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87-404: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (also known as simply Dobie Gillis or Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis in later seasons and in syndication) is an American sitcom starring Dwayne Hickman that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5, 1963. The series was adapted from the "Dobie Gillis" short stories written by Max Shulman since 1945, and first collected in 1951 under the same title as

174-483: A live studio audience using a multiple-camera setup , the latter of which continues in some modern productions such as The Big Bang Theory and Fuller House . Other formats make use of a laugh track or "canned laughter". Since the 1990s, sitcoms have since expanded to animated sitcoms , with successful shows of the genre including The Simpsons , King of the Hill , and Family Guy . Critics have debated

261-540: A 30-minute time slot. Throughout their history, American sitcoms have often drawn inspiration from British counterparts. Popular shows like All in the Family , Three's Company , and Sanford and Son were adapted from successful British series. More recently, The Office achieved significant popularity in the United States , following the success of its British counterpart. Numerous television networks in

348-455: A Fox contract player without an agent – was unable to negotiate a raise in his $ 250 a week salary until season four. Denver was able to parlay his role on Dobie Gillis into lead roles on later television series, in particular the one for which he is best remembered, the 1964–67 CBS sitcom Gilligan's Island . Established actors Frank Faylen, a longtime acquaintance of the Hickman family and

435-480: A casting director's secretary, added his name to a list of candidates auditioning for the role. Denver and Hickman had both attended Loyola University together several years earlier and were casually acquainted before Dobie Gillis . After filming the third episode of Dobie Gillis , Denver announced that he had received his draft notice . The character of Maynard enlisted in the Army and was given an elaborate sendoff in

522-425: A closeted lesbian) "too butch". James' contract for the pilot and the resulting waiting period caused her to be absent from much of the fourth and final season of Dobie Gillis , though Amateau was able to hire her to return as Zelda for four episodes towards the end of the season. Acting roles became sparse for James by the late 1960s; she went into law and politics under her birth name of Sheila Kuehl, and later became

609-544: A core group of characters who interact in a recurring setting, such as a family, workplace, or institution. However, British sitcoms typically consist of shorter series, often six episodes, and are frequently developed by a smaller writing team. The majority of British sitcoms are half-hour comedies recorded in studio settings using a multiple-camera setup. While many adhere to traditional sitcom conventions, some have ventured into more unconventional territory. For example, Blackadder and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister shifted

696-525: A father figure to both Dobie and Maynard. Most of the action for the first season-and-a-half of Dobie Gillis centered on the Gillis grocery store, Central High School, and the Central City park. The park scenes are used as the show's framing device , with Dobie sitting on a park bench in front of a reproduction of Auguste Rodin 's statue The Thinker . Breaking the fourth wall , he would explain to

783-476: A fellow parishioner at their church, and Florida Friebus were cast as Dobie's parents, Herbert T. Gillis and Winifred Gillis. Faylen's gruff, no-nonsense father character, which according to Hickman, was essentially the same as Faylen's real-life personality, was more of an antagonist to Dobie during the first season of the show, his demeanor underscored by his often-repeated catchphrase "I gotta kill that boy! I just gotta!" Both CBS and Marlboro strongly disapproved of

870-533: A middle-aged married couple in the two spin-off Dobie Gillis reunion projects of the 1970s/1980s. Leander Pomfritt ( Herbert Anderson in the pilot, William Schallert thereafter) was Dobie's English and science teacher at Central High School, and later, when Dobie went to S. Peter Pryor Junior College, Pomfritt (played by Schallert) was on the faculty there, as well. A stern educator fond of deadpan quips, Pomfritt referred to his pupils as "my young barbarians" or "students (and I use that term loosely)" and served as

957-430: A neck injury he had sustained some years earlier. After completing "The Sweet Singer of Central High", Pollard was bought out of his contract – he had signed a " play-or-pay " contract and was paid for all 30 episodes in which he was to have appeared, while Denver was rehired. Maynard's return was explained by stating that the Army had given Maynard a "hardship discharge" – the Army's hardship, not Maynard's. Initially only

