History Series / TheManyLovesOfDobieGillis

The show's characters also served as an inspiration for the cast of another CBS show, the Saturday morning cartoon ''[[ScoobyDoo Scooby-Doo! Where are you?]]'' (Think Fred as Dobie, Shaggy as Maynard, Velma as Zelda, and Daphne as Thalia.)

* SyndicationTitle: ''Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis''

'''''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis''''' aired from 1959 to 1963 on Creator/{{CBS}}. Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman) was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who wanted simple things in life; money, respect, and the love of beautiful women. His best friend was an oddball beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) who sported a goatee and was allergic to work. Dobie perennially found himself pursuing beautiful women who were rarely interested in him, while his dogged childhood friend Zelda insisted she was destined to be his ultimate match.

''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' aired from 1959 to 1963 on Creator/{{CBS}}. Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman) was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who wanted simple things in life; money, respect, and the love of beautiful women. His best friend was an oddball beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) who sported a goatee and was allergic to work. Dobie perennially found himself pursuing beautiful women who were rarely interested in him, while his dogged childhood friend Zelda insisted she was destined to be his ultimate match.

* BettyAndVeronica

* TheSlacker: Maynard

* ActorAllusion: The reunion has Maynard mention having been [[Series/GilligansIsland shipwrecked on an island]] for some time.

* DivorcedInstallment: In the late sixties, DC Comics printed tweaked versions of their Dobie Gillis comics, resulting in "[[http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/555/windy-willy2.html The Way-Out World of Windy and Willie]]".

* HeyItsThatGuy: Dobie's father is [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife Bedford Falls cabdriver Ernie Bishop]].

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Sheila James Kuehl (then billed as Sheila James) as Zelda, a very man-hungry (well, Dobie-hungry) young woman. In reality, Ms. Kuehl is an out-and-proud lesbian. (Although not "out" during the show's run in the late 50's and early 60's, she was already well aware of her orientation at the time.) It's said that a "Zelda" spinoff was scotched because executives somehow got wind of her sexual orientation. Not that it hurt her too badly - she went into law, then politics and became a California legislator for years before being termed out in the early '00s.

The series was adapted from a collection of short stories written in the early '50s by humorist Max Shulman (which had also inspired the 1953 MGM musical ''The Affairs of Dobie Gillis'', starring Bobby Van as Dobie and Debbie Reynolds as his love interest). There is more info available [[http://www.tvparty.com/recdobie.html here]].

There is more [[http://www.tvparty.com/recdobie.html here]].

* GenerationXerox: ''Bring Me The Head of Dobie Gillis'' seemed to be setting up a similar dynamic with the children of Dobie and Zelda and Chatsworth and his wife, where "Chatsie" continually chased after Dobie's son in the same way Zelda chased after Dobie.

Two of the show's best-remembered cast members only appeared in its first season: WarrenBeatty (in one of his first roles as Dobie's WorthyOpponent, the handsome, rich Milton Armitage) and Tuesday Weld (as Dobie's primary dream girl, the blonde, money-hungry schemer Thalia Menninger).

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Warren Beatty left the show midway through the first season, so his character of Milton Armitage was replaced with his (similarly wealthy and handsome) cousin Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: A running gag has people frequently mishearing Dobie's name as "Dopey."

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Sheila James Kuehl (then billed as Sheila James) as Zelda, a very man-hungry (well, Dobie-hungry) young woman. In reality, Ms. Kuehl is an out-and-proud lesbian. (Although not "out" during the show's run in the homophobic late 50's and early 60's, she was already well aware of her orientation at the time.) It's said that a "Zelda" spinoff was scotched because executives somehow got wind of her sexual orientation. Not that it hurt her too badly - she went into law, then politics and became a California legislator for years before being termed out in the early '00s.

* ActorAllusion: The reunion has Maynard mention having been [[GilligansIsland shipwrecked on an island]] for some time.

* HollywoodUgly: Zelda

* NeverSayThatAgain

* VerbalTic: Mere mention of the word "work" in the presence of employment-averse Maynard always triggered a spasmodic, panicked interjection of "WORK?!"

