Dobie Gillis

Well, they were.

Zelda was much cooler than Velma, though. Actually the whole damn show was pretty cool.

I used to love Nick at Nite's promo about Dobie's ever changing hair color.

Any other actors who have created TWO iconic characters on two different TV shows, like Bob Denver did with Maynard and Gilligan?

Gidget and Sister Bertrille: they really liked them both!

Betty White on "Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

Robert Young on "Father Knows Best" and "Marcus Welby, M.D."

God’ll get you for that, R3.

Uh hello?

Laura Petrie and Mary Richards

Maude and Dorothy Zbornak

Warren Beatty is a bit perturbed with being left off this list.

John Forsythe in Bachelor Father & Dynasty & Charlie’s Angels

Raymond Burr - Perry Mason and Ironside

Buddy Ebson - Jed Clampett and Barnaby Jones

Tom Bosley — Mr Cunningham & Father Brown

OP’s photo of Maynard is hot ... damn, he looks good ... def that Sunday morning just wome up after a wild night of fucking ...

*woke

The peripheral characters: Mr. Pomfritt, Miss Burkhardt, Chatworth & his mother, Dobie's parents, etc. often were more interesting than Dobie and Maynard. They were smart to not replace Thalia menninger---it's a shame they couldn't keep Tuesday Weld as a more frequent recurring cast member.

I had never made the Dobie/Scooby Doo connection myself, but it's no surprise. Many of the Hanna-Barbera characters were rip-offs, I mean homages, to established TV characters. The Flintstones = The Honeymooners. Top Cat = Sgt. Bilko. Snagglepuss = Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. Huckleberry Hound = George Gobel. I'm sure there are other examples.

Andy Griffith as Sheriff Taylor and Matlock

Linda Evans as Audra Barkley and Krystle Carrington

Larry Hagman as Major Nelson and J. R. Ewing

Maynard (well, you know) showing his stuff with Nancy.

I thought Dwayne’s brother Darryl was better looking.

I remember thinKing their first names were odd. I’d never heard those names before. I was used to Billy, Tommy, John, James, etc.

[quote]The peripheral characters: Mr. Pomfritt, Miss Burkhardt, Chatworth & his mother,

Loved Doris Packer as Chatsworth's mother. She had also played Milton Armitage's (Warren Beatty) mother, Chatsworth having been the replacement character for Milton.

[quote] Any other actors who have created TWO iconic characters on two different TV shows, like Bob Denver did with Maynard and Gilligan?

Diahann Carroll: Julia Baker on JULIA and Dominique Deveraux - DYNASTY and THE COLBYS

And for fellow Baby Boomers, Richard Deacon will always be remembered as Fred Rutherford on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and Mel Cooley on the DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, although neither character could truly be considered iconic

I'm sure Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. was a DLer until he died.

Former child actor Darryl has had an interesting life and career, including a month as a "passionist monk". He'll be 89 next month.

Don Knotts as Barney Fife and Mr. Furley, although I hesitate to call the latter "iconic."

Most of these "two time" stars wound up as supporting players--really tedious.

BTW, William Schallert and Jean Byron reunited playing husband and wife on the Patty Duke Show.

Maynard looks like Pete Townshend with a normal sized nose.

[quote] Most of these "two time" stars wound up as supporting players--really tedious.

'Tedious' certainly describes Gale Gordon, who played the same pompous blowhard in every show he did: OUR MISS BROOKS, I LOVE LUCY, DENNIS THE MENACE, THE LUCY SHOW, HERE'S LUCY, and LIFE WITH LUCY.

Speaking of OUR MISS BROOKS, Howzabout DL fave Eve Arden?

She starred in OUR MISS BROOKS and THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, although I suppose the latter role is iconic only if you're a gay Baby Boomer

yes, mighty damn tedious for actors and actresses to look for roles and get them.

[quote]Tom Bosley — Mr Cunningham & Father Brown

No, dear. He was Father DOWLING.

Father Brown is British.

I love Doris Packer in ANYTHING. She was always a welcome addition to a "Beaver" episode as Mrs. Rayburn. And of course as Mrs. Fenwick on "The Beverly Hillbillies," with her daughter "Cinthy," portrayed by Joanna Barnes, of Gloria Upson fame.

I was very young, and I don't remember much, but my earliest memory of television was "The Many Love of Dobie Gillis" in the early '60s. I thought it was so cool that I could watch a show about teenagers. Dwayne Hickman was so handsome. Even back then I knew Zelda Gilroy (Sheila James) was a lesbian. Maynatd G. Krebs was flaky. but by the time Gilligan's Island came around a year or two later, I felt like I already knew Bob Denver

Doris Packer's final role was a small part in "Shampoo," reuniting her with Warren Beatty.