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1044-466: A recording star out of Dwayne Hickman, ignoring the fact that Hickman, by his own admission, was not a singer. Recording engineers had to piece together numerous takes to get a usable vocal track from Hickman for each song. Hickman introduced several of the songs from the Dobie! album on the show during its second season, including "I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter" and "Don't Send a Rabbit". Earlier, while Hickman

1131-566: A regular gay character (Terry Bader as journalist Leslie). In 1987, Mother and Son won the Television Drama Award for portraying a woman suffering from senile dementia and her interaction with her family, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission . In 2007, Kath & Kim ' s first episode of series 4 attracted an Australian audience of 2.521 million nationally. This

1218-515: A short-lived series titled Windy and Willy in 1969. The program spawned two 20th Century Fox-produced sequels, the pilot Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? (1977) and the TV movie Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis (1988). Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? was an unsuccessful pilot for a new weekly sitcom series, which was produced, directed, and developed by James Komack after creator Max Shulman

1305-448: A short-story compilation, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis , was published in 1951. These stories were originally published in such magazines as Cosmopolitan and The Saturday Evening Post . A follow-up collection, I Was a Teen-age Dwarf , appeared in 1959. The titular character appeared at various ages in these stories, all of which are set in St. Paul, Minnesota , though the majority of

1392-519: A standard laugh track provided by technician Charles Douglass . Creator Max Shulman served as the show runner for and an uncredited producer of Dobie Gillis . He contributed scripts for episodes of the show during all four seasons, with several stories – including "Love is a Science" (season one, episode three), "Love is a Fallacy" (season one, episode 22), and "Parlez-Vous English" (season two, episode 11) – directly adapted by Shulman from his original Dobie Gillis short stories. During its fourth season,

1479-557: A staple of the government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In the 1970s and 1980s many British sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network . By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served? had been re-screened several times by ABC Television ; they were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature

1566-446: A supporting character, Denver's Maynard had graduated to co-lead by season two, as the character's "beatnik" mannerisms and eccentricities made him a hit with the viewing audience. For a handful of episodes towards the end of season three, Maynard became the show's lead character while Dwayne Hickman was hospitalized with and later recovering from pneumonia . Despite Maynard's increasing screen time, however, Denver – who had signed on as

1653-454: A week, working from May to December of each year. Dwayne Hickman's fourth wall-breaking monologues were saved for the end of the production of each episode; their length resulted in Hickman requesting and getting a teleprompter from which to read them for season two forward. The show was not filmed before a live studio audience ; during the first season, a live audience viewed each episode and provided its laugh track . Subsequent seasons used

1740-565: Is derived from anti- ("against") and agonizesthai ("to contend for a prize"). The antagonist is commonly positioned against the protagonist and their world order. While narratives often portray the protagonist as a hero and the antagonist as a villain , like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter , the antagonist does not always appear as the villain. In some narratives, like Light Yagami and L in Death Note ,

1827-440: Is not always a person or people. In some cases, an antagonist may be a force, such as a tidal wave that destroys a city; a storm that causes havoc; or even a certain area's conditions that are the root cause of a problem. An antagonist may or may not create obstacles for the protagonist. Societal norms or other rules may also be antagonists. An antagonist is used as a plot device, to set up conflicts, obstacles, or challenges for

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1914-564: Is one of the leading channels in India, dedicated entirely to Sitcoms. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the longest-running sitcom of Indian television and is also known as the flagship show of SAB TV . On Tiptoes and Shabhaye Barareh were among the first and most important sitcoms that led to the growth of this type of comedy in Iran, both receiving wide critical and audience acclaim. El Chavo del Ocho , which ran from 1971 to 1980,

2001-695: Is set in Central City, a fictitious city in the Midwestern United States (the original short stories are explicitly set in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area). One of the show's running gags is that Maynard is going downtown "to watch them knock down the old Endicott Building " (which is in Saint Paul, Minnesota ). Another running gag is the reference, especially by Maynard, to a film called The Monster that Devoured Cleveland and its sequels, one of which always seems to be playing at

2088-479: The ABC sitcom Happy Days . Sitcom The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners . These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term "sitcom" emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filmed in front of

