The Joey Bishop Show

On the eve of his wedding to Ellie, Joey is asked to fill in for a nightclub entertainer at Las Vegas. With nuptial looming, he turns down the request only to learn that his manager has already accepted the gig. Joey has to convince his bride that Las Vegas is a better honeymoon location than Niagara Falls. His biggest problem still: how does a guy desert his bride on his wedding night?

Joey gets the "bird" from roly-poly apartment janitor, Jillson, when the comedian refuses to perform for Jillson's fraternal lodge. Jillson discovers a sympathetic booster for his cause in Joey's wife, Ellie, but they're unable to persuade Joey. Undaunted, Jillson resorts to middle of the night harassment by tapping Joey's hot water pipes, but sleep craving Joey refuses to yield.

The eternal kibitzer, Freddy, crashes a candlelight supper, marking 3 months of marital bliss for Joey and Ellie. However, in the interest of privacy, the Barneses devise a unique menu to dampen Freddy's zeal, as he tucks his napkin under his chin and prepares to share the intimate anniversary supper.

Joey tries to cure his hospitable wife, Ellie, of her irresistible desire to buy things she doesn't need from every pitchman with hard luck story. Later Joey learns Ellie didn't buy anything from salesman Charles Porter, she just promised him a spot on Joey's nightly TV program.

Joey Barnes is reluctant to take a sorely needed vacation when the sponsor of his nightly TV show enthusiastically picks unknown comic, Johnny Edwards for the fill-in spot in this episode. Joey's wife, manager and sponsor, are so amused by Edwards "fresh talent" that Joey becomes increasingly insecure, as vacation time grows closer.

Joey and his manager, Freddy, arrive at Joey's apartment unexpectedly from the TV studio to find Ellie dressed to the "nines" to go shopping. Joey's suspicions are further aroused when he learns she is meeting a man named Roger, whom she passes off as a plumber.

Joey's mandolin playing on his TV show disturbs his manager, Freddy, so much that the two men decide to dissolve their life-long friendship. Ellie tries valiantly to effect a reconciliation, but matters become worse when Joey demands that Freddy return various gifts and writes a character reference branding his 'former' manager as "undependable, irresponsible and dishonest."

A battle of the sexes: Joey jokes about women in politics on his show, and Ellie, who has contemplated running for Assemblyman, decides to do so, demanding time on his show to rebut him. Joey agrees, planning to embarrass her on the air.

Mr. Jillson wins an Eskimo dog in a contest, and then agrees to take Mrs. Walters' cat for a week while she is in Miami Beach. They fight "like cats and dogs", so Mr. Jillson gets Joey and Ellie to take the dog for that week. It turns out that the dog is fresh from the Arctic and needs to be slowly acclimated to indoor temperatures, so Joey and Ellie must live without heat for a week.

Ellie is concerned that Joey hasn't been to the doctor for a check-up since she has known him, and he keeps breaking the appointments with the doctor that she has made for him, because it makes no sense to him to go to a doctor unless he feels there is something wrong with him. Therefore, Ellie sets out to convince Joey that there is something the matter with his health.

Ellie is homesick for Texas, and wouldn't be happy going back for a visit without Joey, who can't get away, so he decides to turn their apartment into little bit of Texas.

Joey announces that he plans an evening out with the boys, and Ellie gets the idea that "the wolf wants to howl again." The more Ellie thinks about Joey's night out, the angrier she gets and she plots a retaliation.

Joey invests in an unknown, untried boxer's career, based solely on the huge man's impressive display of physical prowess at the local gym.

On the day that Joey is to perform in a show to honor the governor, he loses the cuff links that he always wears when he performs, and he is afraid to go on stage without them.

Joey has been spending a lot of evenings working at the office with Cindy, his new, very beautiful, secretary. Ellie suspects that Joey is straying. Joey, though innocent, realizes that he has to fire Cindy to keep Ellie from leaving him, but he has no cause. Freddie convinces Joey to feign romantic interest in Cindy to get her to quit.

Ellie and Joey have never yet had an argument. Ellie's friend Doris tells her that a make-up kiss is the best kind of kiss, so Ellie sets out to cause an argument with Joey so they can make up.

Joey gives a performance at a prison for its inmates. A prisoner who is an exact look-alike to Joey sees his opportunity to escape and forces Joey to trade places with him.

With Jillson being a guest on Joey's talk show, Joey tells the story of how Jillson went on a diet. Mrs. Jillson calls everyone in the apartment house and tells every tenant that Mr. Jillson is on a diet and not to give him any cinnamon buns. Desperate, Jillson goes and buys every cinnamon bun that he can find and hides them in every apartment in the apartment house.

In an episode showcasing Guy Marks' amazing ability as an impressionist and clown, Freddie falls in love with a society girl, and he goes all-out to impress her, complete with a faux British accent. This was Guy Marks' last appearance in this series. The character Freddie was never again even mentioned.

A gorgeous woman who is a Judo expert appears on Joey's show to demonstrate how women can defend themselves from men that attempt to overpower them, and ends up kissing Joey on the air. This causes embarrassment to Ellie as well as engenders her jealousy, and when she threatens to leave him and go home to her mother in Texas, Joey decides to move in with his head-writer Larry.

Ellie causes the Barnes home life to be constantly interrupted by arranging to have people she knows audition for Joey in their living room, regardless of whether they have entertaining talent or skills.

A little girl's crush on Joey interferes with the already-established puppy love between her and a boy near her own age. The boy and Joey hatch a plan to make the girl dislike Joey, which involves the children attending a rehearsal for Joey's show during which Joey will pretend to be a tyrant and abuser of his employees.

Joey learns that Ellie's aunt Cecilia, with whom he shares a mutual dislike, is coming to town for two weeks and intends to stay in his guest room. Joey gets Larry to pretend to break his leg in the Barnes' apartment so that Joey can justify Larry staying in the guest room, which he assumes would force Ellie's aunt to stay in a hotel.

Ellie tells Joey that she is expecting a baby. Joey promptly tells everyone in his television audience the blessed news, causing an avalanche of baby gifts to be sent to the Barnes home, overwhelming the apartment-dwelling couple.

Since Joey has passed an Expectant Fathers' class with flying colors, Ellie agrees to trust him with a friend's baby for a few hours. When he needs to whip up some baby formula, Joey follows what he thinks is the recipe, but in reality it is a recipe for Turkey stuffing that Ellie is planning to make.