My World and Welcome to It (1969–1970) User Reviews

Grandma Was More Than Intellectual

[DKosty123 · 10/10 · 15 May 2007]

This series to me represents the talent of William Windom who often played supporting roles in many many programs in his career. In this one he is the star, & plays the role perfectly.

My World & Welcome To It is the world of author James Thurber. While most people today don't really know who he was, I as a child growing up read his books from the school library. When I saw this show, I couldn't believe how accurately they portrayed Thurber through William Windom.

Much more than just a New Yorker cartoonist, Thurber has a unique sense of humor about a difficult life that he led being blinded as he went though life. His eye sight was never perfect which is why his cartoons often look like they were drawn askew to reality. This program created an atmosphere much like Thurbers life as it combined his drawings with his reality.

I only wish it could have lasted longer. NBC gave this show a decent time slot but then moved it trying to find ratings. In effect, they killed a fine program but not before it enhanced my feelings for Thurber. One of the finer shows Sheldon Leonard got involved with in the 1960's, this show has class all the way.

I still remember fondly reading a Thurber short story where he is having problems with a publisher sending him the wrong book, & a series of hilarious happenings in the process. If this show had lasted, it would have made a good episode. The book the publisher kept sending him copies of was "Grandma Was A Nudist" by Peg Peckham. Just the title alone speaks volumes about Thurbers unique humor, & this program is packed with it.

My world, where are you?

[dougmiller4 · 10/10 · 11 April 2007]

After scrounging the Web for several years, finding little, I was surprised and excited to find that IMDb has information on this wonderful show, and that so many people like myself have great memories. Like many others, it also turned me on to Thurber. I was 14 when I saw it and mourned that it wasn't renewed. How many longing, grateful people will it take to motivate someone to turn this season of inspiration into a DVD set? One of my favorite memories is of William Windom down on the ground at night in front of his car, proving to his wife that human eyes, not just the eyes of cats, reflect and glow when shined upon by car lights! The daughter almost stole the show, but all the actors were top notch. The writing and cartoons are what made it all work.

One more of us...

[chris-2607 · 10/10 · 20 November 2006]

Well, I've read all of the comments posted, and thought I would add mine.

I was 4 or 5 years old when this show originally aired. It may be that I saw it during its 1972 re-run, when I would have been 7.

Like several others here, this show made such an impression on me that I have never forgotten it. Happened to be watching "Doomsday Machine" this week-end, and it prompted me to get up, visit IMDb and look it up. The fact that there are quite a few others here who share my age (or nearly so) and my experience strikes me as uncanny - almost spooky. We should probably start a club!

I'd love to see this one again.

A Fitting Tribute to James Thurber and William Windom

[theowinthrop · 9 December 2005]

For some reason certain shows never last long on television, but retain an affection on their audiences long after they disappear. "He & She" with Paula Prentice, Richard Benjamin, Jack Cassidy, Kenneth Mars, and Hamilton Camp was one of these - it lasted one season only, but it was a truly funny series. Slightly lesser but with good moments was "Good Morning World". And with those two is this show, that only lasted from 1969 to 1970.

It was based on the comedy of one of our wittiest writers, James Thurber - a man who was so good at writing he has been recently republished in the "Library Of America" series of books. Thurber was an essayist mainly, but he wrote short stories ("The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Greatest Man In the World" are two of his most anthologized works), a comic autobiography ("My World And Welcome To It"), and hundreds of funny cartoons, many chronicling "The War Between Men And Women". What is amazing about Thurber's achievement was the difficulties he encountered - he was a man in poor health (he eventually went totally blind in his last years, but he was still doing those difficult cartoons up to the end, using special crayons and paper). He also had a serious drinking problem.

Thurber's work first appeared in "The New Yorker", and he would develop close working relations with many other leading writers. One friendship was with fellow humorist Robert Benchley. In the series, the character based on Thurber (John Monroe - William Windom), has a friendship with a Benchley clone (Philip Jensen - Henry Morgan) in several of the episodes. Although Thurber was friendly with Benchley, he was never a member of the Algonquin Set that Benchley belonged to (with Dorothy Parker, Harpo Marx, F. P. Adams, George F. Kaufman, Heywood Broun Sr., Marc Connelly, and Alexander Woolcott).