2175-725: The Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series . In 2020, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek was nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards . This broke the record for the most Emmy nominations given to a comedy series in its final season. During the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the show became the first ever comedy or drama series to sweep the four acting categories ( Outstanding Lead Actor , Outstanding Lead Actress , Outstanding Supporting Actor , Outstanding Supporting Actress for Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Levy , and Annie Murphy respectively) and one of only four live action shows, along with All in

2262-753: The RTR channel. The "boom" of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s, when in 2004, the STS started the highly successful sitcom " My Fair Nanny " (an adaptation of the American sitcom " The Nanny "). Since that time, sitcoms in Russia have been produced by the two largest entertainment channels in the country — STS and TNT . In 2007, the STS released the first original domestic sitcom — " Daddy's Daughters " (there were only adaptations before), and in 2010, TNT released " Interns " —

2349-480: The U.S. Army . Dobie continued to break the fourth wall and narrate the episodes, with the park set eschewed for an abstract set with the same reproduction of The Thinker . At the start of the third season, Dobie and Maynard received their Army discharges, after which they, Zelda, and Chatsworth enroll in S. Peter Pryor Junior College , where Mr. Pomfritt was now a professor after having resigned from his position at Central High. Dobie's science and history teacher at

2436-592: The UPA-style animated titles was written by 20th Century-Fox musical director Lionel Newman , with lyrics by Shulman. The theme was sung by Judd Conlon 's Rhythmaires, with music conducted by Newman. Session singer Gloria Wood of the Rhythmaires provided the scat singing used as incidental score during the first two seasons. Dwayne Hickman, at the time the breakout star on The Bob Cummings Show (also known as Love That Bob ) as nephew Chuck MacDonald, gained

2523-483: The United States feature sitcoms in their programming. CBS , TBS, Nickelodeon , and Disney Channel are just a few examples of networks that air sitcoms. Antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist . The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – antagonistēs , "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, rival," which

2610-431: The 1990s these included: Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993), Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001), Ramani Vs Ramani (Tamil 2001), Amrutham (Telugu 2001–2007), Khichdi (2002), Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2005) F.I.R. (2006–2015), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008–present), Uppum Mulakum (Malayalam 2015–present), and Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain (2015–present). SAB TV

2697-482: The 2010s, resulting in a decline in sitcom popularity. Nevertheless, there have been recent efforts to revive the sitcom genre. For instance, Netflix released So Not Worth It in 2021, featuring many creators from popular South Korean sitcoms. Popular South Korean sitcoms include the High Kick series, which has spawned several spin-offs. British sitcoms , like their American counterparts, often revolve around

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2784-417: The Family , The Golden Girls , and Will & Grace where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Nukkad (1986), and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) on the state-run Doordarshan channel. Gradually, as private channels were permitted to operate, many more sitcoms followed. In

2871-519: The Gillis Grocery—now also a pharmacy—on their own, Dobie's parents having died. Meanwhile, Thalia (played by Connie Stevens after Weld declined to reprise the role) returns to Central City—with Maynard, whom she has rescued from a deserted island (a homage to Gilligan's Island )—after 20 years. She offers a $ 50,000 bounty to anyone who will kill Dobie when he refuses to divorce Zelda and marry her. Hickman, Denver, and James returned for Bring Me

2958-526: The Head of Dobie Gillis , which featured Steve Franken as Chatsworth, William Schallert as Mr. Pomfritt, and Scott Grimes as son Georgie Gillis. Connie Stevens ' daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher , played Chatsworth's daughter Chatsie, who chased Georgie Gillis with the same zeal Zelda had once used chasing Dobie. On July 2, 2013, Shout! Factory released The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The set included all 147 episodes of

3045-655: The Menace ; when that show was picked up (also by CBS), he chose to stay with that cast, and actor William Schallert appeared in the recurring role of Mr. Pomfritt through the end of season three. Warren Beatty was cast as Milton Armitage, a recurring rival of Dobie's at his high school, during the first half of season one. Hickman later recalled that Beatty "looked at me like I was a bug" while on set. Beatty did remain friends with his brief co-star Michael J. Pollard . The two co-starred in Bonnie and Clyde eight years later. He quit

