Why Was William Asher Named Co-creator Halfway Through Season 1?

[jehobden]

Last weekend LeSea Broadcasting showed the first season episodes Christmas Present (12/25/63) and Auld Lang Syne (1/1/64), which was a 2-part episode which had Cathy's dad Kenneth making an appearance on Christmas Eve and then having to look for a new job after the publisher fired him.
Strangely enough although he played 2 roles in these shows, William Schallert got credit for neither in the 2nd episode, as only Patty Duke and Jean Byron were credited among the regulars in the closing credits. Paul O'Keefe also went uncredited, as did a boy playing a friend of his at the beginning of the show. Schallert's double, I noticed, didn't appear to look much like him, even from behind, and was I suspect just his regular stand-in.
The biggest change that I noticed in the 2nd ep was that William Asher began sharing credit as the show's creator w/ Sidney Sheldon from this episode through the rest of the series. I saw the pilot for the first time about a month or so ago on the same network and noticed that Sidney Sheldon wrote it and William Asher directed it, so maybe Asher got creative credit of the type that James Burrows did later for directing the Cheers pilot. I thought that it was a Writer's Guild rule that the writer of a series pilot is named the creator of the series, but I've seen a few deviations from that in the past. Does anyone, maybe TV Knowledge Fan, know what brought about the mid-season credit change here? I'm just wondering myself. Thanks!

[broadmoor]

An interesting question, and I hope somebody has the answer. I always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that Asher, with his background and expertise in the sitcom genre, was there to help get TPDS off the ground and to find its footing, and would have been unlikely to stay around for long anyway. After all, he had "Bewitched" and the AIP beach-party movies waiting in the wings for him back in California.

I've never quite known how to gauge Asher's overall output. His work always seems very competent, but sometimes hit-or-miss on the aesthetic level. When it comes to his short TPDS tenure, I have to give him credit, since a high percentage of those early episodes rank among the series' best. I loved how a few of them utilized some on-location work. After he exited, the series fell into a slightly more conventional groove (which was nonetheless extremely pleasing). But I do like to ponder how the series might have progressed otherwise, perhaps more incorporation of the Uncle Kenneth aspect, Martin's job, and maybe even more 'drama.' It always did seem a bit crazy to have the high-calibre acting talent of the TPDS cast and not fully take advantage of it. As much as I've always adored the series, that is my one little criticism of it.

[Rezny@gmail.com]

I know who MIGHT be able to help you:On the "Bewitched"board,there is a contributor to that site who goes by the name of Larry Tate.If anyone would know,he would.