Gordon had worked with Ball as far back as 1938 on the CBS radio program "The Wonder Show" and later worked with her on another radio show, "My Favorite Husband". When CBS retooled "My Favorite Husband" for television as "I Love Lucy", Gordon was offered the role of Fred Mertz, but he was already committed to the radio series "Our Miss Brooks" (which also was about to move to television) so William Frawley was cast in the part. In 1952, Gordon guest starred on the first season of "I Love Lucy" as Ricky Ricardo's boss at the Tropicana, Alvin Littlefield. Six years later, Gordon became a regular on the short-lived NBC-TV sitcom "Sally" which starred actress Joan Caulfield (who inherited Lucille Ball's role as Liz Cooper when "My Favorite Husband" was directly adapted to television in 1953). In the late fall of 1958, Gordon guest-starred as a judge in the hour-long "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" episode "Lucy Makes Room for Danny". From 1960 to 1962, he had recurring roles on two CBS-TV sitcoms – "The Danny Thomas Show" and "Pete and Gladys". Gordon was to have joined "The Lucy Show" at its premiere in the fall of 1962, but he was still contractually obligated to "Dennis the Menace", in which he had replaced Joseph Kearns, who had unexpectedly died earlier in the year. It was later revealed that Ball had grown unhappy with Charles Lane because of his difficulty remembering his lines in front of the studio audience and was eager to have Gordon join the cast. Lane then became a semi-regular on the CBS-TV sitcom "Petticoat Junction" as Homer Bedloe.