The series followed the normal Thurber point of view, ably translated via the scripts by Windom's perfectly dry and sensible performance as Monroe. Like W.C.Fields, Thurber did not have anything but a jaundiced eye for patriotism, sentimentality, lovable dogs and pets, and perfect marriages. While Windom and Joan Hotchkiss (as his wife) were not at daggers drawn as some of Thurber's more extreme couples (one cartoon of his shows the bodies of a husband and wife, each holding a gun, on the floor - and a reporter only asking a witness what was the make of the bullets), their relationship mirrors his views of how men seem to be more reasonable, and women more excitable and changeable. Whether this is fair I leave to whoever reads Thurber to figure out. However, he usually makes it quite funny.

Windom's character faced problems regarding putting up a flagpole on his property (while applauded by patriotic groups, some wonder why he is doing it, and question his patriotism). He tells stories of his early life from the autobiography (such as "The Night the Bedclothes Fell"). He deals with a children's book writer (played by Paul Ford) who turns out to be less than loving about kids when he's had a snoot full. Windom handled Monroe/Thurber wonderfully, and merited the Emmy award he got for his role. Unfortunately, the series was not renewed. Pity about that, as it was one of the best in terms of writing and acting in television history.

This show was great

[dmikulec · 9/10 · 5 August 2006]

Although I was six years old when this show came out. I remembered I always watched it with my family and liking it. Ever since then, whenever I see William Windom or the actress who played his daughter in something, I always think of this show. Strange how experiences from early in life echo 40 years later. I remember in the show there were times when the rest of the world became a cartoon or live action comic strip where Windom was the only real thing on the screen.

I wish the show would come back.

The reason why I am here is I just watched the cameo Windom did for the new (amateur produced) Star Trek episode "In Harms Way" where replays his role as Commadore Decker, although he is 40 years older than he was in Star Trek. It's good to see actors are willing to do this cameo work as a salute to their history.

Before it's time

[Bill1607 · 10/10 · 1 January 2007]

I was 11 or 12 when it aired. I remember enjoying it, and wishing many times I could see it again. Even as a child, I loved a show that made you think. Although most of my friends didn't "get it", I did! There is so much crap on TV these days. I suppose there are too many networks trying to create too many programs to produce "Great" shows anymore. It did spark my interest in James Thurber as I got older. How many shows today "spark" our children's minds? Since it's obviously not easily available to purchase DVDs etc. of this, does anyone have any ideas on how to request it's release? (I'm not as wordy as some of you. I'm having trouble filling up 10 lines)

10/10 So good it can't ever be seen again

[Marqymarquis · 10/10 · 20 September 2016]

One of my earliest and happiest memories of television is persuading my father into letting me stay up to watch this series at around 9pm on a weekday school night in 1969/70 - what convinced him was me laughing at stuff I thought was funny - before, years later, knowing how funny it really was: the delicious family triangle (whatever happened to that cute Lisa Gerritson? Windom's monologues to the camera (borrowed from Alistair Sim in the finale of School For Scoundrels; and to be borrowed by Woody Allen in Annie Hall). It's impossible to imagine a nation such as America would allow a masterpiece of entertainment, social commentary and acting on this scale to be reconciled to what you call a garbage pail; why we celebrate and enervate derivative and overrated offerings like Monty Python's Flying Circus to the highest echelons of comedy and humorous invention. Someone - and more than one person - in your country MUST hold copies of this magnificent series on ancient videotape recordings - you must release these to the world for we need that pleasing.

The Life of an Oft-Frustrated Magazine Cartoonist

[JordanThomasHall · 8/10 · 18 May 2018]

