The Almost Jetsons

 We are all more than familiar with the cast of The Jetsons. Whether it's George O'Hanlon, Penny Singleton, Daws Butler, or someone else, just seeing their names will make us imagine their character and voice. But The Jetsons cast came very close to looking a lot different.

Below is a clip from the May 15th, 1962 edition of The San Francisco Examiner. The piece focuses on the cast of the series, but of the five names mentioned, only two would be heard in the finished series.

I'm sure most of you know Amsterdam and Carroll were the original choices for George and Jane Jetson, respectively. The pair recorded a single episode before being replaced. The reason for their departure has never been clear. Some have theorized it was due to a conflict with sponsors on another Amsterdam show, The Dick Van Dyke Show. Others feel the folks at Hanna-Barbera just weren't pleased with their performances. Whatever the reason was, the two were gone, and because they were contracted for twenty-four episodes, they soon fought back with a lawsuit. Hanna-Barbera would win the suit by 1965. Years later, Carroll would discuss the saga in an interview (which you should check out here). She described it bluntly as a "waste of everybody's time."

But what about Lucille Bliss? Like Carroll and Amsterdam, she was announced for the show, but was gone by the time the series premiered. Her involvement is much stranger. Bliss mentioned that she was cast as Elroy, but was to be billed as "Little Lou Bliss," as a young boy was wanted for the part. Her agent wasn't a fan of this idea, wanting her to be properly credited, and soon after that, she was fired. She had been involved in six weeks of recording sessions before leaving the show.

As you've probably noticed, the San Francisco Examiner piece does not mention a "Little Lou Bliss." Perhaps that idea was conceived at a later point? But even in that case, with the real story already being out, what would be the point in this story? Yowp covered this story on his blog years ago, and also noted a few discrepancies with her story. It could be she was thinking of another show, and had thought it was Jetsons instead, but that might create even more questions. 

On another note, it's interesting to see Howie Morris mentioned as being a regular cast member. While he was heard more often than not in the original series, I wouldn't describe any of his roles as a "regular." Maybe he was cast as another character early in production? Or, more likely, they were under the impression one of his characters would be a recurring role. 

And there's the "almost" Jetsons. While the cast we have is more than perfect, I do wonder what the show would have been like had it been with the originally announced cast. Would we still be discussing it today? Would it have been brought back two decades later? Your guess is as good as mine.