''The Good Guys'' is an American

situation comedy 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 new ...

that aired on CBS from September 25, 1968, to January 23, 1970. Forty-two color episodes were filmed. The program was produced by Talent Associates. Although some episodes, including the pilot, have been posted online in colour and black and white, the full series has never been released on home media or rebroadcast in decades, and a majority of the show remains unseen.

Synopsis

Bob Denver Vincent Price The Good Guys 1969

The main characters are Rufus Butterworth ( Bob Denver), the driver of a customized 1924 Lincoln turned

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

, 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 Denver's ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'' co-star

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

). Never a hit with viewers, ''The Good Guys'' failed to finish in the Nielsen Top 30 and was canceled during its second season.

Production notes

Rufus's taxi was created by George Barris. A 1/25-scale model kit was manufactured by MPC Corporation and examples are highly collectable 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 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'."

Syndication

''The Good Guys'' has never been shown in reruns in the United States. In his autobiography, ''Gilligan, Maynard and Me'', Bob Denver related that poor-quality prints of the show were shown for a time in South America.

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

considered showing episodes of the show in 1998 but opted instead to air episodes of another "lost" sitcom that was also produced by Talent Associates, ''

He & She ''He & She'' is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network as part of its 1967–1968 lineup, originally sponsored by General Foods and Lever Brothers. ''He & She'' is widely considered by broadcast historians to have bee ...

''.

Episodes

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Season 1 (1968–1969)

Season 2 (1969–1970)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Guys, The 1968 American television series debuts 1970 American television series endings 1960s American sitcoms 1970s American sitcoms 1960s American workplace comedy television series 1970s American workplace comedy television series CBS original programming Television series by Talent Associates Television series set in restaurants