancement by not having a wife. Peter's boss, baby-food manufacturer Max Brahms, was, because of his product, a strong believer in marriage and family. Christopher asked a young hat  check girl, Greta Patterson, to pose as his wife at company functions. In return, Peter set up Greta in an apartment two floors above his own in a Manhattan building. Greta would use the fire escape to slip into Peter's 7th floor apartment from her apartment on the 9th floor whenever his boss would drop by unexpectedly. As a silent running gag, Bryan O'Byrne played the "Man in the middle" who bemusedly watched the comings and goings of the two from his 8th floor vantage point. The sitcom's uncredited narrator was the well-known sports announcer Vin Scully . The series first experienced good ratings, tying at #18 with "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." in the Nielsen ratings. The series then fell to #64 in the ratings after having to compete against ABC's popular series "The Invaders" and the CBS staple "The Red Skelton Show". "Occasional Wife" was canceled after one season. The series was also notable for being one of the first sitcoms to eliminate the use of the laugh track, which set the series apart from other sitcoms on at the time. Its practice of not using canned laughter has now become an industry standard with most  modern day single camera sitcoms. It is also noteworthy that in 1967 the lead actor, Michael Callan, divorced his wife and married Patricia Harty, his costar on this series.