This pilot episode was trimmed down and run as the first episode of season 1.
Dobie is desperate for money so he can take Thalia to the dance, so he and Maynard hatch a plot to dishonestly win $100 at the Bijou Theater on Jackpot Night.
Dobie competes with Milton Armitage to see who's wardrobe can most impress Thalia. Milton doesn't know that Dobie is getting his fancy clothes on loan from the local tailor [played by Mel Blanc].
Dobie forsakes poetry and sets to studying science so he can become a wealthy doctor and win Thalia's greedy heart. This episode introduces Zelda Gilroy and features her and Dobie's first meeting.
Dobie's rarely seen older brother Davey [played by Darryl Hickman] convinces him to invent an affair with a married woman to impress a new girl in school,but then everyone starts believing that Dobie really is having an affair with his math teacher [played by Jean Byron].
Maynard receives his draft notice and Mr. Pomfritt and Dobie host a testimonial farewell dinner for him. This episode introduces Michael J. Pollard as Maynard's beatnik cousin Jerome.
After a throat operation, Dobie starts singing like Elvis Presley, and finds that it drives the girls at school wild. What's even better is that Thalia Meninger, the love of his life, has taken notice and decided to become his manager. [This is the only other show where Jerome Krebs appears.]
When Maynard returns from a short hitch in the service and falls for Dobie's girl Pearl, will Dobie do that far, far greater thing than he has ever done before and step aside for his love-struck friend?
With the big football game coming up and Central High doomed to lose, Dobie, Maynard and their friends plot to steal Webster High's mascot, a goat which Webster players traditionally pet for good luck just before games.
Dobie and Maynard conspire to get leading man Milton out of the way by opening night so his understudy Dobie can star opposite the lovely Annabelle in the school play, "Magnolias at Manassas: a Drama of the Civil War."
Dobie falls for Poppy Herring and must try to convince her he has a loving father to prove he has good genes to pass on to their children.
Dobie thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday.
Herbert T. Gillis finds himself in jail on Christmas Eve after being stripped of his holiday spirit and driven to desperation by his family and customers.
All Dobie wants is six dollars so he can take Thalia to the junior prom, but Dobie's Dad won't give it to him until Dobie admits he hates his father. A gentle satire on psychiatric trends of the day.
Carlos, the suave son of an Argentinian general, boards with the Gillis family and immediately wins the fickle heart of Thalia. Dobie and Maynard plot to sabotage his success.
Thalia persuades Dobie to run against Milton Armitage in the election for junior class president. With Thalia serving as campaign manager and Maynard running a dirty tricks operation, how can Dobie lose?
Thalia will give her love only to an athlete, so Dobie schemes to set himself up as a fearless fighter, Top Fist. But Milton Armitage, Dobie's rival for Thalia's fickle heart, calls Dobie's bluff and challenges him to a bout.
Inspired by a poem and the prospect of winning Thalia's heart, Dobie embarks on a hunger strike, evoking from his family and friends admiration, worry and even wrath. Featuring a young Marlo Thomas and [briefly] Ryan O'Neal.
Dobie falls in love with the beautiful and brainy Aphrodite [played by Yvonne Craig], whose robust family of health-food-eating acrobats begin putting Dobie through rigorous training in anticipation of the day he'll join their family and their act.
Thalia wants Dobie to go to Willoughby Hall, an exclusive eastern school, and befriend the sons of wealthy bankers (an idea that also captures Mr. Gillis' fancy in a dream sequence). All Dobie wants is Thalia's love, but to win her heart he must get a 100 on his math test. To what depth will he sink for love? Also features Jean Byron as Dobie's math teacher and little Ronnie Howard as her son.
Dobie becomes enthralled by the theories of Professor Dobkin, author of "The Power of Magnetic Thought," whose teachings promise to make him the "dominating male" that Thalia demands.
Dobie plots to make Zelda more appealing to other boys by spreading a rumor that Zelda's father is inheriting one million dollars. Thie episode offers a rare glimpse of Zelda's family including her three sisters and her harried father.
Thalia attempts to teach Dobie the art of thinking, Maynard thumps out a jazz beat to "cogito ergo sum" on his school desk and new girl Whitney threatens to shake up the status quo.
