Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Good Guys-1968


TV Guide Cover November 16, 1968 with Bob Denver and Herb Edelman..from the first season of "The Good Guys" Courtesy Classic TV Archive

TV Guide Ad for the second season premiere of "The Good Guys" Also from Classic TV Archive

Today I'd like to talk a bit about what I think is a very underrated sitcom..if nothing else, because of the great theme song..

The Good Guys, starring Bob Denver, 2 years removed from Gilligan's Island and Herb Edelman as lifelong buddies who live in the same town..Edelman, as diner owner Bert Gramus and Denver as Cab Driver Rufus Butterworth, who is always coming up with Get-Rich Quick schemes, much to the chagrin of Gramus and his wife Claudia, played by Joyce Van Patten..Very much a screwball type comedy, typical of sitcoms of the 1968-70 era..The series premiered Wednesdays at 8:30 September 25, 1968 on CBS-TV..The series showed enough promise to warrant a second seasaon pickup..

The diner was moved out to the beach for the second season, and Rufus was made a partner..The show apparently dropped off in the ratings, as a move to Friday Nights at 8 didnt help, for it was canceled January 23, 1970...The Show was a production of Talent Associats, the company responsible for Get Smart..The catchy theme, one of the better ones ever for a sitcom in my opinion, was written by Jerry Fielding, with lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Amazingly enough, this show has never been seen in syndication, or on cable..I am hoping at some point there might be a DVD set..Much more obscure shows have already seen the DVD treatment...


Promottional ad for "The Good Guys"..Very funny bits here..


First season open/close for The Good Guys..Notice Alan Hale was the guest star in this episode, reuniting with Bob Denver..Jim Backus also appeared occsionally on this series..


Episode featuring Alan Hale as "Big Tom"-Originally aired February 26, 1969
Part 1


Part2


Part 3




Bert's Place on the Web
http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/goodguys/index.html

David Johnson a native of Kansas City, Mo. has the only "Good Guys" page on the web..Episode guides and photos from the series..

3 comments:

  1. Say, what city did that ad for "The Good Guys" come from?

    ReplyDelete
  2. you can buy at dvdsentertainmentonline.com Thanks

    http://www.dvdsentertainmentonline.com/product/2042/1968-The-Good-Guys-DVD-TV-Bob-Denver-Herb-Edelman_1141327.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great show this site has this on DVD thanks


    http://www.classicmoviesandtvcom.com/product/1968-the-good-guys-dvd-tv-bob-denver-herb-edelman

    ReplyDelete