Produced by the Lutheran church, This Is The Life was a long-running Christian series targeted at a non-religious audience and viewed at its peak by 20,000,000 people across the US.
The first half of each episode told a purely dramatic story that set up a problem or conflict that could only be resolved by applying one Christian precept or another.
This was followed by “the pitch”, generally delivered by a member of the show’s permanent cast, the Fisher family – a typical Midwest family living in Middleburg, 100 miles from Chicago “in any direction you care to take”.
Onslow Stevens and Nan Boardman played drug store owner Carl Fisher and his wife Anna. They had three children: Emily (Randy Stuart), Peter (Michael Hall) and Freddy (David Kasday), with Emily adding to the family by marrying David Wainwright (Bob Clarke).
The family patriarch was Carl’s father, Grandpa Fisher (Forrest Taylor), who worked in the drug store with his son, and it was usually he who wound up each episode and delivered the pitch.
The problems introduced in each episode could involve the Fisher family directly or one of their neighbours – or sometimes complete strangers.
The topics addressed were often controversial: censorship, morality, racism, infidelity, juvenile delinquency, the Vietnam War, and drug abuse.
But the Fishers were invariably there, and it was Grandpa who generally saved the day. Emily was also pretty good with a pitch, and there was often Pastor Martin (Nelson Leigh).
Pastor Martin became the only regular character on the show from 1956, and the Fisher family were written out. Instead, the problems befell various Middleburg residents or visitors who faced or resolved their predicament by turning – or returning – to Christianity (in the form of Pastor Martin) when they had exhausted their other “secular” resources.
When Nelson Leigh retired, other Lutheran ministers replaced him.
Produced by Family Films, the episodes were given without charge to any station that wanted them and the series continued until 1988 – though in its later years, it was mostly broadcast on local or cable Christian networks.
Amongst the many actors who appeared in episodes of the long-running show were Jack Nicholson, Ryan O’Neal, Leonard Nimoy, Angie Dickinson, Adam West, Natalie Trundy, Mark Lenard, John Banner, Marion Ross, Henry Darrow, Richard Anderson, Clu Gulager, Lee Meriwether, Teri Garr, Dick Sargent, David Ogden Stiers, Tommy Rettig, and Jan-Michael Vincent.
Pastor Martin
Nelson Leigh Grandpa Fisher
Forrest Taylor Carl Fisher
Onslow Stevens Anna Fisher
Nan Boardman Emily Fisher
Randy Stuart Peter Fisher
Michael Hall Freddy Fisher
David Kasday David Wainwright
Bob Clarke
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The first half of each episode told a purely dramatic story that set up a problem or conflict that could only be resolved by applying one Christian precept or another.
The problems introduced in each episode could involve the Fisher family directly or one of their neighbours – or sometimes complete strangers.
Produced by Family Films, the episodes were given without charge to any station that wanted them and the series continued until 1988 – though in its later years, it was mostly broadcast on local or cable Christian networks.
