I remember watching this show every Sunday evening during the 1966/67 TV season. I still remember the theme song as most who have seen it do. I recently bought the dubbed DVD set on ebay as I wanted just to see this show again. What amazed me the most after having not seen it in 40 years since it originally aired, is how much of it I remembered. I always remembered the characters - Heck, Mac, Gronk, Shad, Breer, Mlor, Boss and Clon. In fact, there is a fellow I encountered at work who is of French origin and his first name is Shadd. I could not help but remember this show every time I had connected with this person. Of course, when I mentioned the show to others, they just thought I was strange as no one else remembered it. As a result of watching this show I became very intrigued by cave men and did a lot of reading on the topic. At 6 years old, it did not occur to me that cave people likely did not speak in 20th century English as they did on this show. I recently viewed all 26 episodes and I was amazed by how many lines, scenes and characters I remembered from 40 years ago. The power of television! After viewing the show again it is so obviously Sherwood Schwartz. It is remarkable how much it parallels his other show Gilligan's Island which was in its third season run when this show was on. It's About Time used the same sets, the same background music, the same effects music and the exact same bumper music as Gilligan's Island. The character of Heck is clearly modeled after the character of Gilligan. Heck's speech, mannerisms and physical comedy are dead-ringers for Gilligan. Schwartz even used many of the same story lines and synopsis for this show that were used in episodes of Gilligan's Island - the belief that evil spirits turned a person into a monkey (actually, it was a chimpanzee), the women leaving the village because their work is not appreciated, primitive people's superstitions, a volcano threatens the village (same footage used!), the village holding an election, using modern technology to frighten primitive peoples etc. Seems the writers didn't have to work very hard on this one. I remember recognizing the space capsule in the episode of Gilligan where the cosmonauts land on the island, as being the same one used in this show. I also recall the dinosaur scenes which I thought were very realistic in 1966. Upon seeing them again, they're cheesy and contrived and clearly borrowed from low-budget movies. Even as a 6 year old, I knew that there was never a time when people and dinosaurs both inhabited the earth - the dinosaurs were gone before the first people appeared but I didn't care, I liked the show and watched every week. The thing I remembered most though, is when Heck and Mac brought Gronk, Shad, Breer and Mlor back to the 20th century! I remember Gronk clubbing a Volkswagon Beetle and Breer being laughed at in school (where all the kids were white, well groomed, hair combed and nicely dressed, ah the 1960s...) and picking up the pointer to use it as a spear. I also remember Gronk and Shad trying to get back to "Heck and Mac's cave" in a "car animal." All of this is on the DVD set and much the same as I remembered. I must admit, Sherwood Schwartz did have a knack for educating viewers. It was this show where I first heard, and learned the terms "Prehistoric", "20th Century", "Primative" and "BC" (in the days before politically correctness). For those who haven't seen it in a while, the copies currently being sold on ebay are not good quality but are definitely watchable. I can tell you, the show is typical Sherwood Schwartz so if you liked the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island (come on, admit it, I know many of you did), you'll definitely like this one. If you didn't then you likely won't. It is pretty much the same show as Gilligan's Island, just a different setting, but an interesting setting to be sure. I too remembered the term "Gnook" from that episode and still think of it when I see a small dog. Glad I got see this again. It's About Time is likely the only show to actually become one of the props used in the show; a time capsule. It is not only very Sherwood Schwartz, it's also very 1960s. All good fun in this reviewer's opinion.
Review of It's About Time
