''Big John, Little John'' is an American Saturday-morning
situation comedy, produced by
Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Charles Schwartz (; November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American television screenwriter and producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, but he now is best known for creating the 1960s television series '' Gilligan's Isla ...
, which starred
Herbert Edelman as "Big John" and
Robert "Robbie" Rist as "Little John." The show first aired on September 11, 1976, on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, and ran for one season of 13 episodes.
The series was produced by Redwood Productions in association with D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions. In the United Kingdom, it was shown on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
.
Plot summary
The show's main character was a forty-year-old
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
science teacher named John Martin (played by Edelman). While vacationing in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, he drinks from a spring which turns out to be the legendary
Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...
sought by
Juan Ponce de León. The water changes him into a twelve-year-old boy (played by Rist), and back again.
The changes occur spontaneously and without warning. Because Martin only sipped the water, the changes are recurring and not permanent; according to legend, had he taken a full drink, he would be age twelve permanently. Only his wife, Marjorie (
Joyce Bulifant
Joyce Collins Bulifant (born December 16, 1937) is an American actress and author. In addition to recurring roles on television, including ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' as Marie Slaughter, Bulifant is recognized for film roles in '' The Happiest ...
), and son, Ricky (
Mike Darnell
Michael H. Darnell (born 1962) is an American television executive and former child actor. He is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as president of alterna ...
), know his secret, though Martin's students (who befriend him as "Little John") and his boss, principal Bertha Bottomly (Olive Dunbar), do become suspicious that something unusual is going on. The Martin family explain the younger John as their nephew, staying with them. Throughout the series, "Big John" unsuccessfully tries to find a cure for his predicament, but his experiences as "Little John" often give him insight into what his students are facing.
To make the two actors resemble each other more closely, Rist's blond hair was dyed brown, while Edelman wore a hairpiece that partially covered his baldness, though was absent during the credits sequences. Edelman and Rist appeared together in 1977, on the
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...
.
Cast
*
Herb Edelman
Herbert Edelman (November 5, 1933 – July 21, 1996) was an American actor of stage, film and television. He was twice nominated for an Emmy Award for his television work. One of his best-known roles was as Stanley Zbornak, the ex-husband of ...
- Big John Martin
*
Robbie Rist
Robbie Rist (born April 4, 1964) is an
American actor. He is known for playing Cousin Oliver in ''The Brady Bunch'', Martin in '' Grady'' and "Little John" in '' Big John, Little John''. Rist is also known for voicing assorted characters in ...
- Little John Martin
*
Joyce Bulifant
Joyce Collins Bulifant (born December 16, 1937) is an American actress and author. In addition to recurring roles on television, including ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' as Marie Slaughter, Bulifant is recognized for film roles in '' The Happiest ...
- Marjorie Martin
*
Mike Darnell
Michael H. Darnell (born 1962) is an American television executive and former child actor. He is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as president of alterna ...
- Ricky Martin
*
Olive Dunbar - Bertha Bottomly
*
Kristoff St. John
Kristoff St. John (July 15, 1966 – February 3, 2019) was an American actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' from 1991 until his death in 2019, which earned him two Daytime Emmy A ...
- Homer
*
Cari Anne Warder - Valerie
*
Stephen H. Cassidy - Stanley
Rist had previously worked on Schwartz's ''
The Brady Bunch
''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, afte ...
'' during its final season (1973–1974), as the Bradys'
cousin, Oliver.
Episodes
Home media
The complete series was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
(for Regions 1 and 2) in 2009 by Fabulous Films.
References
External links
*
''Big John, Little John'' at 70s Live Action Kid Vid website
{{Children's programming on NBC in the 1970s
1976 American television series debuts
1976 American television series endings
1970s American children's television series
1970s American sitcoms
American children's television sitcoms
American fantasy television series
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Television series by CBS Studios
Television series about children
Television series about size change
Television series created by Sherwood Schwartz