SYNOPSIS

Base on characters by author Max Shulman, this series focused on Dobie Gillis, a typical American teenager. He loved beautiful girls, fancy cars and money. Unfortunately he was the son of a grocer and not the most attractive kid, which put a crimp in his style. Dobie and his beatnik buddy Maynard (work to him was a dirty word), did their best to get by with a minimum of effort. Dobie had two real enemies in life. The first was Zelda Gilroy, an intelligent but unattractive female who was trying to get herself married to Dobie. The second was millionaire Chatsworth Osborne, Jr., a spoiled young man who flaunted his social status, not to mention his money.

When the series premiered in 1959, Dobie had to contend with handsome Milton Armitage for the attention of his favorite girl, the modest, aristocratic mercenary Thalia Menninger. She was interested in acquiring "oodles and oodles" of money. She was constantly looking to better Dobie's prospects for supporting her in the lifestyle to which she would become accustomed! Dobie was also much concerned about his future and was seen at the beginning of each episode in Central City's park next to a statue of The Thinker, assuming the same famous pose while pondering his fate.

In February 1960, Milton was replaced by Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. with Doris Packer assuming the role of his snobbish, overbearing mother, basically the same type of part she had played as Milton's mother when the series began. In March 1961, Dobie and Maynard enlisted in the army, thinking that would help them find themselves. The army thing only lasted until the first episode of the 1961-1962 season, when they resigned from the service and enrolled in S. Peter Prior Junior College. It was there that Maynard fought the system in his nonconformist way and his "good buddy" Dobie chased women and tried to find himself. The title was changed from Dobie Gillis to The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis.

On May 10, 1977, 15 years after Dobie Gillis ended its run, CBS aired the pilot episode for a proposed revival series titled Whatever Happened To Dobie Gillis? What happened was Dobie had finally been snagged by Zelda, and had a teenage son, Georgie (played by Stephen Paul). Maynard, now forty-something but still unconventional, came back to visit. The new series never happened. Another reunion took place in February 1988.