As a biology class project Maynard gives a chicken an overdose of growth hormones
Dobie lies about joining the navy to impress a girl's sea-mined father
Seeing a financial opportunity, Thalia gets Dobie and his Dad mixed up with a shady dry cleaning operation. Will she clean up while they're hung out to dry?
Mr & Mrs. Gillis are persuaded to help with the Central High Student-Parent Betterment League's Capers, an amateur revue featuring acts of questionable talent. This episode turns the spotlight on Frank Faylen.
To help his father's chances of securing a loan, Dobie agrees to date the banker's spoiled-brat daughter.
Dobie and Maynard strike out on their own and rent an apartment.
Thalia hatches a scheme for Dobie to sell sandwiches at the school picnic.
Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. agrees to assist the under-dressed Dobie and Maynard gain entry to his cousin Sabrina Armitage's black-tie soirée by having each fellow take a turn wearing his tux. Will their jig be up and their pants down?
Mr. Gillis dreads signing his will and suffers a nightmare of what his wife and sons would do with his store in his absence.
Dobie and Chatsworth compete for the affections of Daphne by setting to work to sell the most shoes in her father's shoe store.
When the Quimbys come to town and open a grocery store, Dobie competes with Chatsworth for Delphine's affections while Mr. Gillis competes with Mr. Quimby for the local grocery trade.
Maynard is smitten with Francoise, and to compete with the similarly smitten Chatsworth Maynard trades in his sweatshirt and jazz sides for a sport coat and tie, but will he agree to shave off his beatnik beard?
Dobie falls for a nurse and fakes having a serious illness to win her attentions, but the disease he and Maynard plucked from a medical book sparks a panic.
After getting into an argument with a disgruntled police officer over picking flowers in the park Dobie goes to visit his new date that just so happens to be the officer's daughter.
A discouraged Dobie finally gives up on finding his dream girl and agrees to marry Zelda.
Dobie meets Gwyneth, a simple girl who despises money, until her kid sister begins dating 13-year-old Chrissie Tyler, who runs a lucrative babysitting racket out of Charlie Wong's ice cream parlor.
Dobie and a girl friend take a baby-sitting job,but the Gillises suspect Dobie is secretly a father.
Aiming high to win the affections of Esme Lauterbach (a 6'2"-tall beauty), Dobie allows Zelda to compose his entry in Mr. Pomfritt's music class contest. Dobie performs the song "I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter" from Dwayne Hickman's 1960 Capitol LP.
Maynard enters Dobie's old school essay "My Dog" in a newpaper Father's Day contest,but changes it to "My Dad". Dobie unexpectedly wins the newpapers contest-and becomes closer to his father as a result.
Maynard finds an abandoned baby in the park.
Thelonius Monk comes to town and invites Maynard to sit in on bongos! But Herbert needa a favor which will require Dobie and Maynard to switch identities.
Maynard has temporary ESP, which will allow hiw to prodict the winner of the Kennedy-Nixon pressidential election
Maynard takes a job selling clock-statues at an army surplus store, where he is assigned the impossible task of selling the overstock on grotesque Confucius statues with clocks in their bellies.
Maynard finds a purse containing $512 and eagerly awaits the day six months later when he can claim the money, but two con men see in Maynard an easy mark to make them some easy money.
A rare glimpse of Maynard's home life. Most of this episode has to do with Dobie and Maynard helping a classmate not to drop out of school.
Dobie has eyes for the cute new girl in school, Charlotte Lamarr, and gets a hot rod to impress her. He has competition from the rich and snooty Chatsworth Osborne Jr., so Zelda gives him a hand in thwarting Chatsworth's plans.
Maynard throws a Christmas party for his friends, but status seeker Zelda persuades Dobie it would be better to attend Chatsworth's posh party. Troubled, Dobie is haunted by ghosts in this spoof of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
Hungry for culture and sophistication, Mrs. Gillis befriends a French modern artist and encourages Dobie to date his existentialist poet daughter, but Yvette has her eyes set on the elder Mr. Gillis.
Parents pinch-hit for the teachers when a flu epidemic fells the faculty. Dobie livens up Mrs. Kenney's music class by singing "Don't Send a Rabbit" from Dwayne Hickman's 1960 Capitol LP "Dobie."
