The Jack Benny Program

Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (12x5)

Air date: Nov 19, 1961

In his monologue, Jack talks about the boys in his orchestra. When Jack starts to introduce his guest star, he discovers that everyone on his crew but him knows that Tennessee Ernie Ford will be appearing by remote from Lakeport, Calif. Fred de Cordova shows Jack how the remote unit works. Ernie appears in his barn, talks about farming, sings "John Henry" and then his image blacks out. "We lost him." Don does the commercial with a man on a pogo stick who is jumping for joy because he just took out State Farm Car Insurance. The remote picture comes back, but Ernie isn't in it. One of his peapickers comes in (a beautiful girl). Ernie claims to have developed a square egg. Jack and Ernie play a fiddle duet of "Sweet Georgia Brown" on split screen with television engineers in voice over; first they lose both of them, then Jack is in the barn and Ernie is on the stage, then both appear upside down.