This show is consistently underrated in my opinion. Created and largely written (even the theme song) by the talented Max Schulman, who later brought us such gems as the movie "House Calls", the program gave us such classic characters as the boy-crazy Zelda (ironically portrayed by a Lesbian, Shelia James), Maynard, the closest thing to a "beatnik" most of Middle America ever saw, and Dobie's dad Herbert (played by the great character actor Frank Faylen), the grocer who needed very little prompting to remind whoever was listening, "I was in The Big One, W W 2!" but who was deep down a fine guy (he reminded me a lot of one of my uncles). Dobie's pining for Thalia, and his soliloquies in front of the copy of Rodin's "The Thinker" in the local park, were close to priceless. I think that the fact that this show was filmed in black and white has hurt its chances for being rerun in recent years, even on "TV Land" or "Nick at Nite".
Review of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
