by Lee Goldberg
An update of the 1950s sitcom Dobie Gillis. Dobie (Dwayne Hickman) has married Zelda (Sheila James), has a sixteen-year-old son (Steven Paul) and runs his father's (Frank Feylan) grocery store. Maynard (Bob Denver) is now a successful entrepreneur and Chatsworth (Steve Franken) has become town banker. Another revival, entitled Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis was mounted by Hickman in 1988 for CBS where he is a program executive.
Cast: Dwayne Hickman (as Dobie Gillis), Bob Denver (Maynard G. Krebs), Sheila James (Zelda Gilroy), Frank Feylan (Herbert T. Gillis), Steven Frankel) (Chatsworth Osbourne, Jr.). Steven Paul (Georgie Gillis), Lorenzo Lamas (Lucky), Wynn Irwin (Henshaw), Alice Backes (Mrs. Lazio), Susan Davis (Mrs. Tucker).
269a. Dobie Gillis [Pilot #2] Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis. CBS 2/21/88. 2 hours. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: Stanley Z. Cherry. Executive Producer: Stanley Z. Cherry. Producers: Dwayne Hickman, Stan Hough, Marc Summers, and Steve Clements. Writers: Deborah Zoe Dawson, Victoria Johns, and Stanley Z. Cherry, from a story by Max Schulman. Creator: Max Shulman. Music: Jimmy Haskell. Theme: Lionel Newman and Max Schulman.
A second attempt to revive Dobie Gillis as a half-hour comedy. Dobie and his wife Zelda run the family store while their son Georgie follows in his dad's footsteps in high school.
Cast: Dwayne Hickman (as Dobie Gillis), Sheila James (Zelda Gillis), Bob Denver (Maynard G. Krebs), Steve Franken (Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.), Scott Grimes (Georgic Gillis), Connie Stevens (Thalia Henninger), William Shallert (Mr. Promfritt), Lisa Wilcox (Bonnie Bascomb), Tricia Leigh Fisher (Chatsie Osborne), Nicholas Worth (Max the Chauffeur), Kathleen Freeman Marie), Joey D. Viera (Sheriff Billy Pervis Ward), Dody Goodman (Ruth Knedelman), Hank Rolike (Andy Spunk). James Staley (Donald Snardmann), Lisa Fuller (Eloise).
270. Escapade. CBS 5/19/78. 60 minutes. Quinn Martin Productions. Director: Jerry London. Executive Producer: Quinn Martin. Producer: Philip Saltzman. Writer/Creator: Brian Clemens. Music: Patrick Williams.
This was an attempt to do an Americanized version of The Avengers, an outlandish, stylized spoof of spy movies, which was made in England and ran on ABC from 1966-1969, becoming a cult classic starring Patrick Macnee as debonair spy John Steed and Diana Rigg as his sexy, and dangerous, partner Emma Peel (and later Linda Thorson as Tara King). Brian Clemens, who created, wrote, and produced The Avengers, penned this lighthearted pilot, about two San Francisco-based spies (Granville Van Dusen and Morgan Fairchild) who take their orders from an uppity computer named OZ. It was made shortly after Clemens finished producing twenty-six episodes of a European-produced revival called The New Avengers, which starred Macnee, Joanna Lumley, and Gareth Hunt, and aired late night on CBS during the 1978-79 season.
Cast: Granville Van Dusen (as Joshua Rand), Morgan Fairchild (Susie), Len Birman (Arnold Tulliver), Janice Lynde (Paula), Alex 1-lenteloff (Wences), Gregory Walcott (Seaman), Dennis Rucker (Charlie Webster).
271. The Father Knows Best Reunion. [Pilot #1] NBC 90 minutes. 5/15/77. Columbia Pictures Television. Director: Norman Abbott. Producer: Hugh Benson. Writer: Paul West. Music: George Duning.
Jim and Margaret Anderson mark their thirty-fifth anniversary and everyone conies back together for the celebration. Betty is now a widow with two kids; Bud is a married motorcycle racer with a young son; and Kathy is single but dating a doctor ten years older than she is. Two more pilots followed this one.