Maynard befriends a real cool cat: the lion belonging to His Imperial Radiance Prince Dumiphon of Ambodia.
Mr. Pomfritt assigns an essay addressing a big question: "Whither are we drifting?" Dobie and Maynard mull the question and their uncertain futures in an atypical episode that is more thoughtful than humorous.
After too many late nights with the boys at the Bison Lodge, Mr. Gillis seeks to bring the romance back to his neglected marriage, heeding the sound advice of Dobie and his trusty marriage manual.
Maynard realizes his close friendship with Dobie is affecting Dobie's social and educational advancement, so Maynard decides he must end their friendship for Dobie's own good.
Dobie encourages Zelda to go and be wined and dined while tutoring the Yale-aspiring Chatsworth (thus freeing Dobie to date other girls). Will it be "out of sight, out of mind" or will Zelda's absence make his heart grow fonder?
Central High's yearbook editor Zelda assigns Dobie and Maynard to write a "where are they now" feature on the school's former star football player and 1911 graduate Walter "show 'em no mercy" Appleby, whom the boys discover has seemingly fallen on hard times.
Mrs. Gillis writes the winning entry in a contest and Dobie eagerly anticipates the prize: a date with glamorous movie starlet Merilee Maribou. Seeing the date as a stepping stone to success, Dobie performs "Don't Shoot The Man on the Moon" from Dwayne Hickman's 1960 Capitol LP, "Dobie."
Dobie's upcoming graduation brings to light the embarrassing fact that Herbert T. Gillis never graduated high school, but thanks to evening classes for adults Dobie's Dad is determined to finally finish what he started long ago.
Adrift after graduation, Dobie and Maynard seek the counsel of their elders and of professionals on what next to do with their lives. In the end they decide to enlist in the army.
Dobie receives a friendly letter from his Uncle Sam: "Greetings. Your enlistment in the United States Army has been processed." As the Gillises prepare to send their boy into the service, Dobie's baby shoes spark a flashback to the 1940s when Mr. and Mrs. Gillis were eagerly expecting their baby.
Maynard misses the bus on his first day in the Army, but Chatsworth fills him in for him. After they switch back, Maynard finds that thanks to Chatsworth, he has become eligible for Officer Candidate School.
Being put in charge of his squad's barracks goes to Dobie's head and his friendship with Maynard suffers, along with the opportunity for a double date.
Despite opposition from his mother, Chatsworth decides to join Dobie and Maynard in the Army.
After getting his beard caught in his rifle's bolt release, Maynard is ordered to shave off the offending fuzz. When the protest cat protests the order, Dobie defends his friend before a military tribunal.
Dobie, Maynard and Corporal Kilroy (a chimpanzee) are selected to participate in Operation Moonshot, which requires them to spend 30 days in a simulated space capsule. Will Maynard and Kilroy's antics bring them from the frying pan to the launching pad?
Mr. Gillis' high school squeeze Bubbles moves back to town with her beautiful daughter Hazel, stirring up fond memories and green-eyed monsters.
Home from the Army on furlough, Dobie attempts to boost Maynard's confidence with girls by convincing him that his twitchy eyebrows give him irresistible sex appeal.
Dobie gets cast in the army play and while in costume, leads a girl to believe he is an army official. The problem: she is the daughter of a real army officer.
After watching a sentimental war movie, Maynard is stricken with acute homesickness and secures a pass home. Dobie fears his buddy has gone AWOL and returns home to bring him back, securing his own pass home by claiming that his father is deathly ill.
Not to be upstaged by a beautiful Army brat with an impressive pedigree, Dobie claims his father is a missing in action WWII hero and sets to spinning yarns of his extraordinary exploits.
Zelda tells the snooty Rochelle that she and Dobie are secretly engaged, weaving a web of deception that threatens to ensnare her at the big society party. This time the spotlight shines on Sheila James in what appears to be a set up for a spin-off.
Mr. Pomfritt is discouraged and decides to leave the teaching profession, inspiring Dobie and Maynard to host a testimonial dinner to encourage and hearten him in his calling.
On a dark and stormy night inside the grocery store, Dobie, Maynard,and Zelda discuss alien possession, and thus believe that the store's next patron, a beautiful blonde, is secretly an alien.
When Maynard suffers a head injury, a feisty WWII veteran comes out of retirement to help the platoon complete Operation Xerxes.
