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.

This series was based on the popular movie series of the same name starring Sandra Dee. Newcomer Sally Field is perfectly cast as Frances "Gidget" Laurence. Sally Field is the star of the show along with Don Porter who played her father, Dr. Russell Lawrence, professor. Betty Connor played her sister, Ann, and she has a brother-in-law. Her best friend, Larue is hysterical. The series was light-hearted with plenty of memorable guest stars like Bonnie Franklin, Richard Dreyfuss, and more. While the series only lasted a season with 32 episodes, it's still enjoyable and light-hearted perfect for the summer months. It's hard to believe that it has been 50 years since Sally Field debut on to our hearts as lovable Gidget. Who would have imagined that she would go on to play the flying nun, win 2 Academy Awards, an Emmy, and more in her long career. It's time that Sally Field got the highest honor of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Long before shows like "Saved By the Bell" and "Moesha" we had Gidget. This was a pretty interesting look at kids in the mid-1960's and how teen-agers were looked at in those days. It was an okay show for its times, even though it did seem kind of corny. You never would have guessed that this would be the launching point for one of the finest actresses in her era in the person of Sally Field. She gives a good performance of everyone's favorite surfer girl and is probably her third most famous character behind "Norma Rae" and Sister Bertrille. Perhaps the funniest, as well as the most annoying, part of this series were her sister and brother in law. Anne was pretty much a control freak and along with her wannabe Freud husband John were the prototype yuppies before the term was even invented. This was definitely a product of its time.

This short lived series was very important for many of us just becoming teens in the mid-60's. Her clothing, hairdos, language and relationships with friends and boyfriends were fun to tune into once a week and see what life was like (although somewhat not believable!!) for a teenage girl growing up near the beach in California. Sally Field was a darling girl, perfectly cast here, not afraid to make faces, cry, or even do physical comedy in this series. Gidget had her own bedroom with her own Princess telephone (we all wanted one), lived in a wonderful two story home with a beautiful yard and got to drive her dad's cool car sometimes. And yes, she got into and out of a lot of trouble in the 22 minute show,but at that time in our lives, for a half hour, it was believable to many of us. Like The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, and Leave It To Beaver, these were mild comedies, with gentle story lines, usually a moral to be learned, and left us feeling good about ourselves and maybe had a laugh or two during the half hour show. To many people today,this sounds corny and old-fashioned, but it felt like a safer, more comfortable world back then.