Cast: Robert Young (as Jim Anderson), Jane Wyatt (Margaret Anderson), Elinor Donahue (Betty), Billy Gray (Bud), Lauren Chapin (Kathy), Hal England (Dr. Jason Harper), Jim McMullan (Frank Carlson), Susan Adams (Jeanne), Cari Anne Warder (Jenny), Christopher Gardner (Robbie Anderson), Kyle Richards (Ellen), Nellie Bellflower (Mary Beth), Noel Conlon (Reverend Lockwood).
271a. Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas. (Pilot #2]. NBC 12/18/77. 90 minutes. Columbia Pictures Television.„Director: Marc Daniels. Executive Producer: Rene Valentee. Producer: Hugh Benson. Writer: Paul West. Music: George Duning.
Jim and Margaret Anderson arc depressed about having- to spend Christmas alone, and the possibility they may have to sell their home.
Cast: Robert Young (as Jim Anderson), Jane Wyatt (Margaret Anderson), Elinor Donahue (Betty), Lauren Chapin (Kathy), Billy Gray (Bud), Hal England (Dr. Jason Harper), Jim McMullan (Frank Carlson), Susan Adams (Jeanne), Cari Anne Warder (Jenny), Christopher Gardner (Robbie Anderson), Kyle Richards (Ellen), Stuart Lancaster (George Newman), June Whitely Taylor (Jan Newman), Priscilla Morrill (Louise).
272. Rescue from Gilligan's Island. [Pilot #1]. NBC 10/14/78 and 10/21/78. 2 hours. Redwood Productions and Paramount Television. Director: Leslie H. Martinson. Executive Producer: Sherwood Schwartz. Producer: Lloyd J. Schwartz. Writers: Sherwood Schwartz, Elroy Schwartz, Al Schwartz, and David P. Harmon. Creator: Sherwood Schwartz.
This revival pilot of the beloved critically maligned but audience beloved CBS series Gilligan's Island was the surprise smash hit of the 1979-80 season (30.4 rating/52 share), prompting a rash of series revivals and "reunion" shows and—over fifty in all—that continued virtually unabated when the success of Perry Mason Returns in 1986 sparked a whole new wave of resurrections. In this, the first of three Gilligan's Island revival pilots. the castaways are swept out to sea by a tidal wave, are rescued, and return home to Hawaii, only to get shipwrecked on the same uncharted island during a reunion cruise a year later.
Cast: Alan Hale, Jr. (as the Skipper), Bob Denver (Gilligan), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III), Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Judith Baldwin (Ginger Grant), Vincent Schiavelli (Dimitri), June Whitley Taylor (Miss Ainsworth), Martin Ashe (Butler).
272a. [Gilligan's Island] [Pilot #2] Castaways on Gilligan's Island. NBC 90 minutes. 5/3/79. Redwood Productions and Paramount Television. Director: Earl Bellamy. Executive Producer: Sherwood Schwartz. Producer: Lloyd J. Schwartz. Writers: Sherwood Schwartz. Elroy Schwartz, and Al Schwartz. Creator: Sherwood Schwartz.
The hapless castaways find the remains of two planes and (a la The Flight of the Phoenix) use the parts from both to make one working aircraft. They once again leave their uncharted island. But this time, they intentionally return once more and, with millionaire Thurston Howell's money, open a resort hotel that purposefully lacks many of the modern amenities. The proposed series would spring, not unlike The Love Boat, from the interaction between the castaways and their many guests.
Cast: Alan Hale, Jr. (as the Skipper), Bob Denver (Gilligan), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III), Natalie Schafer (Lovely Howell), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Constance Forslund (Ginger Grant), David Ruprecht (Thurston Howell, IV), Tom Bosley (Henry Elliot), Marcia Wallace (Myra Elliot), Ronnie Scribner (Robbie), Rod Browning (Toni Larsen), Lanna Saunders (Mrs. Sloan), Mokihana (Naheete), Joan Roberts (Laura Larsen).
