Pluskylang Great Film overall

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

cshep Brilliant writing by Max Schulman, "The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis", not to be confused with the earlier movie versions, centers around the exploits of Dobie Gillis(Dwayne Hickman) and Maynard G.(Walter) Krebs.The story basically takes place at the local high school in Central City , where Dobie fantasizes about his gal pal relationships, and encounters coming of age adventures.This IS "Classic" TV, it works on many levels, youth , angst, changing American cultures,Generation Gap,even before anyone knew it existed.Maynard G. Krebs(Bob Denver) delivers wonderful performances as the sidekick, and eternally loyal friend to Dobie. More often a hindrance than a help, Maynard can be trusted to be the difference.All-Star Cast of Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus as the loving and somewhat disciplinarian parents, Herbert T. and Winfred are timeless.They own a local grocery store, but have trouble making ends meet. The rest of the Cast shine just as brightly Tuesday Weld, Steve Franken, Warren Beatty, Jean Byron, William Schallert, Sheila James, and Doris Packer all help to stir this delicious offering.Underrated for having adolescent themes, Dobie Gillis transcends its' generational limitations, and provides solid enlightenment and entertainment, to all who see it as more than situation comedy. 10 stars out of 10, has it really been 50 plus years.I remember when it went off the air,that they would surely bring it back, because it had been such a terrific show....Then came Gilligan's Island...ouch

cathprism My family obtained its first TV right before the 1st episode of I Love Lucy. So I remember that sitcom well. But the two sitcoms from that era I really remember are The Burns and Allen Show, and Dobie Gillis. I'll skip George and Gracie for now, except to say that that show in some ways provided the 'techniques' that made Dobie Gillis so special, primarily the commentary (out of the action) by George, in the earlier series, and Dobie (at the feet of Rodin's The Thinker)in the later series.Dobie was special. Why? Because it dealt with the world of the American teenager. There was NO sitcom back then that did so. In fact, the teen-ager was just being delineated as someone special. Father Knows Best had Bud, and Ozzie and Harriet had Ricky and David, but no series had made its raison d'etre the American teenager. Dobie Gillis did, and beautifully so. It did so not by concentrating on the carnal appetites of young males, but by Dobie's heartfelt desire to find a heartmate. Around this character was created a world defined by Dobie's desires, that is, characters who were defined by how they might help or hinder his romantic quest.The writing to enable the realization of this quest was top-notch, creating characters who interacted logically with Dobie's single-minded campaigns. Dobie's parents, his teachers, his pal - Maynard G Krebs - all these were realized in relation to Dobie's atesteronic quest for the girl of his dreams. He wanted someone to love, not a body to bed, and in some ways we might doubt whether he actually knew about 'the birds and the bees'. What he did know about, and this is where the wisdom of the series is found, is that 'the best laid plans of mice and men {including those of ardent suitors)are oft gang agley'.I don't know of any other TV series that caught both the hope and the hopelessness of such endeavors with such marvelously comic results. It is tragic that no DVDs are available to allow us to see the richness of this early sitcom. Perhaps it is because Dobie's desires were chaste, and everyone knows that chastity is a downer, and that it is SEX that sells.

mcvouty78 Generations will remember him as Gilligan, and that one-gag show did have some funny moments, but Bob Denver better deserves recognition for playing Maynard G. Krebs in this little gem of a series. Although the show never did precisely represent the Zeitgeist of the times it portrays, and, in this post-modern age of irony, more than a little of it seems dated, it really was memorably funny.It's remarkable to realize that Dobie – the quintessential pre-hippie teenager – is working awfully hard to convince girls to do something that's really pretty innocent. This is a guy looking for love, first and foremost – in the form of affection and caring. It's not as if he were trying to talk the beautiful Thalia into bed, mind you. "Dobie," in the words of the show's theme song, "wants a girl to call his own. Is she short, is she tall, is she fat, is she small, is she any kind of dreamboat at all? No matter – he's hers and hers alone; 'cause Dobie has to have a girl to call his own." How sweetly corny! And chaste, too! Not a hint of sex! A good cast helped this show succeed. Tuesday Weld was more than just a pretty face; she was a surprisingly good actress. The young Warren Beatty was good, too. Dwayne Hickman created Dobie as a likable cipher, and Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus (her real name, not a Max Schulman creation) were convincing and comical as the 1950s parents from hell. Perhaps Sheila James' take on Zelda as Miss Walking Encyclopedia was a little over-the-top, and that nose-wrinkling shtick got a little old, but it worked. The superb character actor William Schallart shone as the English teacher Mr. Pomfritt (recalling the European nomenclature for French fries, "pommes-frites"), who never got to lecture about his favorite poet, William Wordsworth, because the end-of class bell would ring.And then there was Maynard.Dobie: "Zelda, I don't think that will work." Maynard: "Work!?!" Dobie: "Maynard!" This oft-repeated exchange became something of a catch phrase in certain circles (mine included), as the beatnik Krebs made America realize that it's much more important to play the bongos in a coffee house than hold down a job of any sort. Without Maynard, there would have been no Fonzie, no Bob Dylan, no Allen Ginsburg, no Beatles – well, maybe that's an overstatement. But Bob Denver was the one of the first actors to show the TV audience that people can be hip and likable at the same time. And what a natural he was in the role.Of course, none of these characters existed in real life. Real beatniks, like Jack Kerouac's Dean Moriarty, were far less likable and wholesome than Maynard. Tuesday Weld's troubled private life was much closer to a real-life situation than her portrayal of the gold-digging beautiful blonde. And nobody could be as non-libidinous as Dobie. These characters are of the same generation as the lusty characters portrayed in the movie "Animal House," after all. But this show was a fine, amusing and memorable little TV confection.

laffinsal It's a grand shame that very few people these days remember this fine sitcom about teenage life in the early 60s. Dwayne Hickman is endearing as simple-minded Dobie Gillis, the typical American teenager, who just wants a girl. Bob Denver is brilliant as his buddy, Maynard Krebs. Who needs Gilligan? Sheila James is fantastic as Zelda...always chasing after Dobie. Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus as Dobie's parents are too-oft forgotten for their parts on this show...they couldn't have gotten a better pair of actors.There was some really sharp, funny writing on this series, and that, mixed with the snappy editing, jazzy soundtrack and over-the-top situations, made for some very funny episodes. Plenty of hip, jazzy lingo to go around. Lovely Tuesday Weld was also around for a number of episodes during the first season (and a couple later on) as Dobie's object of affection, Thalia Menninger. It's too bad that they couldn't keep her on for more sporadic appearances, because it is the episodes that she appears in, which I consider to be the zenith of the series. The show started to get a little too silly during its last season, when the focus went towards Maynard and Dobie's cousin, Dunkie, but it was still unique.Without question, one of the high points of 1960s TV, and one of the most winning sitcoms of all time. It's a shame that it hasn't gotten the same kind of exposure in recent years as some of the other shows of the time. Hopefully it gets picked up and restored for a full DVD release sometime soon. It's just waiting to be rediscovered.