Classic Television - Prime Time

Funny Face

Original channel

CBS

Original run

September 18, 1971 – December 11, 1971

Starring

Sandy Duncan

Valorie Armstrong

Kathleen Freeman

Henry Beckman

Nita Talbot

Funny Face and The Sandy Duncan Show are two American sitcoms aired by CBS starring Sandy Duncan as part of its 1971 and 1972 fall lineups, respectively. Both series were created and produced by Carl Kleinschmitt.

In the spring of 1971, after having appeared in numerous television commercials and having a great success on Broadway in the 1970 revival of The Boy Friend (which won her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress In a Musical), Sandy Duncan's show business career was quickly ascending. She had just completed her first major motion picture - The Million Dollar Duck for Walt Disney and was about to start on her second film - the screen adaptation of the Neil Simon play Star Spangled Girl which was to be produced and released by Paramount Pictures. Duncan was also signed by Paramount to film a television pilot loosely based on the 1957 film musical Funny Face which they hoped would be picked up by CBS to be part of their 1971–1972 fall television schedule. A pilot was filmed in the spring of 1971 and CBS executives were very enthusiastic. As a result, Duncan was already being touted by the network as the brightest new star of the 1971 fall season.

In Funny Face, Sandy Stockton is a young UCLA student from Taylorville, Illinois majoring in education and making ends meet by working part-time as an actress in TV commercials for the Prescott Advertising Agency. In the pilot for the series, the supporting cast included Nita Talbot as Maggie Prescott, Sandy's modeling agent and best friend, and Frank Aletter as Dick, a photographer for the agency, who also happened to be Maggie's ex-husband. After screening the pilot, CBS picked up the show for the 1971 fall season, however the network requested there be some changes made in terms of cast and format. As a result, the character of Sandy Stockton, instead, became a student teacher who supported her education through professional acting and modeling. Talbot and Aletter were dropped from the cast and replaced by Valorie Armstrong as Sandy's best friend and neighbor Alice McRaven (Armstrong and Duncan in real-life are close friends) and Henry Beckman and Kathleen Freeman as Pat and Kate Harwell, Sandy's friends and landlords. Beckman, in fact, had been featured in the pilot as a telephone repairman. The show was scheduled as part of the CBS 1971 Saturday night lineup which included All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Unlike those two sitcoms which were recorded with live studio audiences, Funny Face was filmed with a laugh track. While many critics dismissed the series as being insipid, they praised Duncan, especially Cleveland Amory, the critic of TV Guide, who called her "a wonderful comedienne." Despite ranking #8 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1971–72 season, obtaining a 23.9 rating tying it with Adam-12, CBS suspended production on Funny Face less than three months after its premiere, because Duncan had to undergo surgery for a brain tumor behind her left eye. At that time, only 12 episodes had been filmed so, in order to complete the first 13-episode cycle, the pilot was dusted off and finally shown as the last show of the series on December 11, 1971.

CBS announced that the series would return the following fall, thereby giving Duncan time to recover from her surgery, but also providing the network time to retool the program. In the spring of 1972, Duncan was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance By An Actress In a Leading Role In A Comedy Series.