R11 and Sheriff Amos Tupper

Doggie Gillis has aged much better than most shows of that period.

Michael Landon in Bonanza and Little House on the Prarie.

[quote]Doggie Gillis has aged much better than most shows of that period.

Almost a one to seven ratio you could say.

I remember watching My Little Margie reruns in my aunt’s house when I was too young for school. A few year later on, I watched reruns of The Gale Storm Show.

I had no idea they were the same person.

I really miss local independent stations. They showed old movies, horror flicks, 1950s reruns like I Married Joan, The People’s Choice & December Bride. Plus they made their own shows like kids shows with clowns (Claude Kirschner) & dance shows for teens. Clay Cole, Lloyd Thaxton. They did Officer Joe Bolton introducing the Little Rascals & 3 Stooges. Then sonny Fox, Chuck McCann, Bill McAllister & Soupy Sales.

Call Murray hill 7-7500. Operators are standing by.

Ted Danson: Sam Malone and John Becker

Bea Benaderet played Blanche Morton, Pearl Bodine and Kate Bradley.

Plus Betty Rubble.

Ever iconic Betty Lynn Buckley as Abby in "Eight is Enough" and as Suzanne in "Oz"!

Duh R29, Doris Packer also played the mother of Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. on Dobie Gillis.

Your "Duh" is misplaced, R40. Doris Packer

. . . Doris Packer's playing of Mrs. Osborne and Mrs Armitage had already been mentioned. R29 was merely mentioning some of her other TV roles.

Darryl Hickman played the young boy whom Gene Tierney "eliminated" in 'Leave Her To Heaven.'

Sheila tells a story about Bob Denver that makes me love him.

(Jump to 3:00 if you have a short attention span.)

Steve Franken, who played Chatsworth Osbourne, was Al Franken's cousin. And his character was much funnier than Warren Beatty's Milton Armitage.

Richard Crenna as Walter Denton on OUR MISS BROOKS and Lucas McCoy on THE REAL McCOYS.

I never watched Dobie Gillis. What is the premise?

Great show. Terrific Clips on YouTube

Interesting, OP, never thought about that, but it all matches. All EXCEPT Dobie himself. The blonde guy in Scooby Doo was supposed to be a handsome jock type. Dobie wasn't like that at all.

Dobie was Shaggy R49.

Didn't they change the premise in the last season? Dobie and Maynard in the army, or something like that?

"Dobie Gillis" ran for four seasons. The first season and part of the second took place at the high school Dobie attended. Dobie and Maynard did a brief stint in the Army in the latter half of the second season. By the third season, they had been discharged from the Army and were attending the local community college, where their former high school teacher Mr. Pomfritt was now on the faculty.

R49 Fred was always a hot piece of ass. Freddie Prinze, Jr. Really brought him to life in the live-action films.

R53, truly. A career defining performance.

Maynard was Shaggy, r50.

It’s pretty funny that Maynard/Gilligan had a political science degree & had been a math teacher.

He graduated from the same college Dwayne Hickman attended. It was a Jesuit school. Weirdly, Mindy Cohen also graduated from the same school.

It's not unusual to find non-Catholics in Catholic colleges. Bill Clinton who was raised some sort of Baptist went to Georgetown. It was a little novel in the early 60s. No one would bat an eye now. I know Gentiles who've attended Brandeis and even Yeshiva. You sound like some sort of 19th century Protestant, R56.

Erm, Mindy Cohn voiced Velma in Scooby Doo, R57. That’s why it’s weird.

You sound obsessed with religion

Mary Tyler Moore and Bea Arthur each played two far more iconic characters than Maynard G. Krebs.

I liked everyone on it except the couple who played his parents......boring.....but then I was 10 years old.....

Of course Chatsworth and Dobie were my favorites although Maynard always made me laugh....and Zelda was a bit too desperate.....

Yes R51 during the last season or two they were in Junior College and then the Army.

Robert Conrad in Hawaiian Eye and Wild Wild West -- does anyone here even remember Hawaiian Eye? It launched his career (and tried to launch Connie Stevens').

[quote]Yes R51 during the last season or two they were in Junior College and then the Army.

Wrong order. They were in the Army for the latter half of the second season and then in junior college in third and fourth (final) seasons.

Dobie's mother later became a patient of Dr. Bob Hartley. I guess bringing up Dobie was pretty traumatic for her.

Her failed attempts to seduce Maynard cause her to have severe depression and self-esteem issues.

Even as a kid, I liked the parents. They weren't typical tv parents--you might have parents of secondary characters like them but not star parents. We really didn't see realistic, wacky parents again until Seinfeld.

Gilligan was married 4 times. Who knew he was such a ladykiller? I remember him looking rough in the last season on the island, but figured 3 years of dashed hopes of rescue did its damage. Skipper & Gilligan were based on Laurel & Hardy.