Dobie and Maynard are honorably discharged from the Army and immediately join Zelda in enrolling at S. Peter Pryor Junior College, where their old high school teacher Mr. Pomfritt is now a professor.
Dobie's romances with other women are torpedoed by Zelda's clever schemes.
Maynard sues after getting his hand stuck in Gillis Grocery's gumball machine.
Dobie uses the heredity factor to convince Zelda to abandon her dreams of marrying and having children with him and to turn her affections towards a more suitable mate: Chatsworth Osborn, Jr.
Maynard becomes the most sought-after date because no girl's boyfriend would be jealous of him. Maynard lets this go to his head and Dobie tries to snap him back to his old, simple self
Mr. Gillis fears Dobie's interest in Egyptology is inspired less by mouldering mummies and more by the beautiful Dr. Burkhart.
Dr. Burkhart asks her class to bring items to include in a time capsule, but Maynard refuses, discouraged by his conviction that within a matter of years the world will go "boom, boom, ker-boom!" and there will be nobody left to discover the time capsule.
Mr. Pomfritt reports $41.37 has disappeared from his desk. Earlier that day Maynard arrived to school in a taxi, telling Dobie a squirrel gave him $41.37. Dobie tries to right the wrong, but, proving that no good deed goes unpunished, finds himself the prime suspect.
Dobie falls for the soft-hearted Sally Bean, whose parents insist she must date two boys at a time. Can Dobie hope to compete for Sally's affections against Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.?
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp," wrote Robert Browning, and Dobie is inspired to reach for the unattainable Poppy Jordan.
Maynard befriends a poor Mexican shoeshine boy and generously gives him $55.78--all the money his classmates had saved to fund their Christmas dance. To earn back the money, Maynard takes a job as a department store Santa Claus.
When the irresponsible quarterback the Gillises and Maynard have been trying to help and keep from getting cut from the team disappears just before kickoff, a gridiron veteran volunteers to come out of mothballs to cover for him.
Dobie runs against Chatsworth for student council. Campaign manager Zelda wants to have Dobie sing like Chatsworth and his hired folk-singers, but Dobie wants to run on the issues alone.
Herbert is running for mayor and Dobie falls in love with his opponent's daughter.
Chatsworth asks Herbert T. Gillis to come to Osborn Manor and mold him from being a namby-pamby weakling into a a manly man among men, but Mumsy and Trembley conspire to quash Chatsworth's conversion.
Mr. Gillis entertains big dreams of selling his grocery store to a supermarket chain for a big price and being able to give his family more time and luxuries.
A wedding-by-proxy sparks Zelda's mania to get married, so Dobie and Maynard seek to escape by stowing away on a cargo ship bound for South America, not realizing Zelda is also aboard.
Maynard meets his kind of girl in Edwina "Eddie" Kegel, a tomboy who enjoys hacking around with him, watching building demolitions and sewer excavations and laughing at the "oblongs" at the sophomore dance.
Mr. Pomfritt's lecture on marriage convinces Dobie that marrying Zelda is his only logical choice. But is marriage meant to be a logical choice?
To impress a girl, Dobie invests more than he should in his economics class project. He buys stock in an egg company and ends up with a room full of eggs. Cheryl Holdridge guest stars as Daphne Winsett. [Dwayne Hickman began dating Holdridge after this episode.]
Thalia Menninger, now the assistant sales manager for the Pylon Corporation, reenters Dobie's life. Dobie vows not to fall under her spell again since he knows she will ultimately break his heart as he will never be the money making machine she is looking for in a husband.
Dobie and Maynard agree to volunteer as big brothers at the Settlement House for underprivileged children and in doing so help Dr. Burkhart bridge the gap between sociological theory and practice.
A remake of the first season's "Room at the Bottom," with Mr. Pomfritt playing the part of the put-upon teacher with a dissatisfied spouse. Dobie and Maynard babysit the Pomfritts' children and are tempted to peek at the test, a high score on which would allow Dobie to transfer to an Ivy League school.
Dobie discovers the significance of his unusual name when his distinguished namesake summons him to New York City to share a parting message. A thoughtful episode with an inspiring message for young people.
