Run Buddy, Run


Run, Buddy, Run was a 16-episode situation comedy starring Jack Sheldon, which ran on CBS television from September 12, 1966, until January 2, 1967. Sheldon, also a trumpet player, portrayed Buddy Overstreet, an "ordinary guy", an accountant, on the run from a group of comical gangsters. As the plot unfolds, while he is taking a steam bath, Buddy overhears mobster "Mr. Devere" or "Mr. D", played by Bruce Gordon, plotting the death of a "Chicken Little". Jim Connell played Gordon's bumbling son, "Junior". Gregg Palmer appeared in the recurring role of Harry, a gunman in Chicago.

In a typical segment, Buddy Overstreet enters a new town trying to establish employment, and Mr. D would arrive and force Buddy into a narrow exit. In the ninth episode, Buddy is working as a welder in a factory when he tells a coworker Devere Enterprises has put a price on his head. The colleague double-crosses Buddy, and phones Mr. D's office long-distance.

In the November 14 episode, Buddy works as a waiter in a nightclub and plays his trumpet to the guests. In the November 21 segment, Buddy turns a Mexican hotel into a tourist spot suddenly frequented by Mr. D and the mob. 

In his production of Run, Buddy, Run, Leonard Stern used many of the same technical persons behind his Get Smart series on NBC. The program aired on Monday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern, sandwiched between the last season of Gilligan's Island starring Bob Denver and The Lucy Show with Lucille Ball. It failed to garner sufficient ratings and was dropped at midseason after sixteen episodes were produced.Its competition was I Dream of Jeannie on NBC and the second half of The Iron Horse, an ABC Western about the railroad.

In the last episode, "Buddy Overstreet, Please Come Home", Mr. D is chased by tax auditors and faces potential financial ruin, and the secret of Chicken Little is revealed. This means that Buddy can return home, for he is no longer being pursued by Mr. D.

Among guests on the series were Jack Albertson, Sid Melton, Burt Mustin, J. Pat O'Malley, Julie Sommars, and Vaughn Taylor.