Il mio amico marziano

By the early 1960s, as Americans and Soviets orbited the Earth, and the race to place men on the Moon was everyone's favorite after-dinner topic, television had produced a variety of space-oriented shows, mostly stodgy adventures of square-jawed heroes facing the cosmos in fanciful rockets...yet the series that would achieve the greatest popularity didn't feature a human, at all, but a Martian in a crashed 'flying saucer', attempting to 'pass' as human while repairing his spacecraft. Similar in concept to Gore Vidal's "Visit to a Small Planet", "My Favorite Martian" was a sweet-natured comedy with low-budget FX, often silly scripts, but one of the most engaging stars in television history, Ray Walston.

At 49, Walston was well-established on Broadway ("Damn Yankees") and had enjoyed success as a character actor in film (SOUTH PACIFIC, TALL STORY, THE APARTMENT), but, despite guesting on television for ten years, he had never starred in his own series, primarily because he didn't have a traditional leading man 'look'. Small, slender, with a mischievous smile and thin grayish blond hair, he was a hard actor to 'type'...which made him the perfect choice to play an extraterrestrial! "My Favorite Martian" was a wonderful showcase for his many acting skills, and, when teamed with young Bill Bixby, cast as 'Tim O'Hara', a reporter who grows to love his 'Uncle Martin' enough to keep his secret, and offer him a cover and sanctuary, there was a magic that almost leapt from the screen.

Bixby, at 29, had been a regular on "The Joey Bishop Show", but seemed doomed to blandly pleasant supporting roles, until "My Favorite Martian" displayed his remarkable comic timing, and, more importantly, his 'likeability' to television audiences. The series would serve as a springboard to a very successful career on the small screen, that would continue until his tragic death from cancer, at 59, in 1993.

As the series grew in popularity, the role of snooping but endearing landlady Laura Lee Brown (Broadway/movie veteran Pamela Britton) would be enlarged and softened, eventually becoming a romantic interest for Martin, and a new regular, Detective Bill Brennan (character actor Alan Hewitt), a veteran cop suspicious of the O'Hara's, and also enamored of Mrs. Brown, would be introduced. Both actors were great fun in their roles, and provided some very memorable moments, during the second and third seasons.

Among Martin's 'powers' were invisibility (whenever he raised the mini-TV antennas in the back of his head), reading minds, and levitating objects with his finger, as well as limited abilities that would appear and disappear whenever he became ill, ate the wrong foods, etc. But his greatest gift was an understanding heart; despite an occasional aside about the human race's primitive nature, he truly loved our planet, and enjoyed watching us 'mature' over the ages. For an alien, he displayed remarkable humanity!

While Walston enjoyed making "My Favorite Martian", he was not devastated when the program was finally canceled, after three seasons. With some of his finest work still ahead of him (THE STING, "Stephen King's The Stand", "Picket Fences", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and the classic FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, just to name a few), he would be revered as one of the entertainment industry's most beloved and respected actors when he passed away, at 87, in 2001.

"My Favorite Martian" transcends the silliness of it's scripts with the talent and charisma of the remarkable cast. It was, and remains, a well-deserved audience favorite.

Long before the special effects department established the forefront of future shows like Bewitched,I Dream of Jeannie,or other shows that gave us the magical effect,no other show can topped off the hilarious hijinks of "My Favorite Martian". During its run the show had in my book some of the best special effects ever devised for TV,and for good reason. It may have been hokey or rather silly,but in turn Ray Walston was the genius behind Uncle Martin,who was in fact an alien from another planet who crash lands on Earth only to be discovered by a newspaper man Tim O'Hara,played by Bill Bixby who was after fame and fortune with this.

However,Tim was the only one who knew of Uncle Martin's secret identity,but other folks thought Tim was paranoid since Martin was REALLY a martian! There was other folks who knew what went on including the really nosey neighbor Lorilee Brown(Pamela. Britton) and the detective Bill Brennan(Alan Hewitt) who was always snooping around for answers,but Uncle Martin knew how to take care of them since Uncle Martin always dislikes.

Uncle Martin was always experimenting on stuff. He could defy gravity,and in one episode walk through walls,and the best part make a antenna come out of his head and many more. There were times when Martin lost his powers(in one episode dealt with a bracey kid who zapped his telekinetic powers-funny!)but as always gain them back. Uncle Martin also had the capability to bring up scientific powers in which no one understood but he explained his theory in ways that someone knew how but didn't know themselves.

Basically,all Martin wanted to do was get his spaceship repair and get home,but he never made it although he made several attempts. "My Favorite Martian" lasted three seasons on CBS' Sunday night prime time schedule producing 107. Episodes airing from September 29, 1963 until May 1, 1966. The first two seasons produced 75 episodes in black and white from September 29, 1963 until June 27, 1965 and were filmed at Desilu Studios Hollywood. The third and final season of the series produced 32 episodes in color from September 12, 1965 until May 1, 1966 and was filmed at MGM Studios. However,during the three seasons that it ran on CBS(which came on Sunday nights after Lassie and faced strong competition against NBC's The Wonderful World Of Disney) Tim and Martin had some interesting adventures and it did very well to make the transition to bring some of the color episodes during its final season. The show ended in the Spring of 1966 after 107 episodes.

The show had a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off during the 1970's titled "My Favorite Martians" that aired on CBS' Saturday morning schedule from 1973-1974. A live action theatrical feature starring Christopher Lloyd based on the 1960's television series was released by Disney in the mid 1990's. Revised on July 1, 2023.

I recently came across episodes of this show on Youtube. It is especially memorable for me because it was telecast during the same years I was in college, starting in 1963.

The overwhelming feeling watching these old episodes again is "how easily we were entertained back in the 1960s." It was a different time, shows were more family oriented, sexual references were very indirect, and there was no objectionable "blue" language.

Ray Walston was the title character who became known as Uncle Martin to avoid revealing where he really was from. After his Martian craft crashed, he was found by Bill Bixby as columnist Tim O'Hara who took him and his damaged spacecraft in. Much of Martin's thrust is to get his craft repaired so he can return home. Other than that each of the 107 episodes was acting out some humorous situation.

Fun TV series, brings back good memories.

Ray Walston used his considerable acting talent & charm to create a hit series. First show, he crashes on earth. His rescue is engineered by Tim (Bill Bixby), a nosy reporter who can't believe what he has seen, & what Martin can do.

This is a family style of sitcom without kids. This show is really the talent of Ray Walston playing off everyone. Bixby is brilliant to as the single reporter who is always getting in trouble thanks to Martin. Many times because of Martin, Tim can't get that Pullitser prize he is after to become a great reporter.

What really makes this series go, is that Uncle Martin always seems to have an unending bag of tricks that only he, a Martian, can do. When we were kids, we got introduced to a friendly alien with this show. Martin would always foil Tim every having a steady girl friend too.

While the special effects seem crude now, when this show ran they were highly imaginative. There was even one episode where Martin put up his antenna & had snowy reception, just like my TV always did with the rabbit ears.

I have recently started watching this show again since it airs every afternoon on the Vision channel. At first it looked so old and the special effects were not so special anymore, but it still has a certain charm. Having a 'Martian' looking at the world of the 1960s, let viewers see their world thru fresh eyes. I found it very interesting that back in that era when the Cold War was still active, that we got to see and cheer on someone trying to thwart the authorities and fool people. Most people would not be supporting an 'alien' at that time. Great show and a good trip back to the early sixties. Bixby and Walston were perfect in their roles.