Interesting trivia - Gilligan's Island was a surprise cancellation. Though it had fallen in the ratings, it was still beating out The Monkees, it’s NBC time spot rival. CBS had decided to can Gunsmoke, but Bill & Babe Paley insisted it had to stay on the air, so they axed Gilligan instead. The cast had been told they were renewed for a 4th season & some had bought homes closer to the set. Bob Denver was asked on David Letterman Show in the 80s why the show was cancelled & Denver refused to talk about it. I guess the Paleys were still powerful back then.

Paley ran the network and by some accounts Gunsmoke was Babe Paley's favorite show. Gilligan had run its course by then and Bob Denver was able to land another series a couple years later. There have been odder cancellations---F Troop went off the air because Warner decided that television was no longer profitable, although they kept the turgid FBI on the air awhile longer.

I liked the parents, too. The mother was kind but scatterbrained and the dad was always promising that "one day, I'm gonna kill that boy." They weren't like previous TV parents at all.

The Wild Wild West went off the air despite high ratings because it was deemed too violent. This was in 1970, when the country was terrified of violence and blamed tv shows for its rise.

Hmm. I've never seen so much as a single episode of 'Dobie Gillis.'

Well, it is a 60-year-old sitcom, R70.

Zelda annoyed me. I know her character was supposed to be annoying but I was a kid watching reruns. All I knew was that she was ugly & squinched up her face all the time.

Most sitcoms didn’t last very long back then. They only lasted 2 or 3 seasons. I think it was a good thing because ideas were pretty much spent by then. A show had to be a super hit, like Dick Van Dyke, to last 4 or 5 seasons. Sponsors were afraid a show would become stale & their product would be associated with stale comedy. As time went on, sitcoms lasted longer if they were popular.

I don’t remember tv commercials on the early shows interrupting the middle of the show. I remember a commercial at the beginning & a commercial about 5 minutes before the end of the show. And at the end of the show, the sponsor‘s name would be at the bottom of the screen during credits. But it’s probably a faulty memory. When commercials became shorter, tv became less calm. A bunch of different commercials in a one-minute time period was frenetic.

I remember commercials back then were sometimes worked into the show. For example, on "The Real McCoys," Luke and Pepino would suddenly start talking about the benefits of Gleem toothpaste.

Luke: "It's the toothpaste for people who can't brush after every meal."

Pepino: "A toothpaste for people who can't brush??!"

Luke: "Ha ha ha. For people who can't brush after every meal, Pepino!"

Or they would switch to a scene where the characters were smoking. “These cigarillos sure are smooth and flavorful. Try one.”

You also got more episodes of a show each year, somewhere around 30, and instead of reruns you'd get summer replacement series.

I was just looking at an episode of Dobie Gillis on YouTube & Dobue took part in a proxy marriage, which Maynard couldn’t understand. He thought Dobie, the missing man & the bride were married to each other and it was too many men.

“Everyone knows mixed marriages don’t work,” he said, to canned laughter. I was kind of shocked & then realized that back then “mixed marriages” referred to religion.

Agree with the up-threaders who liked the parents, who had very different attitudes towards their offspring. Used to love when the father would sort of break the 4th wall and exasperatingly declare "I gotta' kill that boy, I just gotta." And when the mom would give Dobie some cash out of the till, his slow burn was priceless.

Frank Faylen, the dad, had a long career as a character actor, he was the taxi driver(Ernie) in "It's A Wonderful Life," and the owner of the music hall(?) where Barbra Streisand gets her first big notice in "Funny Girl."

I don't believe I ever saw the mom, Florida Friebus, in anything before this series, but she actually appeared on a lot of other TV shows.

I always liked alliterative names anyway.

I did not know Steve Franken was Al Franken’s cousin. I loooked up Steve (RIP) & his father was a Hollywood agent. That’s probably how Al got a television career because he & Tom Davis were not funny at all. It wasn’t til Franken did Stuart Smalley that he was funny.

[[quote] Any other actors who have created TWO iconic characters on two different TV shows, like Bob Denver did with Maynard and Gilligan?

Anyone know of any actors who played dumb, goofy tv character’s who got busted TWO times for weed? I mean jeez, skipper, Denver got busted in 1971, when only rock stars we’re getting busted for drugs. He must’ve pissed off that traffic cop.

It’s hard to believe he was a pot head. The guy had no hips & was skinny as a rail.

R79, I think you have it reversed. Stuart Smalley was really where Franken went down.

He was always a better writer than performer, so when they started putting him on camera more regularly, there was a decline.

Franken revived his career with Stuart Smalley. He and Tom Davis broke up & though he might've still been a writer on SNL, he had been off the screen for a while. Stuart got him back on the air during the years SNL had its best cast. The Stuart Smalley/Michael Jordan sketch was epic at the time.