"My World and Welcome to It" was created for television by former Bob Hope joke writer and noted director Melville Shavelson. He shared a love of the works of James Thurber with producers Danny Arnold ("Bewitched", "Barney Miller") and Sheldon Leonard ("The Danny Thomas Show", "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Dick Van Dyke Show") who began adapting the idea for television. The series would be based on works by famed American cartoonist/writer/humorist James Thurber, and named for his 1942 book "My World - And Welcome to It". The series would follow Thurber character John Monroe, played by Thurber buff William Windom who in part resembled the humorist. Monroe was a little-understood and oft-frustrated Manhattanite (based on "The New Yorker") magazine writer whose slightly-eccentric imagination played at odds with his wife and daughter. At work, John is at odds with his editor Hamilton Greeley (familiar no nonsense character actor Harold J. Stone). His co-worker Philip Jensen was played by humorist Henry Morgan and based upon humorist/actor Robert Benchley (Robert Benchley Shorts: i.e. "How to Sleep"). Each episode is highlighted by Thurber-inspired animation by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises ("The Pink Panther") with fantasy sequences featuring a mix with live action. The series offered great story lines interwoven with dry humor. "My World and Welcome to It" was lightly critically-acclaimed, but produced middling Nielsen ratings and was canceled by NBC after just the 26-epiosde first season run. It went on to win the 1970 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.

Reflections on the series after watching every episode: "My World and Welcome to It" featured a strong James Thurber-like performance by William Windom. I felt the talented Joan Hotchkis was too intelligent to be cast as the wife, based on the kooky, dingbat-type featured in Thurber cartoons. Personally, I think a Jean Stapleton's Edith Bunker-type would have been the right intended chemistry and kept the show on the air longer than 26 episodes. When the show tackled a serious issue it seemed to go at it in-between. It wasn't the tremendous moving drama on "M*A*S*H", nor the way another Sheldon Leonard produced show "The Dick Van Dyke Show" addressed serious issues with a parade of laughs that still sent the message home (i.e. "That's My Boy???"). "My World and Welcome to It" did so merely with dry humor in a matter-of-fact way. The best episodes seem to be the ones where the writers used clever comedic dialogue in a not-so-dry manner. Some shows were very well-written, being both clever and comical. After all, the series won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series (William Windom) in its lone season. But perhaps the humor was too dry at times for sitcom audiences.

Apparently Amazon does read our reviews ...

[mirok · 10/10 · 11 June 2008]

My World and Welcome to it was a cult classic of the late 1960's, at a time when home computers and the Internet were still things of the future. Videos and DVD's, likewise, were still distant dreams. And you would have thought that, when these formats became available on a mass scale, shows such as this would inevitably become available to the general public. However, My World and Welcome to it remained overlooked for a long time and, as several reviewers have noted, it just wasn't available on DVD.

Until now, that is. I was writing to some friends about this series and decided to check something at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com), which always shows the availability (or lack thereof) of movies, TV shows and the like on DVD, VHS and CD (soundtracks). Lo and behold, Amazon.com is now carrying the short-lived My World and Welcome to it on DVD. Thurber fans, rejoice.

My favorite show of all time!

[marilynnewman · 10/10 · 22 February 2017]

I loved this show. we recorded every episode on our brand new Heathkit kit of the month tape recorder. Alas, it broke down & the newer recorders wouldn't take the old one.

I do remember vividly, Monroe dreaming about the ways he would kill his boss. when I was working & my boss was being a Greeley, I'd just picture some of the picturesque ways he'd kill Greeley.

I only remember one part specifically. The house caught on fire & I believe Monroe put it out. the fireman came in screaming "I have to chop it all before it BURNS!"

Monroe: There's no fire.

Fireman: No fire?

Monore: No.

Fireman: It's going to be a long ride home.

My favorite comedy show of all time

[coop-16 · 10/10 · 5 May 2001]

I was only 11 when this show appeared on TV, but its wry and whimsical humor delighted me.I must have a been a bit of a bookworm, even then, as I caught almost all of the "in-jokes' and references to Thurber. One thing should be noted here. I look back, and almost every TV show I've ever had any affection for never lasted more than two seasons at the most:The Night Stalker,Twin Peaks, Home Front, Buffalo Bill, The John Larouquette Show,I"ll Fly Away, Slattery's People,etc.The only exceptions are Upstairs Downstairs,Star Trek ( which only lasted three seasons) Naked City, the Defenders,Homicide, The Dick Van Dyke Show, M.A.S.H,and Columbo. Is there a pattern here?( Ill admit that i also like The Andy Griffith Show and Maverick and Gunsmoke.)

Segments are available on YouTube!