3132-578: The Rye , almost every character other than the protagonist may be an antagonist. Another example of this occurring is through Javert in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables , in which Javert displays no malicious intent, but instead represents the rigid and inflexible application of the law, even when it leads to moral and ethical dilemmas. An aspect or trait of the protagonist may be considered an antagonist, such as morality or indecisiveness. An antagonist

3219-588: The United States in 1926 with the radio show Sam 'n' Henry . The subsequent success of Amos 'n' Andy , also created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , solidified the sitcom's place in American radio programming. The transition to television brought about significant changes in the sitcom format. Mary Kay and Johnny , which premiered in 1947, became the first American television sitcom. Today, American sitcoms typically run for 22 minutes, allowing for approximately eight minutes of advertising within

3306-451: The attention of beautiful and unattainable girls. He did not have any of these qualities in abundance, and the tiny crises surrounding Dobie's lack of success made the story in each weekly episode. Also constantly in question, by Dobie and others, was Dobie's future, as the boy proved to be a poor student and an aimless drifter. His sidekick and best friend was American television's first beatnik , Maynard G. Krebs ( Bob Denver ), who became

3393-473: The catchphrase and the Herbert T. Gillis character's hard edges. An early season-two episode, "You Ain't Nothin' But a Houn' Dog" (episode two), in which Dobie inadvertently wins a father-and-son essay contest, was produced to explain why Herbert ceased use of his catchphrase. Herbert was further softened as the series wore on, the character's anger tempered to frustration. Experienced child actress Tuesday Weld

3480-486: The change after negotiating employment for himself on the series as show runner . The Fox pilot, "Caper at the Bijou", featured Dwayne Hickman as Dobie, Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus as his parents, newcomer Bob Denver as a new character, Dobie's beatnik best friend Maynard G. Krebs, and Tuesday Weld as Dobie's unattainable love interest Thalia Menninger. First pitched to and rejected by NBC, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

3567-420: The characters of Dobie, Maynard, Chatsworth, and Zelda for the remaining episodes of the series. Actresses who played Dobie's love interests included Cheryl Holdridge , Michele Lee , Susan Watson , Marlo Thomas , Sally Kellerman , Ellen Burstyn (then billed as Ellen McRae), Barbara Babcock , Sherry Jackson , and Danielle De Metz . Yvonne Craig appeared in the opening credits and the closing sequence of

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3654-594: The college was Dr. Imogene Burkhart ( Jean Byron , whose real name was used for that of the character). In season four, Dobie's teenaged cousin Duncan "Dunky" Gillis ( Bobby Diamond ) moves in with the Gillises, and becomes something of a tag-along for Dobie and Maynard. The fourth-season episodes tended more towards surreal plots and situations featuring Maynard as the central character rather than Dobie. Max Shulman's first Dobie Gillis short stories were printed in 1945, and

3741-410: The concept of " propinquity " (or nearness; as Gillis and Gilroy, they were typically seated together in class). Despite his protests, Dobie was clearly fond of Zelda, and Zelda claimed Dobie loved her, but just had not realized it yet. To prove this, she would wrinkle her nose at Dobie, who would reflexively do the same back to Zelda and then protest "now cut that out!" Dobie and Zelda later appeared as

3828-558: The current counterculture , particularly the Beat Generation , primarily embodied in a stereotypical version of the "beatnik," mainly in the character of Maynard G. Krebs , portrayed by actor Bob Denver , though a few others are shown. Series star Dwayne Hickman wrote in 1994 that Dobie represented "the end of innocence of the 1950s before the oncoming 1960s revolution". The series revolved around teenager Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman), who aspired to have popularity, money, and

3915-510: The exact definition of a sitcom, mostly regarding productions created at the turn of the 21st century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use a single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, instead more resembling documentaries or the comedy-dramas of the 1980s and 1990s. Although there have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, many American and British sitcoms have been successful in Australia, since sitcoms are considered

