Episode list

Dobie and Maynard are honorably discharged from the Army and immediately join Zelda in enrolling at S. Peter Pryor Junior College, where their old high school teacher Mr. Pomfritt is now a professor.

Dobie's romances with other women are torpedoed by Zelda's clever schemes.

Maynard sues the insurance company after getting his hand stuck in Gillis Grocery's gumball machine.

Dobie uses the heredity factor to convince Zelda to abandon her dreams of marrying and having children with him and to turn her affections towards a more suitable mate: Chatsworth Osborn, Jr.

Maynard, of whom no man could ever be jealous, suddenly finds himself a hot commodity among the coeds of S. Peter Pryor Junior College when he agrees to serve as their escort to social events while their boyfriends are away. Dobie, fearing his caviar-stuffed friend is headed for a life of dissipation and decay, sets to rescuing him.

Mr. Gillis fears Dobie's interest in Egyptology is inspired less by mouldering mummies and more by the beautiful Dr. Burkhart.

Dr. Burkhart asks her class to bring items to include in a time capsule, but Maynard refuses, discouraged by his conviction that within a matter of years the world will go "boom, boom, ker-boom!" and there will be nobody left to discover the time capsule.

Mr. Pomfritt reports $41.37 has disappeared from his desk. Earlier that day Maynard arrived to school in a taxi, telling Dobie a squirrel gave him $41.37. Dobie tries to right the wrong, but, proving that no good deed goes unpunished, finds himself the prime suspect.

Dobie falls for the soft-hearted Sally Bean, whose parents insist she must date two boys at a time. Can Dobie hope to compete for Sally's affections against Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.?

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp," wrote Robert Browning, and Dobie is inspired to reach for the unattainable Poppy Jordan.

Maynard befriends a poor Mexican shoeshine boy and generously gives him $55.78--all the money his classmates had saved to fund their Christmas dance. To earn back the money, Maynard takes a job as a department store Santa Claus.

When the irresponsible quarterback the Gillises and Maynard have been trying to help and keep from getting cut from the team disappears just before kickoff, a gridiron veteran volunteers to come out of mothballs to cover for him.

Dobie campaigns for student council against Chatsworth, capitalizing on the folksinging fad that has swept the campus.

Herbert decides to run for city planning commissioner. Dobie is proud to campaign for his father, that is until he meets a pretty girl, the next love of his life. She is Betty Jane Cheever, the daughter of Herbert's opponent, George G. Cheever. Betty Jane doesn't want the election to get between their possible relationship, but she does open Dobie's eyes to the primary issue of the campaign - Proposition E - which Cheever supports as it would tear down an aging neighborhood that many consider a slum. In discussions with his father about the election, Dobie learns that Herbert doesn't know about the issues at all - that he is campaigning solely on his charisma - but when he does hear about Proposition E, he doesn't support it because it is the neighborhood in which he grew up, which brings with it nostalgic and fond memories for him. This stance places a rift between Dobie and Herbert, which brings up whether standing up for one's beliefs, being informed and correct about an issue, or family is most important.

Chatsworth asks Herbert T. Gillis to come to Osborn Manor and mold him from being a namby-pamby weakling into a a manly man among men, but Mumsy and Trembley conspire to quash Chatsworth's conversion.

Mr. Gillis entertains big dreams of selling his grocery store to a supermarket chain for a big price and being able to give his family more time and luxuries.

A wedding-by-proxy sparks Zelda's mania to get married, so Dobie and Maynard seek to escape by stowing away on a cargo ship bound for South America, not realizing Zelda is also aboard.

Maynard meets his kind of people in Edwina "Eddie" Kegel, a tomboy who enjoys hacking around with him, watching building demolitions and sewer excavations and laughing at the "oblongs" at the sophomore dance.

Mr. Pomfritt's lecture on marriage convinces Dobie that marrying Zelda is his only logical choice. But is marriage meant to be a logical choice?

To win the avaricious affections of Daphne, Dobie becomes a wheeler dealer in the commodities futures market.

Thalia Menninger reenters Dobie's life, she who is now the assistant sales manager for the Pylon Corporation, which sells clothing door-to-door. She soon will be promoted to sales manager of their Cleveland office. Whatever the reason for Thalia's return, Dobie vows not to fall under her spell again since he knows she will ultimately break his heart as he will never be the money making machine she is looking for in a husband. Indeed, Thalia wants Dobie back, but she figures she can have her cake and eat it too by Dobie dropping out of school and becoming a salesman under her for Pylon. Although he still pines for her, Dobie doesn't want to drop out of school despite he realizing that his liberal arts program isn't providing him with any grounding for a professional life that would attract Thalia. Dobie's parents are mixed on Dobie dropping out to get a job. They all let confirmed academic and lover of anything related to knowledge Mr. Pomfritt decide Dobie's fate. But Mr. Pomfritt, who has always had problems making ends meet, may be easier prey to Thalia's arguments than most would have believed.

