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

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that aired on

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

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

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and based on a series of films about

Herbie Herbie, the Love Bug is a sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle racing car which has been featured in several Walt Disney motion pictures starting with ''The Love Bug in'' 1968. He has a mind of his own, being capable of driving himself and often be ...

, a

sentient Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...

pearl white 1963

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

. 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 ...

series. It was the last production to feature the starring car until 1997's

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

The Love Bug ''The Love Bug'' (also known as Herbie the Love Bug) is a 1968 American sports film, sports adventure film, adventure comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson (director), Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Bill Walsh (producer), Bill Walsh a ...

''. 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 sports film, sports adventure film, adventure comedy film directed by Vincent McEveety and written by Arthur Alsberg and Don Nelson (screenwriter), Don Nelson. The film is the third installment in ...

''), 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). 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 Wells is an American actress and businesswoman, best known for her role as Jennifer Parker in the 1985 film ''Back to the Future''. Early life Wells was born on July 5, 1966 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her family moved to the San Franci ...

), 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''. Biography Early life Douglas Emerson ...

) and Matthew (

Nicky Katt Agustín Islas Katt (May 11, 1970 – c. April 8, 2025), known professionally as Nicky Katt, was an American and Mexican actor. He began his career as a child actor, and as an adult, frequently played unsympathetic characters or villains. He wa ...

). 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 * Richard Paul 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 ki ...

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

, or

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Premiere in Brazil

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

TV Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto M ...

, 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 single-camera sitcoms 1980s American children's comedy television series American children's television sitcoms Herbie (franchise) 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 CBS sitcoms