Gidget: Operation Shaggy Dog

Gidget: Operation Shaggy Dog
ABC
February 17, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This is Dorothy Cooper Foote's second of two Gidget episodes and it doesn't really work.  While it is nice to see Lew Parker, shortly to be Lew Marie on That Girl, as Socrates the crusty owner of the local teen hang-out, the battle between Russ and Gidget over what will happen to Sock's business feels out of character for Russ.  Usually when he disagrees with Gidget, he'll at least try and listen to her viewpoint.  Here there has to be a heavy-handed scene where Russ meets a young doctor that Sock encouraged.  Still, the episode is interesting for the generation gap aspect.  It's Hal Cooper's first of three Gidget gigs, although he had already directed a Gilligan.

Yet another member of the cast of Village of the Giants appears, this time Tim Rooney (Mickey's son) as Tommy.  Bob Beach is back as Toby.  And Don Edmonds, who plays Buzz, was in Gidget Goes Hawaiian.