''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' aired from 1959 to 1963 on {{CBS}}. Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman) was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who wanted simple things in life; money, respect, and the love of beautiful women. His best friend was an oddball beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) who sported a goatee and was allergic to work. Dobie perennially found himself pursuing beautiful women who were rarely interested in him, while his dogged childhood friend Zelda insisted she was destined to be his ultimate match.

It broke a lot of new ground for TV, being one of the first shows to have [[BreakingTheFourthWall the characters comment directly to the audience]], as well as one of TV's first "counter-cultural" characters (Maynard). It was also much more slyly scripted than a lot of the more dated shows of the era, and was noted for rapid-fire dialogue exchanges (one of the most dialogue-heavy sitcoms of the era).

* BeardOfEvil: Inverted with Maynard's ubiquitous goatee, at a time when such chin lettuce was more often associated with more villainous types.

* BettyAndVeronica

* GirlOfTheWeek: Among the actresses that played Dobie's love interests were such then-unknowns as Marlo Thomas, Sally Kellerman, Ellen Burstyn (then billed as Ellen [=McRae=]), Barbara Babcock, Sherry Jackson, Diana Millay, Barbara Bain, and Yvonne Craig.

* KaleidoscopeHair: Enforced. Dobie's actor (Dwayne Hickman) was made to dye his hair blonde in order to distance him from a previous role. When the show was well established, he was allowed to return to his natural brown hair color; however, at times he had to go blonde again.

* NeverSayThatAgain

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Sheila James Kuehl (then billed as Sheila James) as Zelda, a very man-hungry (well, Dobie-hungry) young woman. In reality, Ms. Kuehl is an out-and-proud lesbian. (Although not "out" during the show's run in the homophobic late 50's and early 60's, she was already well aware of her orientation at the time. It's said that a "Zelda" spinoff was scotched because executives somehow got wind of her sexual orientation. Not that it hurt her too bad. She went into law, then politics and became a California legislator for years before being termed out in the early '00s.)

* TheNextGeneration: ''Bring Me The Head of Dobie Gillis'' seemed to be setting up a similar dynamic with the children of Dobie and Zelda and Chatsworth and his wife, where "Chatsie" continually chased after Dobie's son in the same way Zelda chased after Dobie.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Sheila James Kuehl (then billed as Sheila James) as Zelda, a very man-hungry (well, Dobie-hungry) young woman. In reality, Ms. Kuehl is an out-and-proud lesbian. (Although not "out" during the show's run in the homophobic late 50's and early 60's, she was already well aware of her orientation at the time.)

It broke a lot of new ground for TV, being one of the first shows to have [[BreakingTheFourthWall the characters comment directly to the audience]], as well as one of TV's first "counter-cultural" characters (Maynard). It was also [[BetterThanItSounds much more]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar slyly scripted]] than a lot of the more dated shows of the era, and was noted for rapid-fire dialogue exchanges (one of the most dialogue-heavy sitcoms of the era).

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Most episodes begin with Dobie briefly addressing the audience with a little background exposition of the plot to follow. (Occasionally, these monologues would also appear mid-show as transitional links.) The scenes invariably had Dobie in front of the famous Rodin sculpture "The Thinker." (The earliest episode openings would start with Dobie emulating The Thinker's pose.)

''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' aired from 1959 to 1963 on {{CBS}}. Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman) was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who wanted simple things in life; money, respect, and the love of beautiful women. His best friend was an oddball beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) who sported a goatee and was allergic to work. Dobie perennially found himself pursuing beautiful women who were rarely interested in him, while his dogged childhood friend Zelda insisted she was destined to be her ultimate match.

* CatchPhrase: At least OnceAnEpisode, Dobie's father would be heard to intone, "I gotta kill that boy. I just gotta." Also Maynard's "WORK!" and "You Rang?".

''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' aired from 1959 to 1963 on {{CBS}}. Dobie Gillis was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who wanted simple things in life; money, respect, and the love of beautiful women. His best friend was an oddball beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs who sported a goatee and was allergic to work. Dobie perennially found himself pursuing beautiful women who were rarely interested in him, while his dogged childhood friend Zelda insisted she was destined to be her ultimate match.