Long before the world tuned in to Small Wonder there was My Living Doll. It seemed the growing fascination with technology and science fiction in the 1960s had not gotten past network executives who were also trying to clue in on the male libido. Gorgeous female robot under your command? Let us all begin drooling in unison at the possibilities. Hey, such things are just considered a basic fetish these days, but in 1964...
Anyway, you take Julie Newmar, whose career in the entertainment industry has mostly been based on her campy Catwoman in the Batman series and her legs (which seem to be regularly ranked in the top ten of all times based on mailings I frequently receive at my home with "urgent" stamped all over them). Then you add in Bob Cummings, a veteran of the television sit-com factories. Now you have an easily recognizable television personality who has a saucy robot at home. Just think about how upset Wilbur would be if he found out. All he got was a talking horse.
So, anyway, the show ends up running for only one season. Was it any good? I don't know, I was born two months after the last episode aired, so why ask me? Apparently, they put it in the same time slot as Bonanza, and even a saucy robot couldn't keep pace with Little Joe and Hoss. Who could, really? The hook was that Bob Cummings' character told everyone that Rhoda, his robot woman, was a patient. Conveniently, he was a psychiatrist, otherwise this excuse would have fallen through. She wasn't "all there" as you can imagine, given 1960s robot technology. They tell me that her "controls" were disguised as beauty marks on her back. Clever, eh? Eh? This was the 1960s and the world was disoriented after the whole Kennedy thing and shooting men out into space.
So, you are wondering, where can I see this show today? Well, pretty much nowhere. I have scoured the internet and they tell me that two episodes were released on video a couple years ago, but no one sells them. The show ran from September 1964 - September 1965.
Thanks, and if you read this, Julie, please let me know if I said anything offensive about your personage or career. I really do love you. Really. Was that you buying gum at the 7-11 this morning? It looked like you. I said "hi" but you looked at me and sighed, so I guess it probably wasn't.