"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.
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.