The Many Loves of DOBIE GILLIS -- any chance for this one?

According to the IMDB, 20th Century Fox Television and Martin Manulis Productions were the producers for this show. I don't know who the current rights holders are. I am too young to have seen this first run but I really liked the few episodes that I saw when Nick at Nite ran this briefly many years ago. I would probably buy it anyway they might release, even if it was only "Best of".

I would LOVE to see this show come out. I just love a lot of the crazy characters. His parents were great, as were Chatsworth Osborne and his mother (Doris Packer) I can just hear her saying CHATSWORTH YOU NASSSSSSTY BOY!!!

I've seen every episode of this sitcom when CBN reran it in the early 1980s, and I loved it....well, except for Dobie's friend Zelda (played by Sheila James, who is now a U.S. congresswoman). Zelda was an interesting character, and purposely ugly. Yet she was one of the women in Dobie's life. Zelda was also a strong character, and during those years through high school and college she stuck around (except during that period where Dobie and Maynard enlisted in the peacetime Army).

Sexy Tuesday Weld played Thalia Menniger during the first season 1959-1960. Unfortunately for Dobie, she was dating Milton Armitage (Warren Beatty, who didn't even make it past the first half of the year). But even then Dobie was dating a different girl in almost every episode.

It was also in that first year, in which Darryl Hickman (Dwayne's older brother) played Davey Gillis.

The second season wisely shortened the name of the show to Dobie Gillis and even shortened the theme song and dropped the animated opening. The Army episodes were for a couple of months early in 1961, and when they didn't work out Dobie & Maynard came home and went to college the following fall.

During the fourth season in 1962-63, Tuesday Weld returned to guest star as Thalia. It was the first time she had been seen in nearly 3 years. By then a successful career woman, she tried to get Dobie's life on track but didn't have much luck. But she had an ulterior motive as Thalia often did...


Frank Faylen and Floria Freibus, who both ironically had the initials F.F. were wonderful as Dobie's parents. Frank was as easily angered (if not more so) than Gale Gordon's uptight characters on the various Lucy sitcoms.

I too was a fan of the wealthy Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. and his snobbery vs. Dobie's common man appeal were an interesting contrast. Doris Packer not only played his mother for 3 years, but before that Milton Armitage's mom during the first season!! She is probably best known from another sitcom as the principal of Beaver Cleaver's school.

To hell with Gilligan! Maynard G. Krebs (the G actually stood for "William") was the first and greatest role of Bob Denver's long TV career! He was the first character to make fun of the beat generation (and give them a bad name at the same time, which was the whole point). A real W word "Work!" frightened the goateed Maynard, who during the 4 years of Dobie Gillis was usually seen in the same dirty gray torn sweatshirt. He and Dwayne Hickman and a few of the other regulars including Sheila, Steve Franken, and William Schallert (Mr. Pomfritt) returned for the TV movie Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis in the late 1980s -- some 25 years after the series ended. Connie Stevens played the role of Thalia Menniger.

You're also forgetting the very forgettable unsold pilot made in 1977 called Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis. Produced by James Komack, it originally had a script written by Max Shulman who had created the show. Komack got rid of him, telling him he didn't know the characters. And Komack was proud to say he had never seen an episode of the show which qualified him to do it. Definitely for completists only.

But getting back to the show, Fox owns it which means I don't think there's a snowballs chance in hell of it ever being released. This is a company that won't put out their really popular shows so I don't think we'll live long enough for Dobie. Unless at some point they care so little about it that they license it out to someone else, like Image. So far they have not done that with any of their product. They may be a little gunshy about that. In the earliest days of home video, they licensed 50 of their movies to a guy named Andre Blay. He formed a company called Magnetic Video and he payed Fox a few hundred thousand dollars for the movies. Fox executives, being the intuitive and foresighted bunch that they are, thought they hoodwinked Andre, giving him movies that were at least 5 years old and that had played on TV many times. They probably didn't think it so funny when his company did great and they bought it from him a year and a half later for 7.7 million dollars. So they may be a little hesitant to make any more licensing deals.

