The engima that is Ken Berry

So the other day I noticed that "The Cat From Outer Space" was coming on, and I suddenly got the urge to host a Salute to Ken Berry Film Festival.

(This is a good example of why I need to either have another child or get a hobby that has absolutely nothing to do with pop culture.)

I figured a handful of those live-action Ken Berry Disney flicks I watched as a tyke would make for an interesting lineup. I'll confess that I was only about 11% sure I'd actually do this--the fact is, I do have one small child, and that plus the fact that my wife isn't insane would make the actual execution of such a marathon difficult--but, hey, if we can't dream about programming a Ken Berry Film Festival, why dream at all?


A quick research jaunt to IMDB stunned me. Ken Berry, it turned out, wasn't in as many movies as I thought. I mean, unless I'm missing something, it was "The Cat," a "Love Bug" sequel, and that was pretty much it. Where in the world did I come up with my conception of Ken Berry: Box Office Matinee Idol for the Family Crowd?

You know what it was? It was television. Ken Berry was all over the tube when I was growing up. The frequent airing of "The Cat from Outer Space" was but one component of a bigger picture that apparently implanted Ken Berry: Icon into my impressionable brain. Funny thing is, I didn't even care for most of the stuff that was on. I never got into "F Troop" or "Mayberry RFD" back then, and though I can remember watching it sometimes, I was not a fan of "Mama's Family," either.

In fact, one of my strongest memories of TV's Ken Berry is his starring role in one of my least favorite "Brady Bunch" episodes ever (and now we pause for you Brady haters to add your own wise-ass remark here), the backdoor pilot for "Kelly's Kids" that seemed to be on a disproportionate number of times.

Here's an interesting thing that pops out when you study Ken Berry's resume (and I realize I tread on familiar ground here, as surely countless scholars before this humble blogger have pored over, analyzed, and discussed Ken Berry's curriculum vitae) is his 7 appearances on "Fantasy Island." 7 appearances! Talk about a friend of the show. I just love the notion of the staff casting a certain part and someone piping up, "Why don't we just bring Berry in again? He always nails it."

This tidbit, I think, epitomizes the apparent ubiquity of Kenneth Ronald Berry on 1970s/1980s television screens. "Fantasy Island" was a popular anthology-type show of its day, and it often featured average Joes who thought they wanted something but, as it turned out, were doomed to perish in a horrible explosion of some kind about 17 minutes after they got their wish. Or something like that. Who better than the Kenster to play an average Joe, someone generally likable but with maybe one big flaw, that of not knowing what he really wants?

Given the actor's everyday guy persona and the popularity of this kind of show back then, the stunner is that according to IMDB, he made but one "Love Boat" guest shot. If you think maybe that one was a little too bawdy to utilize his wholesome image, I remind you of his long stint playing against "bombshell" Dorothy Lyman on "Mama's Family." No, I prefer to believe that "Fantasy Island" staff had some influence here:

"Ken, we're not telling you to not go on that show. We're just telling you that, well, gosh, we love you so much here, we kind of think of you as our guy." And then they gave "Love Boat" the rights to use Grant Goodeve in a few more episodes.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the Ken Berry Film Festival will not go on after all, but if anyone wants to run those "Fantasy Island" episodes, I'll give them a shot. Oh, yeah, and I might watch "The Cat from Outer Space" one of these days. And by the way, 249 episodes of "Love Boat"? That's just staggering.