The Life of Riley (1948)

Name: The Life of Riley
Genre: Comedy
Rating: 7.1
Cast: Jackie Gleason, Rosemary DeCamp, Lanny Rees, Gloria Winters, Bob Jellison

Comedy

Riley worked in an aircraft plant in California, but viewers usually saw him at home, cheerfully disrupting life with his malapropisms and ill timed intervention into minor problems. His stock answer to every turn of fate became a catch phrase: 'What a revoltin' development this is!"

IMDb rating: 7.1 (155 votes)
Episode average: 6.9 -0.2 vs IMDb
Seasons: 1
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

Browse shows by rating shape → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 1 season indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1948)

6.90 avg 27 episodes 7.0 → 6.8 30 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
0	Five Dollar Bill (unaired pilot)	7.0	9
1	Tonsils	7.1	21
2	Babs and Simon Step Out	7.3	17
3	Egbert's Chemistry Set	6.6	11
4	The French Professor	6.1	13
5	Nervous Breakdown	7.0	11
6	Assistant Manager	6.4	10
7	Riley's Birthday Gift	6.8	11
8	Riley, Gillis, and Vanderhopper, Inc.	6.8	12
9	Junior Falls for Teacher	7.4	12
10	Night School	7.4	11
11	Prom Dress	7.9	12
12	Junior's Birthday Party	6.8	11
13	The Boarder	6.9	12
14	Peg's Birthday	6.5	11
15	Junior Drops Out	6.7	14
16	Riley's Firstborn	7.1	12
17	Insurance	7.5	14
18	The Gambler	7.0	13
19	Acting Lessons	6.8	11
20	Valentine's Day	6.4	12
21	Home Sweet Home	6.9	14
22	South American Job	6.8	11
23	Riley's Quarrel	6.1	9
24	Junior and the Bully	6.9	9
25	The Banned Book	7.4	11
26	Five Dollar Bill	6.8	10