It's About Time

"It's About Time" (1966-67) was created by the late, great Sherwood Schwartz who gave us "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch". The fantasy comedy ran for 26 episodes in the vein of his "Gilligan's Island" with this series also about travelers sent off course and stranded in a jungle setting with absurd plots. Being produced at the same time, "It's About Time" shares some of "Gilligan's" sets, props, and incident music. And it's little surprise that star Jack Mullaney at times has Gilligan-like goofy traits with sayings and actions that mimic him.

Joe E. Ross with his rough-around-the-edges looks and primitive sense of humor ("Oooo Oooo") was great casting as Gronk. Imogene Coca as Shag/Shad, however, seems a waste of her talents, although she is predictably good in any role. Mike Mazurki is another piece of great casting, and Cliff Norton also does a fine job with the boss caveman role.

I'm watching the series for the first time (as a 26-year-old) in chronological order, but understand how it can get repetitious after a few episodes. Yet, it's still startling to see the complete role reversal of having the cavemen travel to the 20th century near the end, in an attempt to save the short-lived series.

Reflecting upon the series, it had an interesting, unique premise that the writers had trouble expanding upon. If not fully mined for laughs, it at least touched upon many of the funny situations that could arise from adjusting to 1 million years of life. It was hard to think of Frank Aletter and Jack Mullaney as stars when you had the established talents of Imogene Coca and Joe E. Ross, who eventually shifted into that role. Many of the episodes were repetitive, but some were absurdly funny.

I enjoy the matte shots (albeit simplistic), conveying the viewer to the prehistoric era. Starting off, the series has some funny dialogue and situational comedy. It's silliness is part of its fun. It's family friendly, and I can see how kids would enjoy it. If you allow the absurdity to be part of the enjoyment, it can be a fun series.

I'm 26, so for me, I grew up with the shows of 90s and loved them. Then the new millennium rolled around....and what happened? What are these distasteful, offensive shows on today, and why is it viewed as acceptable? I don't know what happened to the industry, but I can tell you what happened to me- I turned to television from the classic period. They are most certainly funnier, more well-written, wholesome, and some drive home important moral lessons. My wife is 23 and also loves classic shows and films. When we have children one day, we hope to share that love with them.

I found the common thread through most of the member comments for IT'S ABOUT TIME to be hilarious: three pages of comments from startled people who all thought they were the ONLY ones who remember the show! And everyone can still whistle the theme song. The thing that captivated me about this show when I was a kid were the dinosaurs, lifted mostly from the movies DINOSAURUS! and THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN. In fact in one scene where a tyrannosaurus (from DINOSAURUS!) is supposed to be trying to attack some cave men hiding in a cave you can clearly see that it's actually digging away at the entrance to a mine, complete with supporting timbers and a sign warning people to keep out. Later on when (I assume) the show wasn't doing too well in the rating and the producers decided to bring cave people back to the future in a sort of BEVERLY HILLBILIES scenario I quickly lost interest. The only other things about the show that really stand out in my memory are the goofy cast of cave people (Mike Mazurki, Joe E. "Ooh! Ooh!" Ross, Imogene Coca, and a sort of prehistoric Daisy Duke who always wore nylons under her animal skins) and the fact that one of the two astronauts (I think if was Frank Aletter, although I'm not sure) had to dye his hand blonde because the producers didn't want two brunettes in the leads.

You know, that's a lot to stick in one's memory after forty years!

I could easily see this show being resurrected as a big budget theatrical comedy (replacing "cheesy" stop-motion dinos with cheesier CGI effects), with Tom Arnold as the leader of the cave family and Will Farrell and Greg Kinnear as the astronauts. Ugghhhh.......

...created by the same person who created Gilligan's Island, Sherwood Schwartz, at the same time Gilligan's Island was still on the air. Although I'm not sure it would have caught on had Gilligan's Island not been on the air.

Basically you have the two astronauts doubling for the Skipper and Gilligan although not in such an extreme relationship as those two had, with one astronaut just being jumpier and more scatter brained than the other.

Rather than a bunch of fellow castaways, the two astronauts have to deal with prehistoric man. And you have dinosaurs and man existing at the same time in this prehistoric world.

The topic got tired in a hurry and was cancelled after one season, even after the astronauts find a way to return to 1966 earth but end up bringing the cavemen with them.

The thing that I remember most about this show was the very catchy theme song that it had. It seems I'm not alone as many fellow reviewers are saying that they found it most memorable as well.

A few episodes, including the series premiere, show up on youtube from time to time.

I remember watching this show as a child of about 11 or 12 and even remember the theme song, although I do get mixed up in the words from the original story and the spin off story when the 'primatives' return to the present. I don't remember any of the episodes except I know I just really enjoyed the show. My children think I'm crazy when I am prompted by one of them saying "It's about time...." and I start to song the theme song - "It's about time, it's about space, it's about 2 people in the strangest place, etc.etc.....". It was really a nonsense show but good for a few (clean) laughs, something that is sadly missing on today's TV.

In reply to the comment that this series was a failure, I must disagree. It not only lasted a whole season, it came back for part of another. In the second season, the astronauts and the two main cave-characters repaired the spaceship and returned to the present. I can't remember if the second series lasted the entire season, but I enjoy both the episodes in the past and in the present. These are, of course, the reminiscences of a 43 year old man remembering the long ago days of his 9th year of life. I have several times asked the SCI-FI channel to consider running the episodes to see if they would seem the same today as that time 35 years in the past.