“The Good Guys”

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Only a year after the end of Gilligan’s Island, Bob Denver starred in this low-key, two-season sitcom as Rufus Butterworth, a taxi driver. Herb Edelman also starred as Bert Gramus, who owned a diner called Bert’s Place. During the second season Bert gave up the taxi and joined Bert in running the diner. The series was never syndicated after its initial run.

The Good Guys

Originally titled Two Good Guys, this sitcom was one of ten projects CBS was considering at the end of 1967 as entries for its 1968-1969 season. The network was hoping to have a “firm” schedule available for advertisers as early as the middle of January [1]. Bob Denver, formerly of Gilligan’s Island, would star alongside Herb Edelman.

According to producer Leonard Stern, “It’s a comedy of losers so there’ll be plenty of identification” [2]. Other sitcoms competing for a slot on the schedule were Harry and David, Blondie and Missy’s Men (only Blondie would be picked up). A pilot for the series was completed in January of 1968; if picked up, the plan was to shoot the series in front of a live audience [3].

Despite CBS’s desire to have its fall schedule completed early, it was not until February of 1968 that the network had a tentative schedule available. Now retitled The Good Guys, the sitcom was given the 8:30-9PM timeslot on Wednesday nights following Mannix [4]. The final revised schedule kept Mannix on Saturdays and placed Daktari in the 7:30-8:30PM timeslot in front of The Good Guys.

Rufus and Bert

In the series, Bob Denver and Herb Edelman played best friends Rufus Butterworth and Bert Gramus. Rufus was a cab driver and Bert owned and operated a diner called “Bert’s Place” with his wife Claudia (played by Joyce Van Patten). The two spent the bulk of their trying to strike it rich through hair-brained schemes that inevitably fell apart in the end, much to Claudia’s eternal chagrin.

Claudia, who worked as a teacher, spent her days trying to keep “Bert’s Place” running smoothly, her husband grounded in reality and their money intact. Rufus spent his spare time — which seemed to be all the time — hanging around the diner around the diner, brainstorming cockamamie ideas that he then convinced Bert were a sure fire way to make millions.

Many episodes would see Rufus and Bert come up with a wild plan to make money, execute said plan, and then wind up having to fix a slew of unexpected problems they ran into. Others involved Rufus getting himself — and Bert — into trouble and Claudia having to come along to save the day. The first episode, for example, involved Rufus and Bert hoping a charcoal barbecue will lead to easy street. Instead, it sets fire to the diner and an insurance investigator shows up suspecting fraud.

In another episode, the two decide to produce a commercial for “Bert’s Diner,” but fight over the correct way to go about doing so. Other episodes episode saw Bert trying to find the perfect woman through computer dating only to have the computer insist the perfect woman for Rufus is none other than Claudia; Rufus convincing Claudia to pose as “Frisco Fritzi” to bring in truck drivers; and Bert trying to find a wife for his father-in-law.

Rufus and Big Tom

Supporting characters for the first season included Toni Gilman as Gertie, George Furth as Hal Dawson and Ron Masak as Andy Gardner, all frequent patrons of the diner. Gary Burghoff and Tom Poston also guest-starred in episodes during the first season.

During the second half of the season, Alan Hale, Jr. and Jim Backus appeared in several episodes. Both had earlier appeared with Bob Denver on Gilligan’s Island. The producers of the series were no doubt attempting to reignite the chemistry that Hale and Denver had shared on Gilligan’s Island. Hale played Big Tom, who married Gertie, and Backus played Claudia’s stuffy father.

Rufus, Claudia and Bert

The Good Guys faced the last half-hour of The Virginian on NBC and Peyton Place on ABC. The premiere episode, broadcast September 25th, drew a preliminary 31.8 in the 26-city Trendex ratings, ranking third in its timeslot, and a 28.1 New York City Nielsen, which placed it first [5].

Nationally, according to Nielsen numbers for the week running September 23rd through September 29th, the premiere ranked 16th, the third-highest new series debut behind The Doris Day Show and Julia (Mayberry R.F.D., which ranked first, was a spin-off/continuation, not a new show) [6].

Although a large number of viewers tuned in, critics were appalled by The Good Guys. George Gent of The New York Times wrote that the series was “a candidate for the year’s Idiocy Award” [7]. The Los Angeles Time’s Aleene MacMinn called it “pretty inane,” while Bill Irvin of Chicago’s American suggested that “the taxi [...] may turn out to be the star of the show” [8].

Lawrence Laurent of The Washington Post gave the series a backhanded compliment, saying it was “impoverished sufficiently to become a TV hit” [9]. The New York Daily News’s Ben Gross wrote that it “does manage to get laughs” and George Cohen of The Chicago Tribune wrote that “If “The Good Guys” makes it thru the season, CBS can thank Herman Edelman, a comedian with a great sense of timing and a pliable face” [10].

Nevertheless, viewers continued to tune in. The second episode won its timeslot in the Trendex ratings with a 28.4 and came in second in New York City with a 28.2 Nielsen rating [11]. By the third week, at least in New York City, initial interest in The Good Guys had begun to wane [12]. In early November, CBS announced it was dropping Daktari and reportedly was thinking about canceling The Good Guys or Blondie [13]. Ultimately, Blondie was given the boot and The Good Guys finished out the season.

A total of twenty-six episodes were broadcast during the first season, which ended on March 26th, 1969. Repeats were shown throughout the summer.

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Several production changes were instituted prior to the start of the second season. The live audience was dropped and Bert’s Place moved to a new beachfront locale. Rufus gave up driving his cab and became a partner with Bert. Gone were the supporting cast from the first season, including Alan Hale, Jr. and Jim Backus. A new supporting character was added, a drunk played by Jack Perkins.

The Good Guys moved to Fridays for its second season, airing from 8-8:30PM opposite The Brady Bunch on ABC and the second half of High Chaparral on NBC. The season premiere was broadcast on September 26th, 1969 and ranked second in New York City behind High Chaparral [14]. The following week it dropped to third behind both High Chaparral and The Brady Bunch [15].

CBS cancelled The Good Guys in early November of 1969 [16]. New episodes were aired through January 23rd, 1970; the series was replaced by The Tim Conway Show on January 30th. Only 17 episodes were broadcast during the second season, for a total of 44. Stories during the second season included the police mistaking Claudia’s innocent seeding of flowers as an attempt to toss illegal drugs; Rufus and Bert applying to be firemen and Rufus only getting the job because the firehouse dog is fond of him; and Rufus accidentally dropping a contact lens belonging to Claudia into a pie.

Other episodes dealt with a chimpanzee becoming a wonderful waiter at Bert’s Place and being offered his own restaurant; an artist drawing portraits for food and driving off all the other customers; Rufus undergoing hypnotism to get over his addiction to candy and becoming stuck in a trance; and Claudia losing her wedding ring and the ensuing battle over the insurance money.

Due to the quality of the recordings I have available, there are some questions as to the proper lyrics for the theme songs to The Good Guys. Fans Greg and Matt have sent in some corrections/interpretations to our original attempts at getting the lyrics down. My recording of the first season theme comes from a VHS dub of a 16mm print. Take a listen:

Although similar to its first season counterpart, the theme song to The Good Guys was changed for its second season. My copy was recorded off the air using a reel-to-reel recorder way back in 1969 before being transferred to a cassette tape and finally a computer! Here it is:

Catchy, huh?