Classic Television - Prime Time

The Governor & J.J.

Original channel

CBS

Original run

23 September 1969 – 6 January 1971

Starring

Dan Dailey

Julie Sommars

James T. Callahan

Neva Patterson

Nora Marlowe

The Governor & J.J. is a television series that ran from September 1969 to January 1971 on CBS in the United States and in Canada, where it ran on CBC Television. Selected episodes were rerun by CBS during the summer of 1972. It was produced by Talent Associates and CBS Productions. CBS Television Distribution now owns the distribution rights to the program.

The series starred Dan Dailey and Julie Sommars. It focused on William Drinkwater (Dailey), a governor in an unnamed Midwestern state, who, in lieu of his late wife, had a "first lady" in his twenty-something year-old daughter, Jennifer Jo (Sommars). J.J., as Jennifer Jo was called, had a regular job as an assistant curator at a zoo in the capital city and had a love for animals. She was bright and opinionated and could also debate political issues with her father as well as anyone else. Despite their difference in opinions, (she was more liberal, and he was more conservative) William really loved J.J., and she proved herself to be charming and efficient in her duties being "first lady" for her widowered father. J.J. often gained support and advice from Maggie McLeod (Neva Patterson), the governor's secretary; George Callison (James T. Callahan), the Governor's press secretary, and from Sara Andrews (Nora Marlowe), the housekeeper at the Governor's Mansion, who appeared in twenty-three episodes.