A short-lived sit-com based on the tribulations of working-class widow Jessie Finnegan and her lazy adult son Darby, Mrs Finnegan, as Don Storey notes in his Classic Australian Television, 'has long been forgotten by most of the viewing public. In fact, forgotten is not strictly accurate as most people were unaware of its existence in the first place'.
Like other early Australian sit-coms (such as Barley Charlie and Hey You!), Mrs Finnegan showcased Australian idiom while centering (in the character of Darby Finnegan) on an essentially lazy and immature male character who pursues get-rich-quick schemes rather than holding down a regular job. Darby is balanced by the figure of his mother, Jessie Finnegan, who, in Storey's words, 'grew up during the depression and has had to struggle to get by all her life.'
Mrs Finnegan was an in-house production by ATN-7 (Sydney), who hoped to replicate the success of earlier sit-coms such as My Name's McGooley - What's Yours?. However, somewhere during the production process, the network lost either its interest or its faith in the program, which was shelved for several months before being screened without fanfare in the non-ratings period.
Storey concludes:
Why the show was treated so badly by the Seven Network is something of a mystery. Granted, Mrs. Finnegan is not a pinnacle of artistic achievement, and was never going to be a runaway success, but it was of a high enough standard to warrant a fair go. Indeed, there have been many inferior programmes that have received much better treatment. Consequently, Mrs. Finnegan has been relegated to the limbo of obscurity.