272b. [Gilligan's Island] [Pilot #3] Ilarlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. NBC 2 hours. 5/15/81. Redwood Productions and Paramount Television. Director: Peter Baldwin. Executive Producer: Sherwood Schwartz. Producer: Lloyd J. Schwartz. Writers: Sherwood Schwartz, Al Schwartz, David P. Harmon, and Gordon Mitchell. Creator: Sherwood Schwartz.
The castaways and the Harlem Globetrotters battle. an evil scientist (Martin Landau) and his army of robots who arc after a rare mineral found only on the island. Originally, this was intended to feature the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. The castaways later reappeared in animated form on the 1982-83 CBS Saturday morning series Gilligan's Planet, and showed up in the flesh in 1987 on episodes of The New Gidget and ALF. A new incarnation, Gilligan's Island II, in which the children of the original castaways are themselves stranded on the island, was in the works in 1987 by Sherwood Schwartz for WTBS /The Super Channel.
Cast: Alan Hale. Jr. (as the Skipper), Bob Denver (Gilligan), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III), Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Constance Forslund (Ginger Grant), David Ruprecht (Thurston Howell, IV), Dreama Denver (Luc
inda), Rosalind Chao (Manager), Martin Landau (J.J. Pierson), Barbara Bain (Olga Schmetner), Whitney Rydtk (George), Scatman Crothers (Dewey Stevens), Chick Hearn (Sportscaster), Bruce Biggs (Referee), Cindy Appleton (Linda), Wendy Hoffman (Jackie).
273. Gunsmoke [Pilot #1] Return to Dodge. CBS 9/26/87. CBS Entertainment. Director: Vincent McEveety. Executive Producer: John Mantley. Supervising Producer: Stan Hough. Writer: Jim Byrnes. Music: Jerrold Immel.
After twelve years, Matt Dillon is back—only now he's a former marshal, a mountain man urged back to action when an old adversary Will Mannon, returns to Dodge City seeking vengeance. Miss Kitty has sold the Long Branch Saloon to Miss Hannah and Newly O'Brien is the new marshal, but it's still the Gunsmoke we know and love. And it's only fitting that the longest running series in TV history should also be the basis for the best of all the television revival shows, vividly enhanced with flashbacks to episodes (from 1969 and 1970) involving earlier encounters between Matt Dillon and the villainous Marmon, as well as Kitty's 'decision to leave Dodge City. This revival, unlike most, was mounted by the series' original creative team—producer Mantley, director McEveety, and frequent Gunsmoke writer Jim Byrnes. The one change: shooting was done in Calgary—TV's "new" Old West.
Cast: James Arness (Matt Dillon), Amanda Blake (Kitty Russell), Buck Taylor (Newly O'Brien), Fran Ryan (Miss Hannah), Steve Forrest (Will Marmon), Earl Holliman (Jake Flagg), Ken Oland( (Lt. Dexter), Patrice Martinez (Bright Water), Tantoo Cardinal (Little Doe), W. Morgan Sheppard (Digger), Mickey Jones (Oakum), Frank M. Totino (Logan), Robert Koons (Warden Brown), Walter Kaasa (Judge Collins), Tony Epper (Farnum), Louie Ellias (Bubba), Ken Kirzinger (Potts), Denny Arnold (Clyman), Alex Green (The Flogger
273a. Gunsmoke [Pilot #2] The Last Apache. CBS 3/19/90. 2 hours. CBS Entertainment. Director: Charles Correll. Executive Producer: John Mantley. Producer: Stan Hough. Writer: Earl Wallace. Music: Bruce Rowland.
