''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 *

- Marjorie Martin *

- 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