Although I saw it listed on TV Tome, I purposely left that out, because my post was long enough.

That 1977 pilot was the only thing Dobie-related that I haven't seen, but then it was some 6 years before I discovered the original series on cable. That's the problem with unsold pilots -- they rarely get shown more than once on TV (and most never air to begin with). It did seem appropriate to have Dobie running Gillis Grocery after his father died though, and they touched on that in the more formal reunion movie.

I'm glad you think so...meanwhile all of us Gilligan fans are truely enjoying the complete first 2 seasons of that show in glorious DVD restoration

All I'm saying is that Maynard G. Krebs from the Dobie Gillis series is Bob Denver's most outstanding work. As dimwitted as Maynard was, he was certainly more believable than Gilligan (and not just because Gilligan didn't have a last name).

Gilligan's Island has already been played to death uncut on TBS and other channels in reruns for years, and those film prints are of pristine quality. How does a digital restoration look any different? I watched the show when I was a kid, but I wouldn't collect it.

I'd love to see Dobie Gillis released on DVD! I watched it all the time on CBN and then on Nick at Nite. I loved the quirky, madcap feel of the show, the fast pace, and the distinct rhythms of the dialogue. One episode that stands out in my mind involved Zelda's attempt to win Dobie by recording a hit record. I remember her managing, in the course of a few minutes, to record the song and get it on the radio.

Count me in if this ever gets released!

Since this show seems to be trapped in rights hell, thanks to Max Shulman's estate, I thought some of you might be interested to know that the national feed of ME-TV, which started a few weeks ago, is running the show complete, uncut and remastered. It airs a staggering 11 new episodes a week on their current schedule. At that rate, the whole series can be recorded in about 3 and a half months. They have quite a few other series on there that might be of interest as well.

That they've got remastered and uncut episodes would possibly indicate there is hope for a dvd release? the # of channels that would run an old series like that are dwindling down to a select few -- not when they can run My 2 Dads or Everyone Likes Jim or whatever...

No, it doesn't - the estate is still holing out. New prints were struck up for the channel as it hasn't been broadcast anywhere for years!

I never heard of ME-TV, but it was easy enough to confirm that I don't get it -- OF COURSE.  (Comcast.)

Wow, that channel must have a lot of clout then. Of course some major wrinkle in a release probably means that things will never get solved. Be a little optimistic -- think like Ted Williams (not the frozen bobblehead, the Ohio guy)...

They've only started to sign up affiliates (The started a national feed on December 15th) , so give it time. MGM is handling the marketing to the stations, as they do with the other channel MR-TVs owners own, THIS TV 

 

Syndication rights have never been an issue, it's alway been handled by Fox's 20th Television.
 

Well, I don't know how all of these are related, or if they are, but we've also never had Fox Movie Channel and MGM-HD, to name a couple that come to mind.

If you have a C-band satellite dish, you can find it on there.

I don't have ME-TV either despite it going national.

 

They'll be signing up stations shortly.  

Okay, I've got to come back to this one again as "Dobie GIllis" was my favorite comedy series as a youngster. So, if anyone knows, how does the Max Shulman estate have final say over this series which is owned by Fox. I sincerely doubt that Shulman wrote all or, in fact, any of the episodes. I doubt that Erle Stanley Gardner's estate could have stood in the way of the "Perry Mason" series being released on DVD. Fox paid for the shows to be written, filmed and edited, hence, aren't they really Fox's property? I don't think that Margaret Mitchell or Lew Wallace's progeny could stand in the way of "GWTW" or "Ben-Hur" releases by the studios that owned them. Still, I recall the big brouhaha between the Gershwin estate and the release of Preminger's "Porgy and Bess". Well, evidently that's been settled now. Still no sign of a release date down the road for "Porgy and Bess", which is a real shame. I watched a complete 35mm print recently at LACMA. But, back to "Dobie", if there are new prints of the episodes and the original elements used are in good shape, what is the problem? And, if the Max Shulman estate does somehow control the series, do they intend to wait until the audience that remembers this show are safely in their graves. Then they won't make a dime. And, it will serve the greedy little bastards right! It's just sad that Dwayne Hickman won't see this released as I know he has rallied around it.