James Arness saddles up again and goes on the warpath with tough Army scout Chalk Brighton when a renegade Apache named Wolf abducts the daughter Matt Dillon never knew he had—the result of a long ago love affair with Mike Yardner (Michael Learned repeating her role from a 1973 Gunsmoke episode). Once again. flashbacks from the earlier episode give this one (as with the 1987 revival pilot) a unique poignancy, thanks to old hands like Mantley, Stan Hough (who died just before this one aired) and former Gunsmoke story editor Wallace, who wrote this one. Missing from this episode, sadly. was Amanda Blake, who had died since the earlier pilot and to whom this one was dedicated. It was nice, however, to see Hugh O'Brian, TV's erstwhile Wyatt Earp, turning up as a guest star with pal Jim Arness. Shot on location in Texas, this reunion show earned an unexpectedly high rating, but Arness's reluctance to get back to series work shot down any plans to do more Gunsmoke episodes on more than an occasional basis.
Cast: James Arness (Matt Dillon), Richard Kiley (Chalk Brighton), Michael Learned (Mike Yardner), Joe Lara (Wolf-), Amy Stock-Poynton (Beth Yardner), Geoffrey Lewis (Bodine), Joaquin Martinez (Geronimo), Peter Murnik (Lt. Davis), Sam Vlahos (Tomas), Ned Bellamy (Capt. Harris), Robert Covarrubias (Bartender), David Florek (Smiley), Kevin Sifuentes (Nachite)
274. The Incredible Hulk Returns (aka Thor). NBC 5/22/88. 2 hours. B&B Productions and New World Television. Director/Writer: Nicholas Corea. Executive Producers: Nicholas Corea and Bill Bixby. Producer: Daniel McPhee. Creator: Kenneth Johnson, based on the Marvel Comics character. Music: Lance Rubin.
New World Pictures and NBC used a revival of The Incredible Hulk (CBS 1978-82) as a ploy to launch Thor, a proposed series starring Steve Levitt as an anthropology student who discovers a magic hammer which allows him to conjure up Thor (Eric Kramer), a Viking warrior, with whom he teams to fight crime. Thor comes crashing into Banner's life just as he, now working for a high tech corporation, is about to cure himself with a new bolt of gamma radiation ("He's been seething for six long years," blared the ads, "tonight, the incredible explosion!"). But bad guys kidnap Banner's girlfriend (Lee Purcell), dogged reporter McGee (Jack Colvin) comes snooping, and Banner finds himself back on the run again. Although this pilot didn't sell, the stellar ratings of this revival prompted NBC to buy several sequel movies also designed to spin-off Marvel Comics characters. A second revival/pilot, Trial of the Incredible Hulk, was directed by star Bill Bixby, who costarred with Rex Smith, as Daredevil, a blind attorney by day and a caped crime fighter by night. A third pilot Death of the Incredible Hulk aired on NBC in 1990. ABC commissioned a She-Hulk pilot script from writer Jill Donner, but later abandoned the project over casting difficulties.
Cast: Bill Bixby (as David Banner), Lou Ferrigno (Hulk), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Steve Levitt (Donald Blake), Eric Kramer (Thor), Lee Purcell (Maggie Shaw), Tim Thomerson (Jack LeBeau), also Charles Napier, William Riley, Tom Finnegan, Donald Willis, Carl Nick Ciafalio, Bobby Travis McLaughlin, Burke Denis, Nick Costa, Peisha McPhee, William Malone, Joanie Allen.
275. Kung Fu: The Movie (aka The Return of Kung Fu [Pilot #1]. CBS 2/1/86. 2 hours. Lou-Step Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Director: Richard Lang. Executive Producer: Paul R. Picard. Producers: Skip Ward and David Carradine. Writer: Durrell Royce Crays, from the TV series created by Ed Spielman and developed by Herman Miller. Music: Lalo Schifrin.
An attempt to revive Kung Fu, the 1972-1975 ABC series. David Carradine once again is Kwai Chang Caine, the soft-spoken Shaolin priest who fled 19th century China after being forced to kill an Imperial Manchu's son. Caine became a longer, roaming the Old West, pursued by Chinese assassins and American bounty hunters. He hated violence, but when necessary, he relied on the deadly art of Kung Fu and other teachings of Master Po (Keye Luke), his blind mentor in China. In the pilot, Caine's framed for murder, accidentally uncovers an opium smuggling ring, and the assassins he's eluded in the series catch up with him—The Manchu Lord and his deadly servant Chung Wang. CBS and producer Paul Picard later updated Kung Fu to the present day for 1987-88's unsold pilot Way of the Dragon (aka Kung Fu: The Next Generation and Warriors), which focused on Caine's Chinese-American namesake and descendant, played by David Darlow.
