Sothern portrayed the character Katy O'Connor, the assistant manager of the upscale New York City hotel The Bartley House.

In this position, she oversaw many male employees, including lovestruck bellboy Johnny Wallace (Jack Mullaney) and suave French room clerk Paul Monteney (Jacques Scott).

The McCauleys are transferred to a Bartley House branch in Calcutta, and Katy is given a new boss, James Devery (Don Porter).

Tyrrell and Porter were both series regulars on Private Secretary, playing the roles of Vi Praskins and Peter Sands.

Unlike Tyrrell, Porter was not initially carried over to The Ann Sothern Show, but was introduced after a midseason retooling of the cast.

During the series' fifth season, Sothern discovered her business manager had embezzled money from her, and she owed back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service as a result.

Following the season's end, Sothern discovered Private Secretary producer Jack Chertok had sold the series rights to Metromedia without her permission and sued him.

Hoffe kept rejecting Schiller and Weiskopf's pitches, before they eventually went to Arnaz directly with the idea to center Sothern as a career woman managing a hotel.

On January 27, 1959, United Press International correspondent William Ewald reported in his column that Truex would depart the series.

[8] A few weeks later, on February 3, Ewald reported that Don Porter, Sothern's former Private Secretary co-star, would replace Truex.

[11] The move put the series in direct competition with the highly popular top 10 hit The Untouchables, and ratings declined as a result.

The first backdoor pilot, "Always April", aired on February 23, 1961, and starred Constance Bennett, John Emery and Susan Silo.

The episode featured Pat Carroll as Pandora, a young, slightly eccentric country girl who traveled to Los Angeles on the advice of her mother.

Unlike Susie McNamara in Private Secretary, and other working women of the era, O'Connor held a position of authority in a mostly male-dominated profession.

[16] During its run, The Ann Sothern Show was also sponsored by General Foods Corporation (Tang, Maxwell House coffee), Johnson Wax (Glo-Coat and Pledge), and Post Cereals.