I agree with Ed's frustraton about greedy heirs who apparently think that certain properties are worth more than they are in which case everyone loses.   Fortunately some progress has been made recently.  Universal finally cleared Hope's "Cat and the Canary" and A&C's "It Ain't Hay" and released them on DVD within the past few years.

 

I don't know the specifics around Dobie Gillis but Gardner was actively involved in the making of Perry Mason and he had ownership interest in Paisano Productions.    He made his $$$ and then some from the series and the subsequent relaunches.    The attorneys representing Gardner's Estate indicated to me at one time that it was up to CBS to get the DVDs out (this is before the season sets appeared) and even provided me with contact info of someone to write to encourage them to do so.  Clearly they weren't going to stand in the way of releases.  Whether or not they would financially benefit, and to what extent,  I don't know.   Regardless of any direct financial benefit, keeping the PM legacy alive helps them in other ways (book sales plus on-going efforts to relaunch the character on TV).  Whether or not the latter is a good idea is debatable (would depend entirely on execution and respect for the original characters in my view).

 

Hopefully Dobie's and Maynard's fans will get their wish. 

 

 

Thanks for the reply, Steve. Well, I am also excited that the "Perry Mason" series is continuing to provide new episodes this fall. My family loves to watch these gems and often do so in evening rather than chancing the reality jungle that modern television has become. I wonder if it is possible for fans to get in touch with the Shulman heirs and ask them what it would take to get "Dobie" out there. Anyone out there have any insight as to how to do this? You also bring up a good point that it could only help book sales for the original novel. Plus, there is the legacy of Bob Denver, who was the perfect Maynard. I notice that the Dwayne Hickman website doesn't even bring up the possibility of a "Dobie" DVD release any more. He has moved on to painting pastoral scenes and many of his works are quite lovely.

Poor 20th Century Fox - Shulman's estate is holding up Dobie Gillis, Various issues are holding up Batman, and Green Hornet from coming out on DVD.

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Makes you wonder how much effort Fox is actually putting into clearing the rights issues, doesn't it?  The old adage about "where there's a will, there's a way" comes to mind.

 

Any new news about this show and if DVD's were made? I am trying to obtain a better quality version of this clip for a project I am doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5yvMExqKNA&feature=related

If anyone has this clip I'd love to talk to you about getting it in a better format for some cash.

Thanks so much.

Steve O. nailed it. Even if it wasn't for the right issues, Fox wouldn't be the least bit interested in putting it out themselves. Ditto Batman and The Green Hornet. And he's also right that Fox isn't making any effort whatsoever in actually trying to clear the rights. None whatsoever.

To Jeff#:

Didn't the G in Maynard's middle name stand for Walter? I haven't seen this show in years, but I loved it, less s for Dobie than just about any of the supporting characters. It's where I found out who Doris Packer and Frank Faylen were (I love catching him in films like It's A Wonderful Life, Gunfight At O.K. Corral, and The Lost Weekend).

PatH

Can't remember where or when I read an article that claimed Warren Beatty denies ever being in Dobie Gillis!

I'm glad this came up again! Why can't the Shulman heirs be circumvented or, better yet, somehow appeased? This was a very popular show at the time and is certainly beloved by more than enough fans to make a DVD release very viable. Maybe someone like Timeless will step in for Fox, or the Shulman kids could put it out themselves with Fox's blessing. Nobody makes a dime once the main fan base is, for the most part, dead and buried.

This morning, the Fox Movie Channel showed Bring Me the Head of Dobbie Gillis. I saw one of the Dobbie Gillis reunion films when originally broadcast and remember it being quite good. Right now, it is not on the schedule for a reshowing, but given FMC's practices, it probably will be at some point.