The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a late fifties to early sixties sitcom, spanned the coming of age of a cohort of baby boomers, and laid the foundations of sitcom storytelling to be followed and imitated decades later. Gillis’ (Dwayne Hickman) trials and tribulations as he aspired to the worldly trappings coveted by a typical American teenager, made for a weekly ongoing storyline, rife with comedic situations, foibles, and shortfalls mirroring life.

The show included a narrative aside, with Gillis facing the camera, next to a statue of Rodin’s The Thinker, as he would make the audience privy to his inner thoughts and musings with an endearing familiarity. Those recurring, somewhat confessional asides endemic to Dobie Gillis were later rekindled in the pantheon of American television with shows such as The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Malcolm in the Middle, and The Bernie Mac Show.

The show also featured beatnik “wacky neighbor” Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) whose laid back, inherently lazy demeanor, provided contrast to Gillis’ high strung entanglements, and paved the way for the laid back Shaggy in the seminal cartoon, Scooby Doo. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, in many ways, articulated the ineffable, yet chasmic cultural transition from the sock hop era of the fifties, to the hippie movement of the mid to late sixties.