Though "Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis" wasn't the best, it was a delight to see most of the original cast reunited: Dwayne Hickman, Sheila James, Bob Denver, William Schallert, and Steve Franken. Missing, of course, were Dobie's parents, Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus. Warren Beatty didn't return, nor did Tuesday Weld. The role of Thalia was taken by Connie Stevens.
The script is a take-off on the play/movie "The Visit." We find that 25 years after the last episode, Zelda and Dobie are married, and Dobie, who has graduated from pharmacy school, is running the market, now also a drugstore.
The couple has a son, Georgie, who is following in his father's footsteps - hand in the cash register, chasing a pretty blond, while Chatsworth's daughter Chatsie (Tricia Leigh Fisher, Connie's daughter) is chasing him. And Dobie, as always, stands in front of the Thinker to work out his problems.
The town is very financially depressed as someone has been buying up all of the businesses and closing them. Thalia returns to town and propositions Dobie. Dobie, despite his fantasies about Thalia, turns her down.
Thalia then calls a town meeting during which she reveals herself as the person who has been buying up the town, and she now has the wealth of the town and its citizens in her hands. If they want it back, there's one condition: Dobie must die!
Silly, and not particularly well written or acted, this is strictly for fans of the 1959-1963 show. And today, 25 years later, Denver, Franken, Kathleen Freeman, and Dody Goodman, who appeared in this TV movie, are gone.
For ER fans, Scott Grimes is a teenager in this, and gets to show off his wonderful singing voice -- the high school is doing a musical version of Romeo & Juliet.
Dwayne Hickman and Sheila James look amazing.
I doubt you'll stick with this if you were born too late to enjoy the original.
