For Better or Worse (1959 TV series)
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| For Better or Worse | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | John Guedel |
| Screenplay by | Franklin Barton |
| Directed by | Hal Cooper |
| Starring | Jim Bannon Dr. James A. Peterson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 268 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Hal Cooper |
| Production location | CBS Television City |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | June 29, 1959 – June 24, 1960 |
For Better or Worse is an American soap opera that aired on CBS from June 29, 1959, to June 24, 1960.[1][2] The show was atypical for its genre in that episodes were grouped into distinct storylines or "cases", each following a different fictional couple, with the cast changing along with the storyline. The only permanent cast members were the narrator Dr. James A. Peterson and the series host Jim Bannon.[3]
The show was promoted as "Video Marriage Counselling" rather than as a traditional soap opera.[4] The storylines were fictionalized accounts from the case files of Dr. Peterson, a clergyman and associate professor of sociology at USC, who trained graduate students to become professional marriage counselors.[5][6] Storylines ran from 15 to 25 episodes in length. Each episode would open with a brief introduction by host Jim Bannon, followed by the dramatic performance. At the end of each episode, Bannon would ask questions of Dr. Peterson on camera to draw out his observations.[7]
Response
Reviewers were not impressed with the veneer of professionalism provided by Dr. Peterson's analysis at the end of each episode.[8] For one critic For Better or Worse was "pseudo-scientific soap opera" and "pap by any name".[7] Another felt the stories might better have been presented as pure fiction, as the writing for each episode seemed forced, in order to illustrate a specific point by Peterson.[9] This same reviewer, after watching the entire first storyline, felt it "was staged, acted, and written with competence", but was too repetitive.[9] Columnist Harriet Van Horne was more scathing: "Every point was made three times and then reviewed for the hard of hearing."[10]