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Young & Married

Young & Married is an American sitcom originally broadcast for one season from September 1, 1959 to April 14, 1960, starring Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Natalie Wood, Deborah Kerr, and Bobby Vinton. The program was produced and written by Alfred Hitchcock with Frances Rickett. The showed was aired on Lifetime American cable. Young and Married is said to be one of the first soap opera sitcoms that that arrived in 1959 and was later cancelled in 1960. This T.V. series takes place in orange country California.

Overview
The Series is about a young girl who is pregnant is high school. Dealing with the stress of having a child and being only seventeen years old. Sandy (Natalie Wood) a very ambitious popular teen nominated for prom queen shares the unfortunate news with her boyfriend Jerry (Paul Newman). Jerry is the star quarterback on the football team and has already been offered a scholarship to play football at Texas A&M. Immediately after hearing about the pregnancy Jerry asks Sandy to be his wife. After being denied from their family and friends, the newly married couple moves into a house with another couple Paul (Clint Eastwood) and Hillary (Deborah Kerr). Paul is a very serious, strict lawyer that takes his job and relationship too seriously. Hillary is the complete opposite, cheerful and carefree. Jerry is unaware of Sandy's Jim (Bobby Vinton) a very independent, tough, punk rock, lead singer, was having an affair with Sandy leading up to the pregnancy. Feeling responsible for the pregnancy Jim avoids speaking to Sandy, but wants nothing to do with the child. Overwhelmed with her pregnancy, social life, and family, Sandy begins to acquire bad habits during her pregnancy. On average Sandy Would smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and drink three to four cocktails (liquor) a day. Jerry became worried about the health of his wife and birth defects of his child. After the first couple seasons Hillary and Sandy became good friends. Sandy dropped out of school to spend more time at home cleaning and cooking with Hillary. Sandy is pregnant with Jim’s baby, but Jim wants nothing to do with the baby so he ignores her. Sandy lies to Jerry and says it is his baby so she has support. Jerry marries her. As the baby grows up, Sandy continues to lie to Jerry about the father of her baby. Hillary, her best friend, is the only one who knows. When the child is 15 years old, Jerry reads a study about the genetics of eye color. The baby should have either brown eyes (the color of Sandy’s) or blue eyes (the color of Jerry’s). However, the child has blue eyes…Jerry is curious where the blue eye gene trait came from. Jerry does scientific tests, and realizes he is not the father of the baby, and he finds the birth certificate indicating Jim is the father and Jerry realizes 15 years ago Sandy had an affair. Sandy loses Jerry and is stuck as a single mother. The child finds documents of her birth father linking it to Jim. She runs away from home seeking her birth father. The television show paves way to a 10 episode season explaining the conflicts of life between a young marriage in the 1960's.

History
The Series was created and Produced by Alfred Hitchcock in response to the great success ABC's I Love Lucy, which had debuted in 1964 as the second most watched program in the United States. At 8 p.m. the show debuted on September 1st, 1959, on Lifetime network.

When casting was opened for the role of Sandy, Alfred Hitchcock couldn't find an actress. The one specific rule for the part was that she had to be a brunette because Lucy on I Love Lucy was blonde. After many unsuccessful auditions Elia Kazan called Allen and asked for Natalie Wood to audition for the part. While filming "Splendor in the Grass" Natalie played the perfect part for Sandy. This also lead to the cancellation of the show when Wood Promised to only work for one season.

In the 1960's is wasn't uncommon for teenagers to be pregnant. However, the topic of abortion in Young and Married created a lot of controversy at the time. The debate against church and state was a very heated argument. This allowed the show to receive both positive and negative publicity. Critics at the time were writing harsh articles misrepresenting Hitchcock's idea of young pregnancies. "It wasn't uncommon for young couples to question weather they should bring life into this world" quoted Hitchcock.

Young and Married is another major product of women's television. Influenced by the Fifty Fifty Club, which was made up of primarily product promotion, live performances, and celebrity guests. The innovation of women’s television in local and national networks primarily revolves around three very influential women: Arlene Francis, Ruth Lyons, and Ruth Reeves. Female workforce participation increased dramatically during the 20th century. Lastly, Ruth Reeves was another innovator in women’s television. She hosted The Women’s Hour, a show about music, recipes, interviews, and interaction with the audience.

Awards
Young & Married was ranked among the top twenty most watched program on television for in 1959. And was ranked in the top ten for best series of the year, with a number of episodes that remain among the most watched television episodes of all time. The ongoing popularity of the series spawned a 1940 film remake by one of the great American Film studios.

Cancellation
After the tenth episode of the first season from 1959 to 1960 despite the respectable ratings, the show was cancelled. Both Natalie Wood and Clint Eastwood decided to leave show after the last episode. This put a large amount of pressure on the Lifetime network. They decided that the cast could not be replaced and that the viewers would be disappointed. At the time all Lifetime dramas were being simultaneously cancelled.