Big John, Little John

While on vacation in Florida, middle school science teacher John Martin (character actor Herb Edelman, "The Golden Girls", the film version of "The Odd Couple") unknowingly sips from the legendary Fountain of Youth. From that point forward he randomly morphs in and out of a 12-year-old version of himself (Robbie Rist, Cousin Oliver from "The Brady Bunch"), often at inopportune times. He tells his wife Marjorie (Joyce Bulifant, Marie from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and son Ricky (Mike Darnell), who pass "Little John" off as John's nephew. At school, his students and principal Miss Bertha Bottomly (Olive Dunbar) begin finding Mr. Martin's behavior suspicious. Attempts to cover his secret lead to comical situations. While he looks for a cure, he finds his experience as "Little John" helps him better relate to children. "Big John, Little John" was produced by Sherwood Schwartz and ran for a mere 13 episodes in 1976 before being canceled.

Reflecting on the series after reviewing each episode, "Big John, Little John" offered itself as lighthearted sitcom with silly fun. This premise worked for creator Sherwood Schwartz with "Gilligan's Island". I don't believe the difference was so much the strength of the story- how many times did you know something would prevent them from getting off the island in an episode? I believe the difference is the setting and characters. Watching "Gilligan's Island" transports you to this mysterious, unknown island with unique characters you can easily buy into and feel as if being there with friends. Neither is the case here. The setting is a small, bland classroom set and living room set. The characters are largely one-dimensional, reading lines to fit the story for John's character(s), which have limited development themselves. Other shows ("Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie", etc.) handled outlandish concepts through strength of characters, skilled comedy writing, and suspenseful plot conflict. Largely, the plot conflict here was weak and consisting of where was John or Little John. Where it could have found solid footing was building upon the opening episode where John learns to appreciate a different view from children's perspective. Too often episodes languish and the plot weakens as it goes along. I've mentioned this in previous reviews of one-season shows, but honestly, I feel this sitcom would have been more successful as a feature-length movie, combining some of the better moments of specific episodes. It appears the high ratings for the previous reviewers were all reflective of how it took them back to their childhood, and not the quality of the show itself. And that's where I believe it's value sits today- nostalgia.

This series was shown by the BBC apparently, ahead of the US, as we got it around May/June 1976. I got the recent region 2 DVD release by Fabulous and did expect it to be extremely cheesy seen again today, but it's not as bad as all that. The only really bad aspect of the series was it was made on video, but then transferred to film. No idea though if it was copied after it was transferred from NTSC to PAL to film, or if it was copied direct to film from NTSC video and then transferred to tape again, then converted to PAL for the UK, it could even have been just badly telecined to film. Apart from the visual look, which a lot of people don't really notice anyway, it's still enjoyable. Some of it though, as it was made in the mid-70s, can come across as very un-PC and a lot of the story lines are just plain ridiculous too.

I, too, distinctly remember "Big John, Little John." When NBC first aired the program in the fall of 1976, I was 14 years old and had just begun 9th grade at Lansing Catholic High School in Lansing, Michigan.

My two favorite episodes I remember are the ones where Big John/Little John performs in the school's talent show ("they" sing "The Man on the Flying Trapeze") and where Big John/Little John and the kids go to a haunted house owned by a Mr. Crabtree; in one scene, a skeleton pops out of a closet and says to Big John and the kids, "Happy Midnight, suckers!," then laughs wickedly. (Maybe one reason I enjoyed the latter episode even more is because when NBC reran said episode for the last time in August 1977, I was visiting my relatives in Derry, Pennsylvania, a small town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, and I remember watching that episode while I was there. Now *that* would *really* bring back some great memories of my "wonder years!") One member of the cast who went on to stardom was Kristoff St. John, who played one of the kids in Big John's class; as an adult, St. John went on to play numerous roles in daytime dramas.

I read over at TV Shows on DVD.com that the small, independent company Virgil Films and Entertainment was supposed to have released the entire 13-episode DVD box set of "Big John, Little John" on April 8th of this year after numerous delays, but unfortunately has delayed release of the box set *again,* with an official street date *still* to be announced. (According to the TV Shows on DVD.com article, Virgil is still deciding the appropriate "channel" - most likely meaning "distribution venue" - to release the box set under. I can only hope Virgil gets whatever external "stops" that are keeping the box set of "Big John" from being released pulled out *very* soon). If and when Virgil ever does announce a formal release date, they will *certainly* have a customer in me!

These were a period of Saturday morning I will never forget. Apparently there was a wish to bring back real life shows and try to downplay the appeal for animation. These were hokey, but Big John, Little John was pretty good to a ten year old anyhoo. Edelman, Rist and Bullifant made do very well this premise of a man who drank from the fountain of youth in Florida and now grew young and old. Rist was not as annoying here as he was on the Brady Bunch. Jokes worked. An older child would be calling him dad and he would call him son back. Funniest moment I can recall was Big John transforming while wearing a suit of armor for a costume party. Bullifant, as his wife, had to hurry the nosey neighbor or houseguest out the door then get the armor on the couch. She's screaming 'John, John, John?!" as she yanks off the helmet and there is no head. They found little John halfway down. I would die if I saw this again.

I remember watching Herb Edelman's character Big John,become a little boy every episode.I was just 5 years old and thought how great it could be an adult,now over 23 years later I now think different.Look for Robbie Rist as Little John,Rist played on "The Brady Brady bunch" as cousin Oliver for one season then vanishes with no explanation,we now know the truth. Ole Sherwood Schwartz creator of "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Isand" also created "Big John,Little John"