Plot

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.

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!"—Anonymous

The series was a television adaptation of the radio series "The Life of Riley" (1944-1951). Protagonist Chester Riley lived in Los Angeles, California and worked as a riveter at the company "Stevenson Aircraft and Associates". Chester lived at home with his wife Peggy (nicknamed "Peg"), daughter Barbara (nicknamed "Babs"), and son Junior. Chester was a stereotypical blue-collar worker and family man: of average intelligence, gullible, rather clumsy, well-intentioned, big-hearted, and somewhat inept at dealing with other people. The comedy was provided by Chester trying to resolve relatively mundane problems, and inevitably causing even bigger problems for himself and those near him.—dimadick