On the June 7th, 1950 episode of The Halls of Ivy, it’s a lazy Saturday morning. The college staff members who live on faculty row are enjoying their free time. Professor Quinn-cannon is trimming a hedge, Professor Warren is transplanting some flowering quince, Professor Heslip is weeding his lawn, and Dr William Toddhunter Hall, Ivy’s president is upstairs in his bedroom fast asleep. Of course, that doesn't last very long.

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The Halls of Ivy premiered coast-to-coast on NBC on Friday January 6th, 1950 at 8PM eastern time. NBC programmed the show opposite the evening’s highest-rated show: ABC’s The Fat Man. The program debuted with a rating of 9.

Don Quinn was a master of quips and puns, but much of the actual writing was left first to playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee, and later to Milton and Barbara Merlin. Quinn acted as editor and creative director.

For the half-season, The Halls of Ivy pulled a rating of just 6.5. It was ABC who had reason to celebrate. For the first time since its 1927 inception as NBC‘s Blue Network, it placed five programs in a night’s Top Ten.