Classic Television - Prime Time

Me and the Chimp

Original channel

CBS

Original run

January 13 – April 27, 1972

Starring

Ted Bessell

Anita Gillette

Scott Kolden

Kami Cotler

Me and the Chimp is an American television situation comedy which aired for one season during 1972 on CBS. The series was created by Garry Marshall and Thomas L. Miller and was produced by Alan Rafkin for Paramount Television. The series is considered by many to be one of the worst shows in the history of American television.

Mike Reynolds (Ted Bessell) is a dentist who lives with his wife (Anita Gillette), two children (Scott Kolden and Kami Cotler), and a chimp named Buttons, a washout from the space program (though unknown to Ted and his family until an old army sergeant visits).

Episodes revolve around Buttons' doings or undoings, such as extending the line Ted drew on a map (to mark their driving route) onward to a ghost town, and stealing an alarm clock which gets Ted arrested for public indecency (in his pajamas).