The New Shows

The Bickersons (Tues. 9:30 p.m., CBS) have been on & off radio & TV since 1946, mostly as a ten-minute show-within-a-show. Written, produced and directed by Philip Rapp, who introduced Baby Snooks to radio, the new series, sponsored by Philip Morris, is expanded to a half-hour, distinguished by a wry humor, and deals with the misadventures of an indigent vacuum-cleaner salesman (Lew Parker) and his termagant wife (Frances Langford), who takes time out from badgering her husband often enough to sing an occasional song.

Racket Squad (Thurs. 10 p.m., CBS-TV) declares TV war on the nation's confidence men by showing "real life" stories of ingenious swindles. In the first episode, steely-eyed Police Captain Braddock gives the case history of an "innocent" businessman who was fleeced of $30,000 by sharpies pretending to have advance information on race results. Since the victim had begged to be let in on the deal, televiewers might have been somewhat disconcerted to find him presented as the hero of the piece. Presumably, they had less trouble with the sponsor's message: "Believe in yourself and you'll believe in Philip Morris."

The Doodles Weaver Show (Sat. 10 p.m., NBCTV) features a rubber-faced comic addicted to such Ed Wynn mannerisms as puns, hand-flutterings and funny hats. The opening show, interrupted by Milton Berle's 22-hour TV marathon for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund and by filmed commercials for Lysol and a deodorant called Etiquet, was a melange of sight gags that didn't quite come off, monologues and studio interviews. Three burlesque comedians and Singer Marion Colby, billed as "the girl with the most beautiful legs in TV," take over when Comedian Weaver's energy begins to flag.

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