Make Room For Daddy (ABC) Sept. 29, 1953-Apr. 25, 1957 = 120 Episodes/The Danny Thomas Show (CBS) Oct.7, 1957-Apr. 27, 1964 = 223 Episodes

Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club. Jean Hagen played his serious and loving wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer their son Rusty. The show's premise dealt with Danny rarely having time to spend with his family and Margaret dealing with the children on her own. Margaret often felt neglected by her husband and on several occasions felt like leaving him. Margaret was a society woman and strict with the children but loved her family. Louise Beavers made several appearances during this era as the Williams' maid, Louise Evans, and often found herself at odds with Danny and sided with Margaret in most fights between the couple. Nana Bryant appeared often as Margaret's kind mother, who Danny and the children were fond of; but Margaret, who had been raised by her aunt and uncle because of her mother being away on stage tours often, was not as warm towards her mother. Bryant died in late 1955 and her character simply stopped appearing. During 1955, Louise Beavers became ill and Amanda Randolph took over the role of Louise.

For its first three years, Make Room For Daddy garnered decent ratings but failed to make the list of the top 30 programs. Shortly after the third season finished filming, Jean Hagen left the show due to dissatisfaction with her role and frequent clashes with Danny Thomas. Thomas was upset with her for leaving as he felt the show would not last without her, but he decided to push on without Hagen. At the start of the fourth season, the series title was changed to The Danny Thomas Show. Both Thomas and producer Sheldon Leonard were faced with a serious dilemma - how to explain Jean Hagen's absence on the show. To have Danny and Margaret Williams separate and divorce would have been unacceptable to television audiences at that time. So, it was explained that Margaret had died suddenly off-screen. It was a risky move. Up until this time, no character on a situation comedy had died.[citation needed] Danny was now a widower juggling a performing career while raising two children on his own. Danny had Louise and his friends often looking after the children while he was still touring. He decided to move them to a boarding school but later relented and the family moved into a new apartment. During the season, Danny dated a few other women and nearly got engaged to a widowed singer until he found out she didn't like children. By season's end, the ratings had suffered and it was decided that a wife / mother was needed to complete the family unit. In a four-part story arc that began airing in April, 1957, Rusty fell ill with the measles and Danny hired Kathy O'Hara (Marjorie Lord), a young Irish nurse, to look after him. Kathy was a widow with a little girl (played by Lelani Sorenson). Danny and Kathy became fast friends and Danny fell in love with her very quickly as did the kids. In the season finale, Kathy proposed to Danny (as Danny was too nervous to do so himself) and the two became engaged. At this time, ABC canceled the series which proved to be fortunate. In the spring of 1957, I Love Lucy, which had reigned supreme as the top-rated show for almost all of its six-year run on CBS, was ending production. When CBS heard that ABC was canceling The Danny Thomas Show, they picked it up for their fall season line up adding it to the 1957-1958 schedule. The Danny Thomas Show made its debut on the CBS Television Network on Monday, October 7, 1957 at 9:00 P.M inheriting the time slot vacated by I Love Lucy. The fifth season premiere episode "Lose Me In Las Vegas" had Danny and Kathy already married and on their honeymoon. The Williams family moved into a larger, brand new apartment and with the change of network, the producers also changed Kathy's daughter. Lelani Sorenson was dropped from the cast and replaced by Angela Cartwright as Linda. Linda was then adopted by Danny, and the show's ratings dramatically increased.[3] In fact, at the end of its fifth season, The Danny Thomas Show posted its highest rating at that time ranking at #2. During this season, Amanda Randolph was sick and rarely appeared as Louise. The majority of the season, Louise was said to be recovering from the flu and Kathy was seen doing most of the housework.

In the early part of the sixth season, Sherry Jackson left the show and the character of Terry was said to have gone to a girls school in Paris. According to an interview posted on IMDB, Jackson commented on her close friendship with Jean Hagen and why she left the series. She said, "The major perk was Jean Hagen. I adored her. We had a great time. She and I were best buddies; she was my only friend from the "Make Room for Daddy" cast. What made me specifically want to leave the show? I had a five-year contract, Jean had a three-year contract. Jean was thoroughly fed up with the series and made it clear that she didn't want to come back. When she left, I was devastated. I didn't want to continue, either. I wanted to break my contract. They wouldn't let me leave, but gave me less to do; that's why I'm in fewer shows from ages 14–16."

During season seven, the character of Terry was brought back but recast with Penney Parker. Terry was featured in a seven-episode story arc which saw her engaged and eventually married to Pat Hannigan (Pat Harrington, Jr.), a nightclub friend of Danny's. After the wedding, the Hannigans moved to California and Terry was rarely mentioned and she and Pat were never seen in the program again.

In the last two seasons, Danny and Kathy both regularly traveled (Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were tired from their roles and decided to reduce them to a degree) and much of the tenth season they were touring Europe (a handful of episodes featured location shot footage from Europe) and Rusty and Linda were looked after by Danny's manager, Charlie Halper (Sid Melton) and his wife, Bunny (Pat Carroll). During the eleventh and final season, Thomas decided to retire from the show and the program ended in spring 1964. At this time, it was still one of the most popular television programs, ranking at #9.