4002-529: The first openly gay person elected to the California State Legislature . Steve Franken, a 28-year-old character actor, was cast immediately after Beatty's departure as Chatsworth Osbourne, Jr., a replacement character for Milton Armitage. While both Milton and Chatsworth were rich rivals of Dobie Gillis's (and both characters shared the same actress, Doris Packer , for a mother) and were, according to canon, cousins, where Beatty's Milton

4089-647: The first sitcom, filmed as a comedy (unlike dominated "conveyor" sitcoms). Sitcoms, or "시트콤" in Korean, gained significant popularity in South Korea during the 1990s. This popularity was fueled by the success of shows like Dr. Oh's People , LA Arirang , and Men and Women . The use of computer graphics (CG) in sitcoms began to increase in the late 1990s as more broadcasters adopted CG technology. This led to more visually dynamic and creative sitcoms. However, viewer preferences shifted towards dramas and thrillers in

4176-496: The focus from domestic or workplace settings to the world of politics. A more recent development in British comedy is the mockumentary , a style that blends documentary and comedic elements. Shows like The Office , Come Fly with Me , W1A , People Just Do Nothing , and This Country have successfully employed this format to explore a variety of topics and characters. Sitcoms, or situation comedies, made their debut in

4263-508: The fourth and final season on December 16, 2014. In addition to the physical releases, all episodes of Dobie Gillis are also available on the streaming services Shout! Factory TV, Amazon Prime Video , Tubi , and Vudu . The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was a major influence on the characters for another successful CBS program, the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! , which ran on

4350-477: The local cinema. Dobie's often apoplectic father, Herbert T. Gillis ( Frank Faylen ), owned a grocery store and was only happy when Dobie was behind a broom. Dobie's mother, Winifred ( Florida Friebus ), was a usually calm and serene woman who protected Dobie to the best of her ability and tended to baby him. Herbert Gillis, a proud, hard-working child of the Great Depression and World War II veteran,

4437-484: The neck". Weld reportedly found Hickman pushy and out-of-touch. Aged 15 at the time of shooting the pilot, Weld had to legally spend much of her time on set in school with a tutor, and the production periodically ran into issues involving Weld's later publicly known difficult home life. Her work in Dobie Gillis and the feature film The Five Pennies made Weld a star, leading to substantial publicity. She departed

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4524-453: The network from 1969 to 1970 followed by several spin-offs. As confirmed by series creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and writer Mark Evanier , the four teenaged lead characters of Scooby-Doo were based on four of the lead characters from Dobie Gillis : Fred Jones on Dobie, Daphne Blake on Thalia, Velma Dinkley on Zelda, and Shaggy Rogers on Maynard. Garry Marshall said that he drew inspiration from Dobie Gillis when he created

4611-416: The part of Dobie Gillis over several other candidates, including Michael Landon . Despite being cast as a 17-year-old, Hickman was 24 when he starred in the pilot in the summer of 1958. Because Hickman had appeared for several years on Bob Cummings as Chuck, he was required by Shulman and CBS to bleach his dark brown hair blond for the role of Dobie to distance himself from that character in the public's (and

4698-488: The pilot film used to sell the series to CBS, but did not appear in the actual episode, "Caper at The Bijou", when it was broadcast. She eventually played five different girlfriends on the show, more than any other actress. Actress Sherry Alberoni , an original Mickey Mouse Club "Mouseketeer", played one of Zelda Gilroy's sisters in the 1960 episode "Dobie Spreads a Rumor". After the first season of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis had aired, Capitol Records attempted to make

4785-439: The protagonist is a villain and the antagonist is an opposing hero. Antagonists are conventionally presented as making moral choices less savory than those of protagonists. This condition is often used by an author to create conflict within a story. This is merely a convention, however. An example in which this is reversed can be seen in the character Macduff from Macbeth , who is arguably morally correct in his desire to fight

4872-431: The protagonist. Though not every story requires an antagonist, it often is used in plays to increase the level of drama. In tragedies, antagonists are often the cause of the protagonist's main problem, or lead a group of characters against the protagonist; in comedies, they are usually responsible for involving the protagonist in comedic situations. Author John Truby argues that a true opponent not only wants to prevent

