Mary Kay and Johnny was probably the first situation comedy broadcast on television in the United States. It debuted on the DuMont Television Network in the USA on Tuesday, November 18, 1947, and was last broadcast on March 11, 1950. The fifteen minute long weekly sitcom starred Mary Kay Stearns and Johnny Stearns, who were married in real life. The Stearns created and wrote all the scripts for the show. The program was broadcast live, most of the action taking place on a set representing the New York City apartment of the title characters, a young married couple.

After a year on DuMont the show moved to CBS for half a year (much of the time being broadcast every week night), and then ran for one more year each Saturday night on NBC, which broadcast the final episode on March 11, 1950.

In 1948 Mary Kay became pregnant and after unsuccessfully trying to hide it her pregnancy was written into the show. On New Years Eve, 1948 their son Christopher appeared on the show and became a character. He was less than one month old at his first appearance and thus one of the youngest "actors" ever to appear on television.

Although some episodes may have been recorded via kinescope, there are no known episodes in existence today.

Trivia

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• This was the first TV show to show a couple sharing a bed.
• A clip of a later episode can be seen on the TV Land show Inside TV Land
• Featured TV's first on screen pregnancy.

Sources

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Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 - Present. Ballantine Books, New York, 2003

See also

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• The Honeymooners
• I Love Lucy

External links

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• "Early to Bed" - Snopes article on how Mary Kay and Johnny was the first TV show to portray a married couple sharing a bed

1940s TV shows in the United States | 1950s TV shows in the United States | CBS network shows | DuMont network shows | NBC network shows | Sitcoms