Tarzan

After the huge success of Tarzan on the big screen, Producer Sy Weintraub took the ape man from the silver screen to television. Tarzan made its debut on the NBC network for the fall schedule of 1966. Producer Sy Weintraub(who took over the "Tarzan" franchise in the mid- 1950's from Sol L. Lesser) wanted Mike Henry(who played Tarzan in the movies),but instead got Ron Ely to portrayed the ape man on television. Ron Ely was 28-years old when he got the part of a life portraying the 14th Tarzan based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' most famous character..this time on television. Ron Ely had a strong resume of work on both films and television to his credit including the films "South Pacific", "The Fiend That Walked The West", "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker", "The Night of the Grizzly",and his television work for the series "How To Marry A Millionaire"(1957-1959);,and "The Aquanauts"(1960-1961) to name a few. The television version based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' character retained many of the elements and trappings of the classic movie series that included Cheeta The Chimp,and a boy sidekick named Jai (played by Manuel Padilla,Jr. who starred in the Tarzan films with Mike Henry) was Tarzan's companion helping him out in any way possible(only in this one there was NO Jane here),and lets not forget that this was a series that was indeed action packed with non-stop thrills,excitement and high adventure each week. Ron Ely did his own stunts here for this series.

Under the production of Sy Weintraub,who also served as executive producer of this series under his production Banner Productions, the television series "Tarzan" made its debut on September 9,1966 and it was filmed on location in Central America and Mexico with spectacular photography and to what NBC presented as "The Following Program Is Brought To You In Living Color"...A total of 57 episodes were produced in which Season 1 produced 32 episodes in color. The second and final season produced 25 episodes in color. "Tarzan" aired in prime-time on NBC's Friday night schedule where it faced strong competition in its first season opposite "The Green Hornet", "The Time Tunnel" and the hugely popular "The Wild,Wild West". The second and final season on Friday nights faced competition opposite "Off The See The Wizard", "Hondo",and it's rival in the ratings opposite "The Wild,Wild West". A total of 57 episodes aired in prime-time from September 9,1966 until April 5,1968. After NBC canceled the series in the Spring of 1968(due to show's violent content), "Tarzan" enjoy a resurgence in summer repeats for CBS airing from May 22,1969 until August 30,1969(as the summer replacement for "The Jackie Gleason Show").

Interesting note about this show...several episodes of the "Tarzan" television series were two part episodes that were strung together and actually shown in theaters as full length features that were released under Banner Productions and National General Pictures...among them were "Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion"(1966);"Tarzan and the Perils of Charity Jones"(1967);"Tarzan and the Four O'Clock Army"(1968);and "Tarzan's Deadly Silence"(1970). Actors that had recurring appearances in this series were Maurice Evans, Julie Harris, Chips Rafferty, Rockne Tarkington, and Woody Strode appeared in numerous episodes of the series. Check out the guest star roster for this series that consisted of Ethel Merman, James Earl Jones, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Don Marshall, Neville Brand, Carlos Riva, Roscoe Lee Browne, Pat Conway, Ted Cassidy, Simon Oakland, Rafer Johnson, Fernando Lamas, Rosie Grier, Diana Sands, Beah Richards, Ralph Meeker, James Whitmore, Jock Mahoney, to Russ Tamblyn, Yaphet Kotto, George Kennedy, Barbara Luna, James MacArthur, Nichelle Nichols, Don Marshall and many more.

The best episodes from this action-packed series were "The Pearls of Tanga", "Faces of Death", "The Last of the Supermen", "Alex The Great","Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion", "The Deadly Silence", "The Ultimate Duel", "The Four O'Clock Army", "Mountains of the Moon", "The Blue Stone of Heaven", "The Convert", "Hotel Hurricane", "Jungle Dragnet",and "Jungle Ransom" to name a few. When NBC canceled this series in the Spring of 1968 after two seasons and 57 episodes it was immediately replaced on its Friday night schedule by the Western adventure series "The High Chapparal"....Revised on July 15, 2016 to commemorate on the show's 50th anniversary...originally written on July 12, 2000 but this has been revised and edited.

I LOVE Ron Ely and the 66-68 Tarzan series. Watching recently when Tarzan was in a race to find an artifact in the mountains, and beat a tribe leader. As Tarzan and the woman companion with him ran up the mountain, I noticed that Tarzan had on flesh colored tennis shoes. I also recognize other times that he has bandages on his feet. Must have been rough walking and running around that jungle. Still love and am still re-watching the series. Go, Tarzan!