[GeorgeSickler · 9/10 · 1 April 2015]

I agree 100% with all the positive comments and just have to wonder what idiot canceled this outstanding series after 26 episodes. What a tragic mistake! Anyway, I've just discovered that a number of segments are available for free on YouTube. Just input the name of the series as key search words. Most are just 8-or-so minutes long, but a few full episodes are shown in three, 8-minute segments.

It's rare that a series gets into syndication when it only lasted for a 26-episode season. It's just not worth it. It would be nice, though, if PBS ran 'em as part of its fund-raising drive.

But even Amazon.com says DVDs aren't available.

What a shame.

great TV series

[didi-5 · 19 May 2004]

This series ran on UK's Channel 4 in its entirety about twenty years ago, and then was never seen again - I was about 12 at the time and became seriously addicted to it. I remember being fascinated by the James Thurber cartoons, although I don't think at the time I knew who he was.

If memory serves, this was largely about an artist/writer (played by William Windom, in probably the best TV role he ever had - I've only really seen him on TV since in 'Murder She Wrote', certainly in shows shown in the UK) who was more than a bit eccentric - I seem to remember coloured visors and that kind of thing. And there was a cute little daughter who was wise over and above her years.

I've wanted to see it again ever since because at the time I loved it so much. Maybe I'd be disappointed if I came across the episodes now but I reckon not. Any chance they'll get out there again?

cute, understated humor, loved it

[smstakes · 8/10 · 4 December 2021]

I remember this show very well, though I was only 11 when it was on. William Windom was great, and then he seemed to disappear. But when he turned up on Murder She Wrote, I immediately recognized him and hollered out, "There he is!!!" My boyfriend looked at me like my cheese had just slipped off my cracker, but I was happy to be able once again to enjoy his drole wit.

This is the first TV show I ever remember watching

[mkclark-884-593759 · 10/10 · 3 June 2021]

Thank you for having this. I have been looking for the name of the show for 30 years.

One of the very best comedies on TV ---- EVER

[discord43 · 10/10 · 14 December 2007]

The average American is too friggin' stupid to get this show. It didn't last then, and it would not last now, simply because it demands intelligence and humor, two faculties the average American citizen has never, ever, had. It's also very hard to find on DVD now simply because most people are too friggin' stupid to even want to watch it. If you remember it, and love it, then you are probably a thinking person, and someone who actually reads books for enjoyment, unlike the idiots our so called educational system is putting out now. I remember this series with a wonderful fondness. It made me laugh, it made me think and it drove me to seek out all of Thurber's writings, which only made me laugh and think even more. This is great TV only TV is designed for the lowest common denominator, and this show demanded so much more of its audience.

Great Show!

[CherCee · 10/10 · 21 December 2023]

I was 9, almost 10, when My World And Welcome To It first started airing in September 1969 (turned 10 in November 1969). I was a fan of William Windom and former child actress Lisa Gerritsen (still am!) as father and daughter John and Lydia Monroe. I liked Joan Hotchkis, too, as John's wife/Lydia's mother Ellen Monroe. (She also played Oscar Madison's - played by Jack Klugman - girlfriend Dr. Nancy Cunningham on eleven episodes of The Odd Couple). I loved John going into his cartoon world and then having to deal with the real world. It was a classic TV show and was given way too short a time (only one season). It truly deserved better and I am glad it is as fondly remembered as these reviews show.

This show

[LadyDorHawkelle · 3 June 2005]

I was only 3 when I watched this according to the air date...wow! I remember it fondly and for a long time wondered if it was a product of my imagination. Mostly I remembered William Windom and the interspersed drawn segments, then the girl who played his daughter (I think....memory is funny that way, and I was only 3). Can anyone tell me if this show is available on DVD or anything? I would LOVE to see it again.I really hope it is. So rarely these days do I remember a show so fondly. From what I do remember, this is/was a definite one of a kind show. William Windom was also an excellent actor in this show too, he has to have been...since he was burned into my memory at such a young age. Thankfully it was his appearance as Woody on a rerun of Mama's Family that jogged my mind and made me rush to IMDb to see if he was listed. Thanks to this wonderful site I now know I didn't make it all up...and my memory isn't THAT bad.

