How sad is this?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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

I was a teenager and saw "...Dobie Gillis" when it first came out, at a time when I was a teenager myself! Others have commented how this was ahead of its time. If silly, mindless, fantasy (not reality)-based comedy is your cup of tea, then please help yourself. The characters are over-the-top (as are most so-called "sit-coms"). The circumstances are ridiculous. The characters are not developed. "Family Affair" is one of the worst ever. I also saw "Private Secretary," "My Little Margie," "Topper," and others when they were first broadcast. How about "December Bride"? The others were not great, but at least they were not so mindless. Ahead of its time? Yes, today's sitcoms are silly and shallow, too... so in that respect it was. "I Love Lucy" was zany but the characters had some depth and they interacted with one another in a logical way. "All in the Family" has to be one of the best-written, best-acted, most thoughtful series of all time. Dobie Gills and sit-coms in general are mindless entertainment. I do recall that, as someone commented elsewhere here, that "...Dobie Gillis" was edited in a "snappy" way.

This show was groundbreaking. No other show captured the generation gap of this era quite like Dobie Gillis.First, it portrayed life from a teen's perspective in the age of Father Knows Best. In the early seasons, Dobie was a high school student consumed with only getting a pretty girl to be his girlfriend. Usually, it was Thalia Menninger who had expensive tastes. The conflicts usually resulted from the fact that Dobie was always broke and never wanted to work. He would always try to get money from his dad, but Herbert T. Gillis was not the type to give someone something for nothing. Also, Dobie, despite being a highly likable boy, was far from an exemplary student, which meant girls realized that his future was not promising.Second, Dobie's parents were probably the most realistically portrayed of any TV parents from that era. Herbert T. Gillis was a hard-working, but loud-mouthed and had a blustery personality. He openly declared his teenage son a "lazy bum who would wind up living off the county" because he wouldn't work. The first season he would often respond to his disapproval of Dobie's actions by saying, "I gotta kill that boy. I just gotta." This was mildly controversial in that era and that line was later dropped. Instead, he would just be speechless with a bewildered expression that pretty much said he wanted to kill his son. Despite, his outbursts, Mr. Gillis was basically good hearted, but the generation gap between father and son was obvious and portrayed with humorous results. Dobie's mom, Winnie Gillis, was nice, but too nice, and counterbalanced Herbert by doting on her son and letting Dobie get away with not working in the family grocery store. Third, the writing and editing were superb. The writing contained a wit not found in other shows of that era.HERBERT: Son. Your mother's a wonderful woman. Dobie: She a gem. HERBERT: She's one in a million. Dobie: She's a princess. MAYNARD: She's a warden.The editing was great, because as a scene would close, it would set up the next scene and instantly cut to the next scene where a character would respond in the exact opposite manner to how that scene was being set up.MR POMFRITT- You talk to your father, Dobie. I'm sure he'll want you to stay in college. (instant pan to the next scene with Mr. Gillis closeup): MR. GILLIS: You have got to quit school. (After explaining to Dobie and his mom, that Dobie wasn't taking any courses that would help him in the real world at school, and that he was supporting Dobie's lifestyle): (shouting)Wise up, son. Get a job.Fourth, the cast contained several well portrayed eccentric characters. In addition, to Dobie, Thalia, and his parents, there were:Chatsworth Osbourne, Jr.- a rich, spoiled, and party time brat who was quite likable and funny. He was often in competition with Dobie for a beautiful girl.Maynard G. Krebs- Gilligan with a gotee. Always wore a scraggly sweatshirt with holes, loved jazz and bee-bop, would shirk when the word "work" was mentioned, and an even worse student than Dobie. Zelda Gilroy- was a smart, brainy, scheming, and an unattractive girl who loved Dobie and was always outsmarting him by sabotaging his romances with more attractive girls.Mrs. Osbourne- was Chatsworth's mother who called her son, "you nasty boy." She was a tyrant, who stirred things up with her son, Dobie, Maynard, and Mr. Gillis. Maynard called her "Your dragonship."Mr. Pomfritt- was Dobie and Maynard's high school teacher and later professor in college. He played most of their teacher/professors and taught just about every subject that there was. He, like other teachers portrayed on the show, weren't the Leave it to Beaver type teachers. They often complained about being underpaid, under-appreciated, and the "younger generation."I think the best parts of this series were seasons 1 and the first half of 2 (before they made ill-advised decision to put Dobie and Maynard in the army) and season 3. By season 3, Dobie and Maynard are in college. At this point, Dobie has matured. He does work in his father's store while going to school, but unfortunately, he is taking mostly liberal arts courses and is becoming an idealist. There were a lot of young, cute actresses appearing on the show each week in this season as Dobie's romantic interests. The show also began to focus more on Maynard and Herbert Gillis. Maynard was a beatnik character when the series began, but was becoming more a clownish type character with a gotee at this point. The silly and sometimes humorous and other times ridiculously over the top conflicts between these two were kind of a preview of the Gilligan/Skipper escapades that would be down the road. Personally, I prefer this show and Maynard's character over Gilligan. By season four, Dwayne Hickman had outgrown Dobie, and much of the episodes focused on his cousin, Duncan (Dunkie) Gillis and Maynard's silliness. In fact, Dobie seemed like the only character that wasn't eccentric at this point. Unfortunately, the too many of the episodes were becoming a little over the top at this point. Despite much of the last season, and the last half of the second, this show has a special charm that stands out from most of the others from that era. Some of the material is obviously dated by today's standards, but overall I think this show and the basic premise holds up quite well. I hope they make this entire series available on DVD soon. From what I understand, there are currently copywrite issues.

Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963) was another one of the manysit-coms that came out during the late fifties through the early sixties. Inever really enjoyed this show. I don't understand how people like thisshow. The only thing that was amusing about it was Bob Denver. Heco-starred as one of Dobie's friends. I believed he was supposed to be abeatnik. I didn't care about Dobie's love life or his many girlfriends either. The series didn't last more than four years. Years later a made fortelevision update was made. I never saw the movie because I never dug thisshow. Who knows maybe if I see it again I'll like it. Until then I have togive this "classic" show a pass.I'm Mike Tee Vee. Same channel, same station!