What? You don't know I can read?
A horse is a horse, of course, of course.
And no one can talk to a horse, of course.
That is, of course
unless the horse
is the famous Mr. Ed!
A 1960s
Sitcom (running from 1961 to 1966) about architect Wilbur Post, his wife Carol, and Wilbur's horse Mr. Ed. Ed was a normal Palomino in most respects, other than the fact that he could talk, read, and was fairly intelligent.
He only ever spoke to Wilbur though,
which led to many awkward situations when the mischievous Ed would get Wilbur caught up in a
Zany Scheme or two. Actor Allan Lane provided Ed's voice for the entire run of the series, but went uncredited.
A pilot was filmed for a
revival in 2004, but never aired.
This show provides examples of:
- Amusing Alien: Mr. Ed, naturally.
- Beta Couple: The next-door Addisons, who unlike many Beta Couples, seemed to actively dislike each other.
- Channel Hop: Rather unusually, from first-run syndication (season 1) to CBS (seasons 2-6).
- Character as Himself: Though, if you want to be really pedantic, the horse that played Mister Ed was actually named "Bamboo Harvester."
- Christmas Episode
- Deadpan Snarker: Addison, who may be one of the most deadpan of all snarkers in black-and-white television.
- Easy Amnesia: Ed gets it, forcing Wilbur to fake having it so he can try whatever cure is used on him on Ed.
- Epileptic Trees: It's possible to interpret Mister Ed as the deranged hallucinations of a man who owned a completely normal horse, but in-universe evidence that Ed can talk is much stronger.
- Everybody Owns A Ford: Studebaker was the primary sponsor of the show through 1963-64. Studebaker got Product Placement in the show, and Mister Ed and Wilbur even did some Studebaker commercials.
Ironically, by the time the show's target demographic was old enough to drive, Studebaker was out of business (having built their last cars in 1966). - Expository Theme Tune
- Fantastic Comedy
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Connie Hines as Wilbur's wife Carol. One episode had her doing alterations on a dress and she had the skirt hiked up to her thighs.
- Have a Gay Old Time: In one episode, Ed moos to a farmer right in his face, and the farmer remarks, "The horse looks me right in the puss and says 'Moo!'" He meant the face in that case.
- Intellectual Animal
- Not So Imaginary Friend: Ed is shown to be able and willing to talk to other people, but will only do so in situations where the other party doesn't know they're talking to a horse. (Behind their backs, over a phone, etc).
- Retcon: Ed's color-blindness. There are two episodes which revolve around Ed wanting a color TV. In the first episode Wilbur refuses to buy him one, stating that all horses are color-blind. Ed proves him wrong by pointing out the color of the clothes he's wearing. In the second episode Ed wins a color TV in a trivia contest, and a fight among Ed and Wilbur ensues about whether it will go in the house or the barn. In the end Ed steals the TV and watches it in the barn, and decides to let Wilbur have it, since he discovered he was (you guessed it) color-blind.
- Special Guest: Mae West and Clint Eastwood both appeared
- Spirit Advisor
- The Ditz: Wilbur was fairly klutzy and cheerful for a male sitcom character.
- Word Of God: A persistent rumor states that peanut butter was smeared inside Ed's mouth to get his lips to move, but according to cast and crewmembers, nylon fishing line slid under his lips was used to make him "talk". It's also said that after a season or two of filming, the horse playing Ed was smart enough to realize that every time the human actors around him stopped talking it was his "turn" and no external aid was needed.
- Wunza Plot
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