4959-405: The series after the first year to star in features, although she was persuaded by Max Shulman to return for two guest appearances, "Birth of a Salesman" (season three, episode 21) and "What's a Little Murder Between Friends?" (season four, episode two). Herbert Anderson was cast as Mr. Pomfritt, Dobie and Maynard's English teacher at school. Anderson appeared in a lead role in the pilot for Dennis

5046-521: The series in September 1959, midway through production of the first season after filming his fifth and final Dobie episode, "The Smoke-Filled Room", to appear in A Loss of Roses on Broadway . Former child actress Sheila James, who, playing daughter "Jackie" on The Stu Erwin Show , had worked with Dwayne Hickman on that series and The Bob Cummings Show , was cast without an audition as Zelda Gilroy,

5133-431: The series' breakout character . An enthusiastic fan of jazz music (with a strong distaste for the music of Lawrence Welk ), Maynard plays the bongos , collects tinfoil and petrified frogs, and steers clear of romance, authority figures, and work (yelping "Work?!" every time he hears the word). Always speaking with the vernacular and slang of the beatniks and jazz musicians he admired, Maynard punctuates his sentences with

5220-592: The series, plus the original prenetwork version of the pilot and appearances by Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver on other television programs of the time. Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? and Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis were not included, the latter due to music clearances, and the former because the master copy could not be located. The first season of the show was also made available on Amazon Prime Video on this date. Shout! subsequently released each season individually, season one on September 10, 2013, season two on January 14, 2014, season three on May 6, 2014 and

5307-532: The show has earned an estimated $ 1 billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa . Gliding On , a popular sitcom in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won multiple awards during its run including Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Direction at the Feltex Awards . The first Russian sitcom series was "Strawberry", which resembled "Duty Pharmacy" in a Spanish format. It was aired from 1996 to 1997 on

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5394-549: The show's next episode, "Maynard's Farewell to the Troops". Stage actor Michael J. Pollard was brought out from New York to play Maynard's cousin, Jerome Krebs, who was introduced at the end of "Maynard's Farewell to the Troops" and was to assume Maynard's role in future scripts. Before Pollard had completed his first episode, "The Sweet Singer of Central High", however, Denver returned and announced that he had been designated " 4F " – unfit for service – during his physical because of

5481-581: The show, by then known as Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis , suffered both from competition with NBC's color Western The Virginian and from the growing inattention from Max Shulman. Shulman began spending increasing amounts of time at his home in Westport, Connecticut , while the show was in active production, ceding his role as show runner to associate producers Joel Kane and Guy Scarpitta. CBS decided not to renew Dobie Gillis after production had concluded on its fourth season. The theme song "Dobie" accompanying

5568-447: The sponsors') minds. By the second season, however, Hickman was permitted to return to his natural hair color, after he had complained to the producers that the constant bleaching required to keep his low crew cut hairstyle blond was causing his scalp to break out. Bob Denver, a 23-year-old grade-school teacher and postal worker with no previous professional acting experience, won the part of 18-year-old Maynard G. Krebs after his sister,

5655-645: The stories centered on his college years at the University of Minnesota . Aside from Dobie and his parents, Zelda Gilroy was the only other character from the books directly adapted to the series as a regular or recurring character. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced the first media adaptation of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis in 1953 as The Affairs of Dobie Gillis , a black-and-white musical film starring Debbie Reynolds , Bob Fosse , and Bobby Van as Dobie Gillis. Following its release, Shulman set about attempting to bring Dobie Gillis to television. An initial pilot

5742-434: The subsequent TV series, which drew directly on the stories in some scripts. Shulman also wrote a feature-film adaptation of his "Dobie Gillis" stories for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1953, titled The Affairs of Dobie Gillis , which featured Bobby Van in the title role. Hickman in Dobie Gillis was among the first leads to play a teenager on an American television program. Dobie Gillis broke ground by depicting elements of

5829-486: The third season of Dobie Gillis , Rod Amateau and Max Shulman produced a pilot for a Zelda spinoff starring Sheila James as Zelda Gilroy, with Joe Flynn and Jean Byron cast as her parents. However, CBS president James Aubrey lingered over moving forward with the Zelda series for a long time before firmly rejecting the series, with Amateau telling James in private that Aubrey had found Zelda (and by extension James, then

