The Donna Reed Show: Freeing The Housewife One Episode At A Time

Donna Reed and former husband and producer Tony Owen created “The Donna Reed Show” in 1958 and the popular TV series ran until March 1966. “The Donna Reed Show” wasn’t doing so hot when it first debuted. Producers eventually moved the show from Wednesday to Thursday nights, which helped bring in more viewers, but not as many as they had hoped to receive.

A Hit Song Saved the Show

Source: Wikipedia

The series held on and in the middle of its run Fabares released the #1 hit pop song “Johnny Angel.” The single sold more than 1 million copies. That hit brought in an entirely new audience to the show and was followed up by a moderate hit from Peterson called “My Dad” which peaked at #6.