Cast: David Carradine (as Kwai Chang Caine), Kerrie Keane (Sarah Perkins). Mako (The Manchu), William Lucking (Wyatt). Luke Askew (Sheriff Mills), Keye Luke (Master Po), Benson Fong (The Old One), Brandon Lee (Chung Wang), Martin Landau (John Martin Perkins), Ellen Geer (Old Wife), Robert Harper (Prosecutor), Paul Rudd (Rev. Lawrence Perkins), John Alderman (Well Dressed Man), Michael Paul Chan (Ching), Patience Cleveland (Maid), Roland Harrah, Ill (Liu), Jim Haynie (Federal Marshal), Roy Jenson (Foreman).
275a Kung Fu: The Next Generation (aka Way of the Dragon; aka Warriors). [Pilot #2] CBS 6/19/87. 60 minutes. Warner Bros. Television. Director: Tony Wharmby. Executive Producers: Paul Picard and Ralph Riskin. Producers/Writers: Paul DiMeo and Danny Bilson, from the series Kung Fu, created by Ed Spielman and developed by Herman Miller. Music: Stanley Clarke.
Aired as a segment of CBS Summer Playhouse. David Darlow stars as the modern-day descendant of the character David Carradine played in the western series Kung Fu. Like his ancestor, this Caine is a gentle man who espouses inner peace and lives modestly—he teaches Kung Fu, sells herbs, and helps people in trouble. Perhaps the person needing help most is his estranged son Johnny (Brandon Lee). who became a gang member, served a short jail term for burglary, and, in the pilot, hooks up with some dangerous criminals. But thanks to a ghostly visit from the original Caine, Johnny turns away from crime and adopts his father's altruistic life-style.
Cast: David Darlow (as Kwai Chang Caine), Brandon Lee (Johnny Caine), Miguel Ferrer (Mick), Paula Kelly (Lt. Lois Poole), Marcia Christie (Ellen), Victor Brandt (Buckley), Dominic Barto (Carl Levin), John C. Cooke (Cliff), Aaron Heyman (Sid), Eddie Mack (Rob), Michael Walter (Dave), Richard Duran (Raul), Michael Gilles (Security Cop), Neil Flynn (L.A.P.D. Officer), Mark Everett (Student), Oscar Dillon (Darnell).
276. Lassie: A New Beginning. ABC 9/17/78 and 9/24/78. 2 hours. McDermott/Wrather Productions.
Director: Don Chaffey. Executive Producer: Tom McDermott. Producers: Jack Miller and William Beaudine, Jr. Writer/Creator: Jack Miller. Music: Jerrold Immel.
This attempt to fashion a new Lassie series has a complicated back-story. There were two brothers in love with the same woman—and she chose one of them. The other moves west and cuts himself off from his family. Now, years later, the couple is killed in an accident, leaving orphaned their fourteen-year-old son (Shane Sinutko), nine-year-old daughter (Sally Boyden), and their pet dog Lassie. The grandmother takes the two kids and their pet to live with their bachelor uncle (John Reilly), editor of a small town newspaper, but she dies on the way.
Cast: John Reilly (as Stuart Stratton), Sally Boyden (Sally Stratton), Shane Sinutko (Chip Stratton). Lee Bryant (Kathy McKendrick), David Wayne (Dr. Amos Rheams), Gene Evans (Sheriff Marsh). Jeff
Harlan (Buzz McKendrick), Jeanette Nolan (Ada Stratton). John McIntire (Dr. Spreckles), Charles Tyner (Asa Bluel), Jim Antonio (Mr. Waldrop), Gwen Van Dam (Mrs. Waldrop), Woodrow Chambliss (Victor Turley). Lucille Benson (Juno), Logan Ramsey (Flannagan), Helen Page Camp (Miss Tremayne).