Maybe the best show ever chanced too soon--

[mejane · 27 October 1999]

This show was a pure joy from the first moment--of course, when you have as your source the great James Thurber, how can you go wrong. Sweet and funny, rich in characterization. Years after it went to that great burial ground of cancelled shows (The Name of the Game, Adam's Rib, Nothing Sacred), William Windom toured the country doing Thurber. I saw him (for free) in Hopkins Plaza in downtown Baltimore. After the show, he hung around talking to all the people who wanted to tell him what the show had meant to them. Nice to find that the man who played John Monroe and James Thurber was as sweet and funny in reality as on tv.

Has stuck in my mind since childhood.

[Joe-385 · 23 August 1999]

I looked up this show because I was watching a video of "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and recognized William Windom. In fact I have always recognized him whenever I have seen him, thinking "There's that guy who was in the show with the cartoons when I was little."

For some reason scenes from the show have always stuck in my mind, and I've always had an awareness that the show was something special, even though I was only 6 when it was on and haven't seen it since. Finally I figured I had to know what it was (since no one I know even remembers that such a show existed). So I came on here and looked up William Windom, and read with interest the description of it from Mr. Leone. I, too, wish it were possible to see the show again now.

A remarkable series!

[willardston · 14 January 2004]

Shown on NBC in 1969-70 and and re-run on CBS ca. 1972. "My World and Welcome to It" was a sharp, sophisticated comedy that a curmudgeonly grandfather and an elementary schoolboy could enjoy together. This is *the* show William Windom ought to be remembered for.

The animation of the Thurber cartoons was fantastic. There was an especially funny episode based on the Thurber story "If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox." The cartoonist sits on his young daughter's bed, starting to tell her about the end of the Civil War. "Suppose General Grant had been drinking, uh...." "Cough medicine?!" the girl chirps up. "Uh, yes, cough medicine." And then he goes on to tell the tale....

Suddenly you see William Windom in rumpled dress blues as General Grant, disgracefully drunk by the surrender table, chomping on his cigar, as a distinguished, gray bearded General Lee introduces himself. "General Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia."

"Well go on, go ahead!" General Grant snaps as he proffers his sword to an astonished Lee, "Ya darn near licked us!"

(Luckily things didn't quite turn out that way in real life.)

Thurber is timeless, and so is this show. If only reruns of "My World" were run on cable, or at least sold on DVD -- it would hook a whole new generation on the wonderful imagination of James Thurber!

The 60's of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

[SPYDERKYM · 23 October 2004]

I remember being thrilled to learn that "My World and Welcome to It" was based on James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." I recognized the similarities right away after reading the book, which was pretty amazing to me since I was just a kid. I'd love to see it in syndication. Lisa Gerritsen was a wonderful child actress and William Windom was perfect as John Monroe (aka "Walter"). It was well written and well acted. What more could you ask for? It was the perfect mix of reality and fantasy. Most of us live vicariously through television or film a few hours a day, so why not see it through the eyes of the master? We all have a little bit of John Monroe in us. "My World and Welcome to It" is the ultimate in escapism...for just a little while.

A great show, and a plan of action.

[roarshock · 29 July 2000]

Usually I don't put up comments when somebody has already said what I wanted to say, but "My World and Welcome to It" was such a good show and I agree so completely with everyone here, that I simply couldn't resist joining this small but enthusiastic chorus. As soon as I get finished here I'm going to email my local PBS station, mention the show, and refer them back to here.

These 26 episodes should be on DVD NOW!

[psychohum · 14 March 2006]

I remember this show as turning me on to James Thurber and his writing. I have been a fan and collector of his books ever since. I remember the series as unique, fantastic-in the true sense-and surreal. Oddly enough it replaced another comic, surreal albeit commercially prone program on the same network in the same time slot. Yes, prior to 1969 when this show first aired it was showing "The Monkees" in that very same slot. It is head and shoulders above most of the slop being offered on TV when there are more networks and is more money to produce and promote. A giant leap backward. If you have not experienced this show demand to see it and you will probably agree.

One of the Best Things on Television

[Kirasjeri · 27 July 1999]

Re: the other comments, and ditto them. This was a GREAT comedy, one of the best ever. Creative, brilliant, cynical, satirical, etc. Of course it lasted one year. IF RERUN TODAY IT WOULD BE A MAJOR SUCCESS - ON PBS. CAN'T WE GET PBS TO PURCHASE SOME EPISODES?