From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Big John, Little John

Field	Value
image	BigjohnlittlejohnEdelman.jpg
caption	Big John (Herb Edelman), from the opening credits
genre	Sitcom
creator	Sherwood Schwartz
starring	Herb Edelman
Robbie Rist
Joyce Bulifant
theme_music_composer	Richard LaSalle
country	United States
language	English
num_seasons	1
num_episodes	13
producer	Lloyd J. Schwartz
executive_producer	Raymond S. "Ray" "R. S." Allen
William P. D'Angelo

runtime	22–24 minutes
company	D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions
Redwood Productions
Viacom
network	NBC
first_aired
last_aired

Robbie Rist Joyce Bulifant William P. D'Angelo

Harvey Bullock Sherwood Schwartz Redwood Productions Viacom

Big John, Little John is an American Saturday-morning sitcom, produced by Sherwood Schwartz, which starred Herbert Edelman as "Big John" and Robert "Robbie" Rist as "Little John". The show first aired on September 11, 1976, on NBC, and ran for one season of 13 episodes. The series was produced by Redwood Productions in association with D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions. In the United Kingdom, it was shown on BBC1.

Plot summary

The show's main character was a forty-year-old middle school science teacher named John Martin (played by Edelman). While vacationing in Florida, he drinks from a spring which turns out to be the legendary Fountain of Youth sought by Juan Ponce de León. The water changes him into a twelve-year-old boy (played by Rist), and back again.

The changes occur spontaneously and without warning. Because Martin only sipped the water, the changes are recurring and not permanent; according to legend, had he taken a full drink, he would be age twelve permanently. Only his wife, Marjorie (Joyce Bulifant), and son, Ricky (Mike Darnell), know his secret, though Martin's students (who befriend him as "Little John") and his boss, principal Bertha Bottomly (Olive Dunbar), do become suspicious that something unusual is going on. The Martin family explain the younger John as their nephew, staying with them. Throughout the series, "Big John" unsuccessfully tries to find a cure for his predicament, but his experiences as "Little John" often give him insight into what his students are facing.

To make the two actors resemble each other more closely, Rist's blond hair was dyed brown, while Edelman wore a hairpiece that partially covered his baldness, though was absent during the credits sequences. Edelman and Rist appeared together in 1977, on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

Cast

Herb Edelman - Big John Martin
Robbie Rist - Little John Martin
Joyce Bulifant - Marjorie Martin
Mike Darnell - Ricky Martin
Olive Dunbar - Bertha Bottomly
Kristoff St. John - Homer
Cari Anne Warder - Valerie
Stephen H. Cassidy - Stanley

Rist had previously worked on Schwartz's The Brady Bunch during its final season (1973–1974), as the Bradys' cousin, Oliver.

Episodes

Sherwood Schwartz Ron Sellz Albert A. Schwartz Guest stars: Don "Red" Barry (Mr. Crabtree), James Deuter (Mr. Boswell) Herbert Finn Paul Roberts Harry Winkler Davis Samuel Zucker, James S. Abrahams

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD (for Regions 1 and 2) in 2009 by Fabulous Films.

References

(1985). "Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series". The Scarecrow Press.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1976-american-television-series-debuts 1976-american-television-series-endings 1970s-american-children's-comedy-television-series 1970s-american-sitcoms american-children's-television-sitcoms american-children's-fantasy-television-series american-english-language-television-shows television-series-by-cbs-studios television-series-about-children television-series-about-size-change television-series-created-by-sherwood-schwartz nbc-sitcoms

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Big John, Little John — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report