This was one of my favorite shows as a kid. It was exciting and suspenseful and had some of the most evil villains on TV every week.

However, when I saw reruns of "Tarzan" in the early 1980s, either I caught a batch of bad episodes or I had evolved because I found 6 episodes in a row to be very poorly written and even boring, so I stopped watching.

Recently, a friend loaned me four episodes and all four were exceptional. So, I saw an additional four episodes and three were quite good. Aside from obviously being an uneven series (although I have read that the show had script problems during the first year), I agree with previous posters that just the fantastic on-location photography puts all of the other Tarzan TV series to shame. Ron Ely was perfectly cast, an honorable and articulate "lawman" who respected the native tribes around him. There's one episode, "Last of the Superman" (which must have been written by an Ayn Rand admirer) where Tarzan philosophically reflects on how humans owe it to themselves to be the best they can be.

The other distinguishing thing was that there was no holds barred when it came to violence - guest star William Smithers frantically firing a revolver as piranha fish devour him, and Bo Hopkins as a no-gooder who is lazing around a lake shore when he's pulled into the lake and killed by a crocodile (one of the goriest TV scenes ever filmed). When bad guy Pat Conway is shot to death as he tries to escape by swimming across a raging river, Tarzan angrily admonishes the shooter with, "He had a right to choose how to die!"

The show was attacked by critics in the 1960s, and yet dig the guest star roster - Helen Hayes, Jimmy MacArthur, James Earl Jones, Michael Dunn, Maurice Evans, Julie Harris, James Whitmore, George Kennedy, Sally Kellerman, Diana Ross, the great (if late) Gia Scala, Leslie Parrish, the late Michael Witney, Nichelle Nichols, etc. People like that don't appear on a show if it's bad.

TV Guide reported in June 1968 that the series still had a 31 share and finished in the top 40 during 1967-68, but NBC felt its demographics (too many older women and too many kids) made it unappealing and it was cancelled. Popular demand brought it back for summer reruns in 1969.

A good series.

Aside from Johnny Weismuller, Ron Ely is my favorite Tarzan. An unlikely show, in a sense, it played well amidst the superhero genre that was somewhat prevalent at the time - i.e. Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward and The Green Hornet with Van Williams and Bruce Lee. The show was also contemporary with Star Trek.

Unlike campy Batman, the show took itself seriously and yet, Ron Ely running around in a loin cloth week by week on prime time, didn't seem out of place. Ron played Tarzan serious and straight, dealing with poachers and jungle baddies of all sorts as though it were natural for a partially naked man to be a quasi-jungle policeman/detective. Ely's Tarzan was reminiscent of Hawaii Five-O's Steve McGarrett (played by Jack Lord).

This was no "Me Tarzan" ape-man. Ely's Tarzan was articulate and educated.

Enter Jai (Manuel Padilla Jr. - The Pharoah's Carlos from American Graffiti) and Cheetah the Chimp to provide the less-serious, comedy relief tone to the show. I always wondered how Jai fit in to the cast, as it seemed unusual for a Hispanic boy to be running around in Africa with Tarzan. Was he an orphan or what? Was he a "ward" of Tarzan's, a la Batman's Dick Grayson? Nevertheless, Jai provided an important element to the series - he took the serious edge off of Tarzan and made him compassionate, looking out for a young boy who emulated him (loin cloth and all).

You could always count on Cheetah to bring a smile to Tarzan's face at the end of each show with Jai in hot pursuit shouting, "Cheetah, you come back here," or something of that nature.

Ely had a great physical look for Tarzan. Long and lanky, yet sinewy and strong, he made the physical part of Tarzan's exploits look good. The vine swinging and running through the jungle were performed with style and aplomb.

The introduction always ran with Ely calling out that famous Tarzan yell (Johnny Weismuller's original recorded Tarzan yell - as it was with most Tarzan movies and shows).

The plots were well-contrived and enjoyable. It was one of my favorite series at the time.

Whole show is clean cut IE the safaris coming into the jungle, never wearing jeans etc. Can tell the indoor sets from Mexico wilds alone. Otherwise routine TV fare, Very G rated. Even Tarzan is clean vs roughened by the jungle. In real life everyone would look gritty, dirty, etc esp Tarzan. Or hed look worn by the heat,humidity, etc. Classic for the ages. & who wears suits into the jungle? saw similar on Man from UNCLE episode. Very lame. Arms were always std Safari fare, never any semi autos, etc from WW2 era since show occured Today ( in 60s). OK plots. 2 bad didnt have Tarzan vs Commies seeking some ore to mine & Tarzan comes to rescue.