Gidget

I have to say, in the summertime, it is easy to get latched onto a television show, think about it, American Idol would've never caught on otherwise. I religiously watched Gidget everyday on TV Land at 11:00 pm during the summer. I was spellbound. First of all, Sally Field is so freakishly young, she looks like some wacky apparition or something, like the ghost of careers past. Not to mention its so wonderfully cast (with the exception of Gidget's sister Anne, who just makes me REALLY tired.) And so begins my love affair with Pete Duel (R.I.P.). Overall, Gidget is really a delightful television program. ONE SEASON? ONE SEASON? What was that network thinking?!

One interesting note about this show is that it is based on a real story/situation.

The real life Gidget was the daughter of a professor at Malibu's Pepperdine College. She hung out at the beach, surfed and generally amused her dad enough that he wrote a story about her life. This story later was turned into the movie 'Gidget' and then turned into this TV show.

My mom herself was a surfer in the late 50's so I always found this show interesting when I watched it on re-runs as a kid. Or course it doesn't hurt that Sally Field is unbelievably adorable! The show airs on TV Land right now and is surprisingly fun to watch.

America's favorite beach girl Gidget after being played by Sandra Dee on screen came to the small screen and it gave Sally Field her first big break. But it was a double edged sword. Who but Field suspected she actually had acting chops. But this show and The Flying Nun left her type cast for years before she showed what she could do in Norma Rae and Places In The Heart.

Not much difference in the big screen and small screen Gidgets. Francine 'Gidget' Lawrence is a happy go lucky teen with surfing and boys on her mind. Her family unit was her widowed father Don Porter and married sister Betty Conner, her rather dense but lovable husband Peter Deuel and what we would now call her BFF Larue, Lynette Winter.

Every week Gidget would get into her usual teen troubles and get out of them after consultation with dear old Dad.

One thing I liked about this show was Don Porter. If you think Hugh Beaumont or Lorne Greene was the wisest TV dad than you never saw Gidget. Always professorial for that's what he did and totally unflappable in any situation Don Porter to me was the ideal TV dad. This man never, ever lost his cool in any situation. Granted these were G rated teen situations still the man was amazing.

If you were to predict Sally Field's career would boast two Oscars within the next quarter century when Gidget was on you would have been sent forthwith to the rubber room. One never knows what lies ahead.

Sally Field as a TV-version of Frances Lawrence, aka 'Gidget', that feisty teenager from a Los Angeles suburb in the 1960s, protesting injustices, standing up for the underdog, surfing on the weekends, and meddling in everyone's lives. This half-hour filmed sitcom with laugh-track only lasted one season before ABC unwisely gave it the heave-ho (due to low ratings, though they suddenly picked up during the '66 rerun season). Still, "Gidget" lives on due to canny, clever writing, rich photo stock (with colors that just POP!), a fun supporting cast, a hummable theme song (warbled by Johnny Tillotson), and of course Field, the quintessential little sister/best friend/project manager. Field was an inexperienced young actress who somehow knew the magical trick of connecting honestly with the TV viewing audience (whether addressing the camera directly or not). Her abilities were part instinct and part God's gift. She's indefatigable but never exhausting, and she makes everyone on-screen her pal as well. As widower father Professor Russell Lawrence, Don Porter (carried over from 1963's theatrical "Gidget Goes to Rome") is attractively bemused and never embarrassed, while Lynette Winter is the perfect embodiment of the misfit best friend (doggedly devoted, sometimes against her will). As Gidget's married sister and brother-in-law, Betty Conner and Peter Deuel seldom get their share of bright lines or stories, though Deuel's starchy skepticism is nearly funny on its own. Despite the product plugs, Gidget's rather under-populated high school, and a few slapstick detours, not a bad way to spend an afternoon. It's nostalgic and upbeat, and Field looks great on a surfboard.

I am a fan of all the Gidget movies and TV shows. I have seen them all from the 1959 Gidget to the 1972 Gidget gets married, and the 1985 the new Gidget TV series. My favorite was the 1965 Gidget TV series starring Sally Field and Don Porter. The show was funny innocent, and heart warming. Sally Field was cute, perky, and adorable as the surfer girl midget. She was the best actress who play Gidget in my opinion. She is also the only actress who played Gidget to win three Emmys and 2 Academy Awards. It is hard to believe watching the show that it only ran for one season. I could not wait to get home from school to watch Gidget.