Dobie lands a job at Lumpkin Lumber through the influence of his girlfriend Gloria, but when the boss' brash daughter takes a shine to him, Dobie sees a chance to climb the corporate ladder to success.
Maynard learns that while honesty may be the best policy, it's not always the best way to win friends and influence people.
Yellow journalist Maynard writes a scandalous article for The Pryor Crier, sensationalizing Dr. Burkhart's anthropology class' planned reenactment of a native dance into a "pagan revel" that raises the blood pressure of outraged parents.
When their biology professor discovers that Maynard can track missing objects by their smell, Maynard becomes a Private Nose. Kristen Nelson, Ricky's wife, guest stars.
Dobie determines to toss the co-dependent Maynard from the nest of their friendship to let him learn self-sufficiency, but the tossing proves more difficult than anticipated.
To earn $20 to woo his high-class girlfriend Samantha, Dobie and Maynard take a job as waiters at a sorority house party, but when Samantha shows up as a guest, the boys become girls to avoid being detected.
On an anthropology class field trip, Maynard stumbles into a hidden cave and discovers and befriends a stone-age caveman.
Chatsworth's cousin Edwina drops out of high society to hack around with her childhood chum Maynard. Fearing Eddie's infatuation will lead to marriage, the scandalized Osbornes set to work making a gentleman of Maynard.
When Dobie tries to impress a girl who expects complete honesty, he, his dad, and Maynard get arrested for trying to reverse a "fixed" parking ticket.
Mrs. Gillis leaves to visit relatives in Cleveland for a few weeks and the Gillis boys welcome the freedom, but quickly learn how much they need her firm and guiding hand upon them.
Bully Butch Baumgartner is due into town on the noon bus and has a score to settle with Dobie. Will Dobie muster the courage to face the man who hates him, or lie a coward in his grave?
Due to his humble origins, Dobie is denied membership in Chatsworth's exclusive Silver Spoon Club, so he and Maynard scheme to deliver a low blow to the highbrow frat boys.
A misunderstanding results in Maynard being committed to a mental hospital. Dobie is determined to bust out his good buddy by impersonating iconic television doctor Ben Casey.
Tuesday Weld returns as Thalia for this atmospheric outing set in a large mansion on a dark and stormy night. After making Thalia the beneficiary of his GI insurance policy, Dobie becomes paranoid that she is plotting to kill him.
Dobie's southern-fried cousin Virgil comes north to start a music career and in order to get the electric guitar, fancy threads, leggy girl and loot to launch he lays on the charm as thick and sweet as a mint julep.
Dr. Burkhart's anthropology class field trip takes Dobie and Maynard to the heart of the Amazon. While Dobie is off buying a shrunken head to impress beautiful classmate Clydene, Maynard mysteriously disappears.
To win the sympathies of Clarissa, Duncan Gillis tells her that his cousin Dobie is an alcoholic, a role Dobie is eager to play if it means being rehabilitated by a young Ellen Burstyn as an idealistic social worker.
To win the attentions of beautiful Lottie Lee, Dobie joins the school football team and immediately finds himself the target of Lottie's jealous brute of a boyfriend, the quarterback for the opposing team in the upcoming big game.
Maynard and Duncan set out in the grocery truck to make a delivery, not realizing their cargo is a highly combustible container of nitroglycerine.
Dobie plays sick to sucker some succor from pre-med student Emily. But oh what a tangled web Dobie weaves when first he practiced to deceive.
An older woman [played by Yvonne Craig] teaches Dunky how to be rotten to succeed in the world so he'll be able to provide for her younger sister. But meanwhile the younger sister is falling for nice, honest Dobie.
To win the affections of his patriotic dreamgirl Betsy, Dobie must pass Dr. Burkhart's rigorous American History exam. Dobie and Maynard plan to wing it with the help of Arthur the mynah bird.
Maynard and Duncan go on the lam after accidentally locking Mr. Gillis in the freezer and thinking they've killed him. Meanwhile, Dobie and Mr. Gillis come under suspicion in the disappearance of Duncan.
To avoid failing an upcoming test that will cause him to flunk out of school, Maynard drinks a potion that is supposed to turn him into a genius, but ends up transforming him into a monster.
To cure Maynard of his childish belief in Santa Claus, Mr. Gillis climbs down the chimney on Christmas Eve - but gets stuck.
