The Danny Thomas Show (called Make Room for Daddy for its first three seasons) was a popular and influential American sitcom starring Danny Thomas as Danny Williams, a New York nightclub entertainer navigating the demands of his career and his family.
The show aired for 11 seasons (1953–64) on two different networks—ABC for its first four seasons and CBS for the remainder of its run—and spun off three other sitcoms: The Andy Griffith Show, The Joey Bishop Show, and The Bill Dana Show.
This show provides examples of:
- And the Rest: Danny's character is named in the opening sequence. The rest of his family's roles are credited as His Wife, His Son, and His Daughter.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Rusty for Terry, and later Linda for Rusty.
- Big Applesauce: Takes place in New York City.
- Crossover:
- Buddy Sorrell from The Dick Van Dyke Show appeared in the episode "The Woman Behind the Jokes," moonlighting as a joke writer for Danny Williams.
- Lucy and Ricky Ricardo appear in "Lucy Upsets the Williams Household." Technically a crossover with The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, which was airing at the time but still centered on the same characters as I Love Lucy.
- Cousin Oliver: Linda (Angela Cartwright), Kathy's daughter from a previous marriage.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Danny's first wife suddenly dies off screen between seasons due to Jean Hagen leaving the show.
- The Eponymous Show: Was renamed The Danny Thomas Show in Season 4.
- Funny Foreigner: Danny's Lebanese Uncle Tonoose, as well as elevator operator Jose Jimenez (Bill Dana).
- Godwin's Law: Directed at Andy Taylor, amazingly enough. When Danny is put in jail by Andy for going through a stop sign (the fine is $100 or 10 days in jail, and Danny takes the jail time on principle,) he goes on a national TV show and calls Andy a "one-man Gestapo."
- Henpecked Husband: The episode "Henpecked Charley" deals with Danny thinking that Charley is one of these, causing him to lie to Charley's wife, Bunny, that her husband has a nervous condition and can't be bossed around without it flaring up.
- Honorary Uncle: Danny's friends/business partners are usually referred to as "Uncle/Aunt" by the kids. Special mention goes to the Halpers ("Uncle Charley and Aunt Bunny"), who take over parental duties of Rusty and Linda while Danny and Kathy are in Europe.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: "Everything Happens to Me" for The Joey Bishop Show, "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" for The Andy Griffith Show.
- Put on a Bus: Terry, a few times. First she spends nearly a season at boarding school. Then she returns the next season and gets married. Then both her and her new husband are written out, never appearing for the remainder of the show.
- Spit Take: Raised to an art-form by this show, which is where the term originates. In fact, "doing a Danny Thomas" is a synonym for spit-take in some circles.
- Ultimate Authority Mayor: In "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", Danny finds out the many hats Andy wears while sitting in jail - believing Andy's punishment of $100 or 10 days in jail for running through a stop sign to be unjust, he repeatedly threatens to bring the sheriff to different authorities. He then learns that Andy is not only Mayberry's sheriff, but mayor, justice of the peace and newspaper editor. (Andy's powers were considerably scaled back by the time the show was picked up for a series.)