This half-hour episode functions as a Christmas-themed sitcom episode with musical elements, centering around product placement woven into the narrative and placed in separate commercials. The ninth episode of The George Burns Show, it aired on December 23, 1958. The protagonist of this show, George Burns, manages a nightclub, and his most popular singer is in danger of losing her visa to stay in the US. Meanwhile, his son is feeling lovesick after the girl of his dreams left on a train. While George tries to find an American bachelor for the singer to marry so that she may stay in the country, she simultaneously develops feelings for George’s son, but George does not want the two of them to form a relationship. The plot of the episode is in fact a thinly-veiled veneer for a plethora of advertisements, such as a character holding a box of FAB laundry detergent directly up to the camera as he delivers an extended sales pitch for the product. The actors shift frequently shift between their roles as actors and as advertisers, with the episode often breaking the fourth wall to address the audience directly. The notion of the fictional story detached from our lives as viewers is abandoned here as the episode’s story blends together with notions of consumerism in a real-world context.

This show aired for one season on NBC from 1958 to 1959, and is an attempted revival and continuation of CBS’s The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show after Allen’s retirement. Sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive, it lasted only 25 episodes prior to its cancellation. For one month in 1959, it was briefly formatted as a comedic variety show in an effort to boost ratings, but quickly returned to the sitcom format instead.

(em136)