Editing My World and Welcome to It (section)

==Series description==
Most episodes open with Monroe arriving in front of the house from the Thurber cartoon "Home," which in the original cartoon has a woman's face on one side of it.  In the show, the house is initially house-shaped. The woman's face is often animated to appear, as Ellen says something to John. The "Home" house, without the face, is used as an [[establishing shot]] throughout the episodes. Other Thurber cartoons are similarly animated over the course of the series—sometimes in the opening sequence, sometimes later in the episode. The episode "Cristabel" begins with Monroe lying on top of a cartoon doghouse, a reference to the non-Thurber cartoon character [[Snoopy]]. Animation for the series was by [[DePatie-Freleng Enterprises]].

[[Henry Morgan (comedian)|Henry Morgan]] had a recurring role as Philip Jensen, a writer for ''[[The New Yorker|The Manhattanite]]'', who was based on humorist [[Robert Benchley]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/303958460/?terms=%22My%20World%20and%20Welcome%20to%20it%22&match=1 Many-Faceted Morgan, ''Quad-City Times'' (Davenport, Iowa), September 15, 1969, page 20]</ref> [[Harold J. Stone]] played the editor, with whom Monroe is often at odds about the cartoon content. A female writer who appeared in one episode was loosely based on [[Dorothy Parker]].{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} Guest-stars included [[Lee Meriwether]], [[Paul Ford]], [[Joe Besser]], [[Ray Walston]], [[Craig Stevens (actor)|Craig Stevens]], [[Danny Bonaduce]], [[Talia Shire]] (as Talia Coppola), [[Cindy Williams]], [[James Gregory (actor)|James Gregory]] and [[Noam Pitlik]].

Live action adaptations of Thurber's writing were another show staple.  For example, "Rally Round the Flag," in which Monroe purchases a very large flag as a gift, is loosely based on a Thurber piece called "There's a Time for Flags". An incident with a policeman in "Cristabel" is an almost verbatim transcription of the Thurber story "The Topaz Cufflinks Mystery". ''Fables for Our Time'' is another source, as when John Monroe sees a [[unicorn]] in the back yard, a reference to "[[The Unicorn in the Garden]]." Many of the episode titles are taken from Thurber's ''Fables for Our Time'' (e.g., "The Shrike and the Chipmunks") and other writings ("Rules for a Happy Marriage" and many more).

The character name of John Monroe is Thurber’s alter-ego in his book ''Owl in the Attic''.<ref name= "Penton">[https://www.newspapers.com/image/209752598/?terms=%22My%20World%20and%20Welcome%20to%20it%22&match=1 Edgar Penton, Preview: Gentle World Of Thurber On TV, ''The Times Herald'' (Port Huron, MI), July 18, 1969, page 35]</ref> Monroe and his family first came to television in a 1959 ''[[Alcoa Theatre]]/[[Alcoa Theatre|Goodyear Theatre]]'' production called "Cristabel (The Secret Life of John Monroe)" also written by Mel Shavelson. The dog Cristabel was named after a dog Thurber gave to his daughter.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Thurber
  | first = James
  | author-link = James Thurber
  | title = Thurber's Dogs
  | publisher = [[Simon & Schuster]]
  | year = 1955
  | location = New York
  | pages = g. xvii
  | url = https://archive.org/details/thurbersdogscoll0000thur
  | url-access = registration
  | isbn =  0-671-79219-9}}</ref> John Monroe also appears in a 1961 episode of ''[[The DuPont Show with June Allyson]]'' called "The Country Mouse", starring [[Orson Bean]]. This also uses animated versions of Thurber's cartoons, and the story - cartoonist Monroe struggles to finish his work under the pressures of home and office - that could be regarded as an unofficial pilot for the My World series.

Despite the use of "drawings, stories, inspirational pieces and things that go bump in the night by James Thurber" (as stated in the opening credits),<ref name= "Penton"/> the show also contains character and story elements that owe little or nothing to Thurber's work.  For example, there is no Thurber basis for Monroe and daughter Lydia playing chess throughout "Little Girls Are Sugar & Spice - And Not Always Nice!" Although Thurber material is woven around it, the episode's storyline itself is fairly conventional situation comedy.  William Windom, though, was a tournament chess player, so he most likely{{weasel inline|date=March 2020}} added that to the storyline as a personal touch.<ref name="chess">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/arts/television/william-windom-everyman-actor-is-dead-at-88.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819225046/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/arts/television/william-windom-everyman-actor-is-dead-at-88.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 19, 2012 | work=The New York Times | first=Eric | last=Grode | title=William Windom, Emmy Winner and TV Everyman, Dies at 88 | date=August 19, 2012}}</ref>

Despite many positive reviews, moderate Nielsen ratings (aired opposite ''[[Gunsmoke]]'') led NBC to cancel the series after one season. It was replaced by ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]'', which NBC had poached from CBS. It then went on to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series<ref>{{Cite web |title=Outstanding Comedy Series Nominees / Winners 1970 |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1970/outstanding-comedy-series |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=Television Academy |language=en}}</ref> and Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series Nominees / Winners 1970 |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1970/outstanding-lead-actor-in-a-comedy-series |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=Television Academy |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/my_world/ | title=My World and Welcome to It | date=27 August 2010 }}</ref>

CBS reran ''My World and Welcome to It'' in the summer of 1972.<ref name= "Directory"/> Airings of the show after that were rare, as it was never syndicated nationally. Currently, the series has not been distributed on DVD, although bootlegs exist.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jacksonupperco.com/2017/07/12/revisiting-1969-70-a-look-at-my-world-and-welcome-to-it/ | title=Revisiting 1969-'70: A Look at MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT | date=12 July 2017 }}</ref>