Zelda!

Stuart was based on someone in the UWS Al-Anon group that was full of stars. A friend used to attend those meetings with James Taylor & half the cast & writing staff of SNL.

I would let Maynard G. Krebbs bang me like an old screen door.

I never saw this show, but I love Tuesday Weld.

Tom Selleck: Magnum, PI, Frank Regan (Blue Bloods), Jesse Stone

Peter Krause: Sports Night, Six Feet Under, Parenthood, and now 9-1-1. And in none of those were those supporting roles, either.

Ron Howard: Opie Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show) and Richie Cunningham (Happy Days)

James Garner: Maverick, The Rockford Files

I was in Jr High when Dobie Gillis was on TV and loved it. I was too old for Scoobie Doo and have never seen it -- was there a character based on Thalia Menninger?

Fred: Dobie

Daphne: Thalia

Shaggy: Maynard

Velma: Zelda

The other legend is that they and Soccby correspond to the Five Colleges Consortium in the Berkshires (supposedly because one of the creators went to school there):

Fred: Amherst

Daphne: Mr. Holyoke

Shaggy: Hampshire

Velma: Smith

Scooby: U Mass Amherst

But that can't really be true because "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" premiered in 1969, and Hampshire didn't even open until 1970.

*"Scooby", not "Soccby"

R84, he was on public access. In that period, most of SNL's recurring characters were based on public access.

It made for very odd viewing if you lived in Manhattan and saw the originals.

[quote] The other legend is that they and Soccby correspond to the Five Colleges Consortium in the Berkshires (supposedly because one of the creators went to school there)

There’s an equally bizarre theory that characters on Gilligan’s Island were based on the 7 deadly sins.

The Professor – Pride

Thurston Howell III - Greed

Ginger - Lust

Mary Ann - Envy (of Ginger's looks)

Mrs. Lovey Howell - Gluttony

The Skipper - Anger or wrath

Gilligan – Sloth

The characters of Gilligan's Island also correspond to the 7 principle masks of commedia.

I watched some repeats on YouTube & Vimeo and was reminded of some of the phrases the show popularized like “Surely you jest,” “oh, for joy” and “doomed.”

R3 Robert Young on Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, MD

Andy Griffith on The AGS and Matlock

Bea on Maude and GG

Schultsy on Love that Bob (the Bob Cummings Show) and Alice on The Brady Bunch

Here’s something odd. I was watching a series of interviews with Leonard Stern- a very prolific early TV screenwriter, producer & director — and best of all, one of the creators of Mad Libs! — and thought of this thread when he talked about doing a show called The Good Guys with Bob Denver. Stern says that Denver had. “a cult following” of young hippie guys who followed him around everywhere. The show was supposed to be filmed before a live audience, but the LA fire Marshall came in & shut down the show because so much pot was being smoked by the audience by Denver’s young friends. Rather than ask the young hippies to not go to the rehearsals & fillings, they shut down the theater & changed the whole aspect of the show, moving the shows characters to Malibu to a closed stage set and adding a laugh track.

The Good Guys was filmed in 1968-69. There were young hippies in LA at that time hanging out with celebs - Dennis Wilson, Terry Melcher, Candace Bergen, Cass Elliot, Buffalo Springfield, Troy Donahue, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. Lots of hippies around ..but it sounds like only young guy hippies, not girls, hung around with Denver.

^^^ You forgot Charlie, ya little PIGGY! Don't do that again!

Zelda Gilroy, now a Californial politician (and lesbian) called Sheila Kuehl, was in the news very recently for voting for a lockdown and then waltzing off to a restaurant.

Rue McClanahan as Viv on "Maude", Aunt Fran on "Mama's Family", and of course Blanche Devereux on "Golden Girls".

[quote] Didn't they change the premise in the last season? Dobie and Maynard in the army, or something like that?

Elite US Army Paratroops. Death from Above

I loved the scenes in the grocery store. with Dobie's dad, played by Frank Faylen. It's fun to compare such places with what we're used to now.

Fred Gwynne was Officer Muldoon in Car 54 Where Are You, and then Herman Munster.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Elaine Benes, Christine Campbell, Selena Meyer.

I was born too late for Dobie Gillis, but I tried to watch it a couple of years ago. I only got about five episodes in and gave up. I didn't think it was very good or entertaining, even with Warren Beatty for eye candy. It may be something you had to grow up with.

Yeah, if we're talking truly iconic characters, MTM and Julia L-D win this thread hands down. I don't know that anyone remembers Christine Campbell, but the other two will still be being watched at least as far into the future as MTM's are now.

Dobie had such an innocence and earnestness.

And Dwayne had that sweet face and retroussé nose.

They remind me of Andrew—