Ed Friendly

Edwin "Ed" Samson Friendly Jr. was an American television producer. He was responsible for creating the television programs Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Little House on the Prairie, and Backstairs at the White House. Born in New York City, Ed Friendly served with the United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. After the war, he worked at the advertising agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. He began his television career in 1949, working for ABC as director of sales before moving to CBS as a contract producer and then, in 1959, to NBC as vice president of special programs. Friendly moved to California in 1967 and formed his own production company, Ed Friendly Productions, Inc. He received the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1975 for Little House on the Prairie[4] and in 1978 for Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion, an adaptation of the 1972 children's novel San Domingo, the Medicine Hat Stallion by Marguerite Henry.

Works

Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s.

Release Date1974-09-11

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count203

Vote Count916

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.

Release Date1968-01-22

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Vote Count31

Backstairs at the White House

Behind the scenes at the White House during eight administrations, as told by the people who work there.

Release Date1979-01-29

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count4

Vote Count4

Turn-On

Turn-On is an American sketch comedy series that aired on ABC in February 1969. Only one episode was shown leaving one episode unaired and the show is considered one of the most infamous flops in TV history. Turn-On's sole episode was shown on Wednesday, February 5, 1969, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Among the cast were Teresa Graves, who would join the Laugh-In cast that autumn, and Chuck McCann, longtime kiddie show host, character actor, and voice artist. The writing staff included a young Albert Brooks. The guest host for the 1st episode was Tim Conway.

Release Date1969-02-05

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count2

Vote Count2

Little House on the Prairie

The story of the Ingalls family who left their house in Wisconsin and moved to the west, wanting to find a new place for home.

Release Date1974-03-30

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count14

Little House: Bless All the Dear Children

During preparation for Christmas baby Rose Wilder is kidnapped by the woman who recently lost her child. Looking for her Laura, Almanzo and Mr Edwards meet lonely orphan boy, who finally stays with that woman.

Release Date1983-12-17

DepartmentProduction

JobAssociate Producer

Vote Count11

Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion

A teenage boy gets a job as a Pony Express rider in the Nebraska Territory not long before the Civil War breaks out.

Release Date1977-11-05

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count1

The Flame Is Love

In this melodrama from Barbara Cartland's 1975 bestseller, a turn-of-the-century American heiress, while en route to her betrothal to an English duke, encounters love and intrigue in the arms of a French journalist.

Release Date1979-10-15

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Young Pioneers

Pilot for TV series of the same name released in 1978. The film told the tale of Molly and David Beaton, two teenage newlyweds, homesteading in the Dakota Territory in the 1870s.

Release Date1976-03-01

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count5

Little House on the Prairie: A Merry Ingalls Christmas

Celebrate the holidays with two classic "Little House" specials, restored and remastered for superior picture and sound. In "Christmas at Plum Creek," the members of the Ingalls family share a heartwarming first Christmas in their new home, and Laura makes a personal sacrifice that captures the meaning of the holidays. In "A Christmas They Never Forget," the family waits out a snowstorm by remembering favorite Christmases from the past.

Release Date2014-11-04

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count5

The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?

A speculative look forward at the United States' next 200 years.

Release Date1977-03-12

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count1

The Ladies

Sentimental drama in which, following her divorce, a middle-aged woman (Patricia Elliott) moves in with her daughter (Talia Balsam). But things do not run smoothly...

Release Date1987-06-26

DepartmentWriting

JobStory

Young Pioneers' Christmas

A young couple and their neighbors celebrate Christmas in 1874 on the Dakota prairie. Despite tragedy and an ongoing battle with the railway company, Christmas is a homespun and overly sentimental affair.

Release Date1976-12-17

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count5