''Herbie, the Love Bug'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from March 17 to April 14, 1982. It was produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and based on a series of films about

Herbie Herbie, the Love Bug is a fictional sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, who has been featured in several Walt Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film ''The Love Bug''. He has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself, ...

, a white 1963

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

racing

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

with a mind of its own. The show was a five-episode

mid-season replacement In American network television scheduling, a mid-season replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between December and May. Mid-season replacements usually take place after a ...

series. It was the last production to feature the titular automobile until 1997's

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

The Love Bug ''The Love Bug'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and the first in a franchise by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 19 ...

''. The show's theme song "Herbie, My Best Friend" was performed by its star, Dean Jones.Brooks, Tom; Marsh, Earle F. ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present'' p. 603

Plot

Dean Jones, who had appeared in two of the films (''

'' and ''

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo ''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo'' is a 1977 American comedy adventure film and the third installment of ''The Love Bug'' film series made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie—the white 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. ...

''), reprises his role of Jim Douglas, Herbie's original owner, now a retired race car driver who works as an instructor at the Famous Driving School with his partner Bo Phillips (

Richard Paul Richard Paul (June 6, 1940 – December 25, 1998) was an American actor who was born in Los Angeles, California. Early life Paul was born in Los Angeles, California. Richard earned a Bachelor of Arts in public affairs from Claremont Men's Coll ...

). He and Herbie stumble upon a bank robbery in progress. They manage to thwart the crime and rescue a young divorcée named Susan MacLane ( Patricia Harty), who works at the bank and is a mother of three: Julie (

Claudia Wells Claudia Grace Wells is an American actress and businesswoman, best known for her role as Jennifer Parker in the 1985 film ''Back to the Future''. Life and career Wells was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but her family moved to San Francisco w ...

), Robbie (

Douglas Emerson Douglas Emerson (born October 4, 1974) is an American former child actor who played Scott Scanlon on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' in the show's first and second seasons and played Eddie Beckner in ''The Blob''. On Beverly Hills 90210, Emerson's ch ...

) and Matthew (

Nicky Katt Nicky Katt (born May 11, 1971) is an American actor. Katt often plays unsympathetic characters, such as an irascible motorhead in ''Dazed and Confused,'' an ill-fated white supremacist child rapist in ''A Time to Kill'', and an embittered busi ...

). Jim and Susan soon begin to fall in love, much to the consternation of her ex-boyfriend Randy Bigelow (

Larry Linville Lawrence Lavon Linville (September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000) was an American actor known for his portrayal of the surgeon Major Frank Burns on the television series ''M*A*S*H''. Early life and education Linville was born in Ojai, California ...

). Randy's attempts to break them up are in vain; Jim and Susan get married in "Herbie the Best Man" episode that aired on April 7.

Cast

* Dean Jones as James "Jim" Douglas * Patricia Harty as Susan MacLane *

as Bo Phillips *

as Julie MacLane *

as Robbie MacLane *

as Matthew MacLane *Bryan Utman as Jason *

as Randy Bigelow *Natalie Core as Mrs. Bigelow

Episodes

Home media

The series has not become available 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 ...

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

, or

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

Premiere in Brazil

The series premiered on Brazilian television on January 10, 1993, on

TV Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

, on Sunday mornings and then at various times, being the only country to broadcast the program on a Latin American open TV network.

References

External links

* * {{Herbie 1982 American television series debuts 1982 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American children's television series American children's television sitcoms CBS original programming Herbie films Television series by Disney Television series based on Disney films Television series based on adaptations Television shows set in Los Angeles Live action television shows based on films