‘The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis: The Complete Series’ DVD Review

Editor's Picks, Featured Article
on July 6, 2013
The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis: The Complete Series
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The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis: The Complete Series
DVD ($139.99 / Shout! Factory)

This groundbreaking 1959-1963 TV comedy about a middle-class teenager (Dwayne Hickman), his beatnik friend Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) and his fretful parents (Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus) created a sitcom template that TV would follow for decades to come. Now assembled into a box set with 20 DVDs featuring all 147 episodes plus the show’s rare pilot, it’s a time capsule that spans a spectrum of silliness—and provides a prime vantage point for spotting the parade of rising stars who’d make DG appearances early in their growing careers, including Warren Beatty and Tuesday Weld (both of whom became series regulars), and guest stars Bill Bixby, Yvonne (Batgirl) Craig, Ron Howard, Sally Kellerman, Ellen Burstyn and Jo Anne Worley.