5916-460: The tomboyish brainy girl who was in love with Dobie. Originally intended as a one-shot character for the episode "Love is a Science" (season one, episode three), Max Shulman liked both Zelda and Sheila James and had Zelda retained as a semiregular character. Signing a contract with Dobie Gillis necessitated James, then an 18-year-old college student, changing her major from theater to English, so Shulman could assist her with her studies on set. After

6003-419: The tyrant Macbeth , the protagonist. Examples from television include J.R. Ewing ( Larry Hagman ) from Dallas and Alexis Colby ( Joan Collins ) from Dynasty . Both became breakout characters used as a device to increase their shows' ratings. Characters may be antagonists without being evil – they may simply be injudicious and unlikeable for the audience. In some stories, such as The Catcher in

6090-412: The viewing audience his problem of the week, usually girls or money (in the earliest episodes, Dobie is seen emulating the trademark pose of The Thinker – head planted on fist in deep contemplation – before turning and acknowledging the camera). The teen characters graduated from high school halfway through the second season, and Dobie and Maynard (along with Chatsworth) subsequently did a brief stint in

6177-430: The wealth and popularity to which Dobie aspired, but also served as romantic and competitive rivals for Dobie. Beatty's Milton was taller, better looking, and more athletic than Chatsworth. Doris Packer played Clarissa Osborne, Chatsworth's overbearing and snobbish mother, whom he affectedly referred to as "mumsie." Dobie was hopelessly attracted to the beautiful but greedy blonde Thalia Menninger ( Tuesday Weld ). Thalia

6264-399: The word " like " and has a tendency towards malapropisms . The main running gag on Dobie Gillis would have Dobie or one of the other characters rattling off a series of adjectives describing something undesirable or disgusting ("I'd be a ragged, useless, dirty wreck!"), at which point a previously unseen Maynard would appear (entering the scene in close-up), saying "You rang?" Dobie Gillis

6351-472: Was a lot like Dobie had been at his age. Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis , first aired as the CBS Sunday Movie on February 22, 1988, was directed and co-written by Stanley Z. Cherry after Dwayne Hickman, who was the film's producer, was forced by the network to fire Max Shulman and Rod Amateau, with whom he had originally conceived the film. The plot features the married Dobie and Zelda running

6438-556: Was a menacing and athletic physical threat, Franken's pompous, foppish Chatsworth tended to plot and scheme his way through competitions with Dobie, more often than not using his riches to get ahead. The Chatsworth character became popular enough that the producers had to consciously limit his appearances on the series to roughly one per month to prevent Franken from upstaging Hickman and Denver, but Franken stated both during and after Dobie Gillis that playing Chatsworth led him to be typecast and stifled his career. Young actor Bobby Diamond

6525-472: Was appearing on Love That Bob , he had recorded a single, "School Dance", for ABC-Paramount Records , but both the single and the later Capitol album sold very few copies. DC Comics published a Many Loves of Dobie Gillis comic book that ran for 26 issues from 1960 to 1964, featuring artwork by Bob Oksner . Stories from this comic-book series were later reprinted, with updates to the artwork and lettering to remove any references to Dobie Gillis , by DC as

6612-411: Was brought on at the beginning of season four as Dobie's teenaged cousin, Duncan "Dunky" Gillis. By 1962, the 28-year-old Dwayne Hickman had begun to look too mature to carry the teenager-based plot lines, and instead Diamond's "Dunky" was given this material, with the older yet immature Maynard as a running partner. The character was dropped midway through the fourth season, with attention shifting back to

6699-507: Was cast as Dobie's love interest in "Caper at the Bijou" and stayed on as a semiregular. Weld and Dwayne Hickman had previously appeared as a teenaged couple in the 1958 Fox feature film Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! , based on a Max Shulman novel, though produced without his input. Neither Hickman nor Weld was fond of the other, with Hickman later stating he felt Weld was not as dedicated as necessary to rehearsal and referring to her as "a pain in