Dobie and Maynard agree to volunteer as big brothers at the Settlement House for underprivileged children and in doing so help Dr. Burkhart bridge the gap between sociological theory and practice.

Dobie and Maynard babysit the Pomfritts' children and are tempted to peek at the test, a high score on which would allow Dobie to transfer to an Ivy League school and meet men of means (a possibility that delights Mr. Gillis in a daydream).

Dobie discovers the significance of his unusual name when his distinguished namesake summons him to New York City to share a parting message. A thoughtful episode with an inspiring message for young people.

Dobie lands a job at Lumpkin Lumber through the influence of his girlfriend Gloria, but when the boss' brash daughter takes a shine to him, Dobie sees a chance to climb the corporate ladder to success.

Maynard learns that while honesty may be the best policy, it's not always the best way to win friends and influence people.

Yellow journalist Maynard writes a scandalous article for The Pryor Crier, sensationalizing Dr. Burkhart's anthropology class' planned reenactment of a native dance into a "pagan revel" that raises the blood pressure of outraged parents (especially Mr. Gillis' in a fantasy dream sequence).

While Professor McGuffy is performing a demonstration on how certain animals, such as basset hounds, have developed a keen sense of smell to overcome other less developed senses, his science class learns that Maynard's sense of smell is far more powerful, especially when it comes to searching out food. But Maynard's keen sense of smell applies to everything. Dobie believes Maynard can parlay that ability to sniff out anything into a lucrative detective business - finding missing items for clients - with Dobie as his business manager. It does end up becoming a booming and indeed lucrative business. But what Dobie didn't count on was fellow student, the beautiful but conniving and money hungry Elspeth Hummaker, entering the scene. Elspeth, who would normally be way out of Maynard's league, wants to take over the business, moving it into an even more lucrative but less ethical direction, and push Dobie out. Will Maynard stay with his good buddy, or go with a girl he wouldn't otherwise be able to get? And will Maynard always be able to sniff out anything?

Dobie determines to toss the co-dependent Maynard from the nest of their friendship to let him learn self-sufficiency, but the tossing proves more difficult than anticipated.

To earn $20 to woo his high-class girlfriend Samantha, Dobie and Maynard take a job as waiters at a sorority house party, but when Samantha shows up as a guest, the boys become girls to avoid being detected.

On an anthropology class field trip, Maynard stumbles into a hidden cave and discovers and befriends a stone-age caveman.

Chatsworth's cousin Edwina drops out of high society to hack around with her childhood chum Maynard. Fearing Eddie's infatuation will lead to marriage, the scandalized Osbornes set to work making a gentleman of Maynard.

Dobie is torn between two girls on opposite ends of the spectrum. Dobie, using a scam as always, is trying to convince current girlfriend Mona Monaghan that he shouldn't go out with her tonight since she should study for a Latin exam she has the next day, while in reality he can't take her out since he has no money. She counters that she doesn't need to study since she's going to cheat, for which Dobie chastises her, still solely trying to get out of having to take her out. Overhearing this encounter is Eloise McInerney, a girl who Dobie has known since they were children but who he always thought unattainable. Eloise is a straight arrow who believes in unadulterated honesty, and this encounter shows her that Dobie is an honest fellow unlike what she previously believed. However, when she learns that Dobie's father is using a scam to get out from paying a $10 parking ticket, she figures that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. To get Eloise's fleeting affections back, Dobie has to prove to her that his father is going to pay the parking ticket, that proof being the payment receipt. But getting Dobie's father to pay the fine and getting the parking violations clerk to accept the money aren't as easy as Dobie believes. And if Eloise won't have him, Dobie convincing Mona that he has larceny in his heart is also easier said than done.

Mrs. Gillis leaves to visit relatives in Cleveland for a few weeks and the Gillis boys welcome the freedom, but quickly learn how much they need her firm and guiding hand upon them.

Bully Butch Baumgartner is due into town on the noon bus and has a score to settle with Dobie. Will Dobie muster the courage to face the man who hates him, or lie a coward in his grave?

Due to his humble origins, Dobie is denied membership in Chatsworth's exclusive Silver Spoon Club, so he and Maynard scheme to deliver a low blow to the highbrow frat boys.