Karen
Genre	Situation comedy
Created by	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Directed by	Earl Bellamy
Starring	Debbie Watson Richard Denning Mary LaRoche Gina Gillespie
Theme music composer	Jack Marshall Bob Mosher
Opening theme	"Karen", performed bythe Beach Boys
Composer	Jack Marshall
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	28
Production
Producers	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Kayro-Vue Productions Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	October 5, 1964 (1964-10-05) – April 19, 1965 (1965-04-19)

Karen is an Americansitcom that starsDebbie Watson in the title role of 16-year-old Karen Scott, and Gina Gillespie as her tomboyish little sister Mimi. It aired from 1964 to 1965.

Karen centers on the social life of 16-year old Karen Scott, a typical mid-1960s American teenager who lives in a fashionableapartment complex at 90 Bristol Court inLos Angeles,California, with her tomboyish younger sister Mimi and parents Steve and Barbara. Karen and the impish Mimi are a counterpoint to one another, each girl confounding the tolerant and loving Steve and Barbara in her own way. Karen is focused on having fun, and her impulsiveness often leads to misadventures when she ignores her parents' advice. Karen's friends include Janis, Candy, Peter, Spider Gibson, and David Rowe III. Cliff Murdock is thebuilding superintendent andhandyman at 90 Bristol Court.^[1][2][3]

• Karen Scott —Debbie Watson
• Steve Scott —Richard Denning
• Barbara Scott —Mary LaRoche
• Mimi Scott —Gina Gillespie
• Janis —Bernadette Withers
• Candy —Trudi Ames
• Peter —Teddy Quinn
• Spider Gibson —Murray MacLeod
• David Rowe III —Richard Dreyfuss (recurring)
• Cliff Murdock —Guy Raymond (October 1964–January 1965)

Karen was one of three 30-minute sitcoms broadcast Monday nights under the umbrella title90 Bristol Court; the other two wereHarris Against the World, which followedKaren, andTom, Dick and Mary, which completed the 90-minute programming block. Despite all three shows being set at the same Los Angeles apartment complex with the address 90 Bristol Court, the only connection the three series had was the character of handyman Cliff Murdoch (portrayed byGuy Raymond), who greeted the residents and visitors to 90 Bristol Court. After the last episodes ofHarris Against the World andTom, Dick and Mary aired on January 4, 1965,90 Bristol Court ceased to be a programming entity, and handyman Murdoch disappeared fromKaren as well.^[3]

The Beach Boys performedKaren′s theme song, also entitled "Karen."^[4][5]

The show premiered on NBC as90 Bristol Court: Karen on October 5, 1964, and continued under that title through the broadcast of January 4, 1965. It drew low ratings: For the November-to-December 1964 reporting period, theNielsen ratings ranked it 87th among the 96 prime-time network television shows.Tom, Dick and Mary fared only slightly better, andHarris Against the World had even lower ratings thanKaren. In mid-November 1964The New York Times reported that NBC planned to cancel both andHarris Against the World andTom, Dick and Mary, effective in early January 1965.^[6][3] Their last episodes aired on January 4, 1965.^[3]

With the demise ofHarris Against the World andTom, Dick and Mary and with them the90 Bristol Court programming concept, the90 Bristol Court umbrella title was dropped fromKaren and handyman Cliff Murdock disappeared from the show. From January 11, 1965, until the end of its run, the show ran as a stand-alone series, titled simplyKaren. AlthoughKaren outlasted the other two90 Bristol Court shows, NBC announced in February 1965 that it would not renewKaren for the 1965-1966 season.^[3] The last of the 28 original episodes ofKaren aired on April 19, 1965. NBC then broadcast prime-time reruns ofKaren in its regular time slot, the last of them on August 30, 1965.Karen aired at 7:30 p.m. on Monday throughout its run.^[1][2][3][6]

Peter Tewksbury wrote, produced, and directed all three episodes that aired as part of90 Bristol Court on November 23, 1964, and used thephilosophy ofHenry David Thoreau regardingsimple living as a starting point for each of them: OnKaren, Thoreau influenced Karen and her complicated love life when she mistakenly made three dates for the same Saturday night; onHarris Against the World, Thoreau inspired Harris to take his familyfishing, only to find that he has to renew hisdriver's license that day; and onTom, Dick and Mary, Dick used Thoreau's philosophy as he attempted to fix several broken household appliances.^[3]

SOURCES^{[3][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

• Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh,The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (2003)ISBN 0-345-45542-8
• TV Guide Guide to TV 2006 (2006)ISBN 0-7607-7572-9

• Karen atIMDb
• 90 Bristol Court at Television Obscurities
• Retro Review: Karen (1964) – “Who’s Seymour?” at Television Obscurities Accessed 4 November 2021
• Karen opening credits on YouTube
• Karen opening credits on YouTube
• Karen opening credits with sponsor on YouTube
• Karen closing credits on YouTube

• 1964 American television series debuts
• 1965 American television series endings
• 1960s American teen sitcoms
• American English-language television shows
• American television series about teenagers
• Black-and-white American television shows
• Television series about sisters
• Television series by Universal Television
• Television shows set in Los Angeles
• NBC sitcoms

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