Fair Exchange was a
televisionA television program , television programme , or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television...
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
that ran from
1962The year 1962 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1962.For the American TV schedule, see: 1962-63 American network television schedule.-Events:...
to
1963The year 1963 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1963.-Events:*January 13 - BBC Television broadcasts the play The Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre strand...
on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
. It starred
Eddie Foy, Jr.Eddie Foy Jr. was an American character actor.Born Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. in New Rochelle, New York, the son of vaudevillian Eddie Foy and his third wife, Madeline Morando, he was one of the "Seven Little Foys" immortalized in the 1955 film of the same name...
and Audrey Christie. The show made a name for
Judy CarneJudy Carne is an actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. This phrase was actually first used at the end of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' Devil with a Blue Dress, released in the winter of 1966-1967...
, who later appeared with
Pete DuelPete Duel was an American actor, best known for his role in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.-Early life:...
on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's
Love on a RooftopLove on a Rooftop is an American sitcom about a newlywed couple, Dave and Julie Willis, and their humorous struggles to survive in San Francisco on Dave’s apprentice architect's salary of $85.37 a week...
and then on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
's
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
The show replaced
Rod SerlingRodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. He was known in the more secular community as being an atheist despite converting to Unitarianism...
's
The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
on CBS's fall schedule in 1962.
Twilight Zone, though, would replace
Fair Exchange mid-season, albeit in an hour-long format.
Eddie Walker (Foy) and Tommy Finch (Victor Maddern) were
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans and old friends who decided to have their daughters live in the other's households for a year, since Eddie's daughter Patty (
Lynn LoringLynn Loring is an American actress and producer.She first started acting at the age of seven, playing the role of Patti Barron on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She played the role until 1961, when she graduated from high school and explored other opportunities...
) wanted to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
.
Fair Exchange was a
televisionA television program , television programme , or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television...
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
that ran from
1962The year 1962 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1962.For the American TV schedule, see: 1962-63 American network television schedule.-Events:...
to
1963The year 1963 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1963.-Events:*January 13 - BBC Television broadcasts the play The Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre strand...
on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
. It starred
Eddie Foy, Jr.Eddie Foy Jr. was an American character actor.Born Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. in New Rochelle, New York, the son of vaudevillian Eddie Foy and his third wife, Madeline Morando, he was one of the "Seven Little Foys" immortalized in the 1955 film of the same name...
and Audrey Christie. The show made a name for
Judy CarneJudy Carne is an actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. This phrase was actually first used at the end of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' Devil with a Blue Dress, released in the winter of 1966-1967...
, who later appeared with
Pete DuelPete Duel was an American actor, best known for his role in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.-Early life:...
on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's
Love on a RooftopLove on a Rooftop is an American sitcom about a newlywed couple, Dave and Julie Willis, and their humorous struggles to survive in San Francisco on Dave’s apprentice architect's salary of $85.37 a week...
and then on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
's
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
The show replaced
Rod SerlingRodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. He was known in the more secular community as being an atheist despite converting to Unitarianism...
's
The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
on CBS's fall schedule in 1962.
Twilight Zone, though, would replace
Fair Exchange mid-season, albeit in an hour-long format.
Premise
Eddie Walker (Foy) and Tommy Finch (Victor Maddern) were
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans and old friends who decided to have their daughters live in the other's households for a year, since Eddie's daughter Patty (
Lynn LoringLynn Loring is an American actress and producer.She first started acting at the age of seven, playing the role of Patti Barron on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She played the role until 1961, when she graduated from high school and explored other opportunities...
) wanted to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. Whilst Patty lived in London with Tommy, his wife Sybil (Diana Chesney) and their son, Neville (
Dennis WatermanDennis Waterman is an English actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series such as The Sweeney and Minder...
), their daughter, Heather (
Judy CarneJudy Carne is an actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. This phrase was actually first used at the end of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' Devil with a Blue Dress, released in the winter of 1966-1967...
) lived with Eddie and Dorothy Walker and their son, also named Tommy, (
Flip MarkFlip Mark is an American former child actor, active primarily from 1959-1969....
).
The show focused on the difficulties that Heather and Patty experienced as they lived in each other's families. This was the first hour-long sitcom since the
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, but it was dropped. After mail protested CBS's decision, the network revived
Fair Exchange in a half-hour format, but again the series failed in the ratings and was finally cancelled.