The Good Guys (1968 TV series)
| The Good Guys | |
|---|---|
From left: Bob Denver, Herb Edelman, Joyce Van Patten
|
|
| Genre | Situation comedy |
| Created by | Jack Rose |
| Written by | Arnold Horwitt Jack Rose Mel Tolkin |
| Directed by | Charles R. Rondeau |
| Starring |
Bob Denver Herb Edelman Joyce Van Patten Jack Perkins |
| Theme music composer |
Ray Evans Jerry Fielding Jay Livingston |
| Opening theme | "Two Good Guys" |
| Composer(s) | Jerry Fielding |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 42 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Leonard B. Stern |
| Producer(s) | Jerry Davis Jack Rose Bob Schiller Bob Weiskopf |
| Cinematography | William T. Cline Robert Hoffman |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Talent Associates |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 25, 1968 – January 23, 1970 |
The Good Guys is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from September 25, 1968, to January 23, 1970. Forty-two color episodes were filmed in all. As with The Governor & J.J. and Get Smart, it was produced by Talent Associates.
The main character is Rufus Butterworth (Bob Denver), the driver of a customized 1924 Lincoln turned taxi, and his childhood friend Bert Gramus, played by Herb Edelman, owner of a local diner and neighborhood hangout called "Bert's Place", which Butterworth advertised on the taxi's fender-mount spare tire covers. Plots usually revolved around "get rich quick" schemes that invariably backfired. In the second season (1969-1970), Rufus gave up driving the cab and became a partner with Bert in the diner, which moved to a beach location. Other characters included Bert's schoolteacher wife, Claudia (Joyce Van Patten), and diner regulars Mr. Bender, Hal Dawson, and truck driver Big Tom (played by Alan Hale, Jr.).
Never a hit with viewers, The Good Guys failed to finish in the Nielsen Top 30 and was canceled after its second season.
Rufus' taxi was created by George Barris. A 1/25-scale model kit was manufactured by MPC Corporation and examples are highly collectible today.
The first several episodes of the first season were filmed before a live studio audience (unusual at the time), with an accompanying laugh track to sweeten the laughs during post-production. Due to production changes, the majority of Season One episodes and all of Season Two were filmed without a studio audience: episodes were fitted with a laugh track-only afterwards.
Denver later recalled of the show's negative reception: "I still had some animus at how CBS threw us in the dumper. Herb Edelman and I'd done The Good Guys…but sour critics said it should have been just called 'Guys'."
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