Cousin Dunky gets a role in a visiting production of William Tell and falls for a young opera star, unaware she has a jealous boyfriend.
Dobie falls for a kitchenware heiress and wants to impress her by selling one of the man's Quickie-Cookers, but gets competition from his visiting southern cousin, Virgil.
Dobie beats Maynard out for a temporary position as a member of the vocal group, The Lettermen. The Lettermen appear as themselves.
Escaped convict Clyde "The Goon" Calhoun and his moll Patsy are on the lam and holing up at the Gillises, holding the family hostage while awaiting Big Louie's arrival. A satire of the hard-boiled crime dramas of the day.
Dobie is the new DJ on the college radio station. A mobster tries to give him payola to make his country-singer girlfriend a star. But meanwhile Zelda has singing aspirations of her own with an album called "How To Drive Men Wild", produced by Maynard. Zelda's not half-bad as a singer. We also get a rare glimpse of Maynard playing guitar and singing.
Chatsworth pays Dobie $200 to impersonate him at a stuffy dinner party, but Dobie's deception isn't the only one on the evening's menu.
Dobie attracts the affections of an eccentric Russian girl who wants only to dance barefoot in the moonlight wearing gossamer robes. Conversely, Zelda is determined to transform Dobie into the boy in the gray flannel suit.
Maynard and Mr. Gillis' pinkies become entrapped in a Gypsy Love Link bought from a band of novelty-selling Gypsies. While Mr. Gillis and Maynard (beardless and in drag!) attend the grocer's convention, Dobie sets out in search of the secret to unlocking them.
When a foreign student likes Dobie because he is simple-minded, Zelda decides to teach him how to improve his memory. Meanwhile, Maynard is attracted to her elephant.
The Osbornes awake to find themselves bankrupt! But crafty Chatsworth is quick to cook up a scheme that will keep their parsnips buttered.
A music publisher and a radio disc jockey possess a mechanical marvel (played by Robby the Robot) that can guarantee hit records. While Virgil T. Gillis is attempting to sell them his southern-fried songs, Maynard monkeys with the machine and is transformed into a robot.
Maynard commits to teaching tricks to Seymour the chimp to keep the college from selling the little fellow to a medical school.
Thrown out by his mother, Chatsworth moves in with the Gillises for a while. But what are the motives for the Gillis's generosity?
While vacationing in the banana republic of Boca Dolce, the boys are abducted and Maynard is forced to impersonate his look-alike, General Ramon, a fearless leader known as El Tigre.
Dobie, Maynard and Mr. Gillis are begrudgingly invited to spend the weekend at Osborne Manor, a visit that coincides with several puzzling robberies. Could our Maynard be a sleepwalking kleptomaniac?
When the beautiful Valentine Van Loon broadcasts a plea and a reward for the return of her lost dog Boo Boo, it becomes father vs. son to be the first to find and return the pooch, Dobie for romantic reasons and Mr. Gillis for the hard, cold cash.
Zelda is tired of being rejected by Dobie, while Maynard realizes that no other woman would put up with him. Maynard agrees to marry Zelda but her plan is to induce Dobie to come to Maynard's rescue and take his place.
Pills containing the concentrated essence of the Galapagos Island turtle transform Maynard into the powerhouse prizefighter "Killer Krebs."
Maynard and the Gillises go to Washington D.C. and Maynard gets mistaken for a rocket scientist and sought by foreign spies for his secret fuel formula.
Maynard guides a fellow student to become a singing sensation, then ponders if he should step aside when a big-time agent wants to take her on. (The plot was farfetched, but it did have a touching story.)
Dobie falls in love with a girl at school, but family tradition prevents her from marrying until a match can be found for her older sister.
When Maynard confuses a musk ox-derived love potion for his hair tonic he becomes the irresistible desire of every woman. The mercenary Mr. Gillis hopes to capitalize on his catapulting Maynard to Hollywood stardom.
Chatsworth approaches Dobie with a scheme to rig the raffle at the Osborne charity bazaar and split the $5,000 prize. Will the allure of all that filthy lucre lead the perpetually poor Dobie down the road to perdition?
A new interview with Hickman--still looking youthful and a touch mischievous
This is the first 14 minutes of the 1988 TV movie sequel.