Mister Peepers

Wally Cox starred as Robinson J. Peepers, Jefferson City's junior high school science teacher. Others in the cast included Tony Randall as history teacher Harvey Weskit; Georgiann Johnson as Harvey's wife, Marge; Patricia Benoit as school nurse Nancy Remington; Marion Lorne as oft-confused English teacher Mrs. Gurney; Jack Warden as athletic coach Frank Whip; and Ernest Truex and Sylvia Field as Nancy's parents. The series began as a live summer replacement for Ford Festival, and was so popular that thousands wrote to NBC praising the series. When the Fall 1952 television season began, the filmed series Doc Corkle was so unpopular that additional scripts for Mr. Peepers were quickly written, and that series replaced Doc Corkle in October. The American TV magazine TV Guide used the picture of the couple's television wedding on its cover page. Mister Peepers was aired live, on stage before an audience at the New Century Theatre, 932 7th Avenue, New York City—preserved in the form of 16 mm kinescopes. Wally Cox was somewhat typecast by the role of the mild-mannered Peepers, but continued on to a long career in films and television. He later starred in a comedy/adventure series, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday, and is remembered as the voice of the cartoon superhero Underdog. He is best remembered by game-show fans as a regular panelist on The Hollywood Squares from 1966 until his death in 1973. He also wrote and published a novel, Mr. Peepers (1955), based on scripts from the televised adventures of the character. == Production ==

David Swift created the show and wrote for it, along with Jim Fritzell. Fred Coe was the producer, and Hal Keith was the director. Bernie Green was the music director. ==Episode status==

Reportedly, 102 of the 127 episode Kinescopes of Mister Peepers survive. RetroTV aired episodes of the show on Wednesday mornings, but as of 2021, no longer does. Twenty-six episodes running from July 3, 1952 — when Peepers first arrives as the new science teacher — until March 1, 1953, are available for streaming in Canada from Tubi TV. ==DVD release==

In 2005, the first 26 episodes of Mister Peepers, which had been preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, were released on DVD by S'more Entertainment. In November 2008, the second boxed set of Mister Peepers was released by S'more Entertainment. The tagline at the bottom of the box reads: "America's Favorite Science Teacher, Underdog and All-Round Nice Guy." The Underdog comment coyly references Cox's later role as the voice of the title character in the Underdog cartoon. Mister Peepers began as a summer replacement series in 1952. The first DVD set, titled Mr. Peepers, contains the summer episodes, as well as those from October 1952 to March 1953 episodes of the first full season. The Mister Peepers - Season 2 DVD sets picks up where the first set left off, containing episodes from the remainder of the first season and part of the second season, from March 1953 to November 1953. ==Awards and nominations==