6786-927: Was criticized by several social commentators as inappropriately disrespectful to the office of the Prime Minister. The show nevertheless proved very popular with both television audiences and critics, becoming the most-watched Australian scripted comedy series of 2011. It was nominated at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Although there have been several notable exceptions, relatively few Canadian sitcoms attained notable success in Canada or internationally. Canadian television has had much greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington aired from 1975 to 1980, at its peak garnering an average of 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The 1999 movie Trailer Park Boys

6873-634: Was fired from the production. It was broadcast by CBS on May 10, 1977, as a one-shot special. In the pilot, Dobie had married Zelda and is helping his father Herbert run the Gillis Grocery when Maynard comes back to Central City from his world travels. Depressed over turning 40 and not living the life he had dreamed of as a teenager, Dobie goes to his beloved Thinker statue and attempts to destroy it, landing in jail. The production starred Dwayne Hickman, Bob Denver, Sheila James, Frank Faylen, and Steven Paul as Dobie and Zelda's teenaged son Georgie, who

6960-530: Was followed up by a television series of the same name that ran from 2001 to 2018, airing in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Corner Gas , which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging one million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards. Other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included: Call Me Fitz , Schitt's Creek , Letterkenny , and Kim's Convenience , all of which have been winners of

7047-458: Was greenlit for series by CBS. Phillip Morris ' Marlboro was the program's primary sponsor, and it sold a week-to-week alternating co-sponsorship to Pillsbury Company for the first two seasons, with Dwayne Hickman appearing in one of the Pillsbury commercials. Colgate-Palmolive replaced Pillsbury as the alternate sponsor in season three. While the pilot for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

7134-638: Was often (during the first season of the show) heard to declare, in relation to Dobie, "I gotta kill that boy, I just gotta!" The Gillis family also originally included an older son, Davey Gillis (portrayed by Dwayne Hickman's own older brother, Darryl Hickman ), who made three appearances during the first season while home on break from college before being written out of the show. Dobie's two main antagonists were rich kids Milton Armitage (played by Warren Beatty ), who appeared in five episodes, and after Beatty's departure, Chatsworth Osborne Jr., Milton's cousin (played by Steve Franken ). Both characters represented

7221-641: Was produced by comedian and producer George Burns in 1957, with his son Ronnie Burns starring as Dobie. After this pilot did not sell, Shulman took Dobie Gillis to 20th Century Fox Television , run at the time by Martin Manulis . Manulis asked Shulman to reduce the Dobie character's age from 19 to 17, making him a high-school student instead of a college student and an age peer of Ricky Nelson from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Wally Cleaver ( Tony Dow ) from Leave It to Beaver . Shulman agreed to

7308-635: Was shot at the main 20th Century Fox lot in Century City, California , principal photography and production for the series proper took place at the original Fox Film Corporation studio at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue (next to the headquarters of DeLuxe ) in Hollywood . Dobie Gillis was filmed with two cameras , a method that producer and director Rod Amateau had learned while working on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show . Fox turned out one episode of Dobie Gillis

7395-559: Was the highest rating for a first episode in the history of Australian television, until the series premiere of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in 2009, which garnered 2.58 million viewers. In 2013, Please Like Me received an invitation to screen at the Series Mania Television Festival in Paris, was praised by critics, and earned numerous awards and nominations. Also in 2013, At Home with Julia

7482-546: Was the most-watched show on Mexican television and had a Latin-American audience of 350 million viewers per episode at its popularity peak during the mid-1970s. The show continues to be popular in Central America as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and other countries. Syndicated episodes average 91 million daily viewers in all its American markets. Since it ceased production in 1992,

7569-506: Was written out of the series after the first season and was succeeded by a seemingly endless stream of women for whom Dobie hankered. Weld returned as a slightly wiser Thalia for two guest appearances in seasons three and four. Zelda Gilroy ( Sheila James ) was a brilliant and eager young girl, hopelessly in love with Dobie, much to his annoyance. Zelda did not find Dobie particularly attractive, but fell in love with him because she found him helpless and needing of her care, and also because of

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