My Favorite Martian was an amusing comedy of the middle sixties in America that had a nice following. Sad to say that our advances in space travel culminating in the Martian probe rendered syndication of the show practically nil. Still those of us who recall it have some fond memories.
While covering the flight of America's fastest jet at the time, the X-15, reporter Tim O'Hara discovers a crashed Martian vessel with an alien inside. He takes the ship and the alien home with him, realizing he's got the scoop of the century.
It's not as easy as all that as Bill Bixby discovers. As Tim O'Hara, Bixby's your average 20th century American male, trying to earn a living to make money to spend on the women he chases. And he discovers that he rather likes the Martian he's taken in. So he starts referring to Ray Walston as his Uncle Martin.
Walston and Bixby had a marvelous chemistry together which was the secret of the show's success. I enjoyed Ray Walston in everything that man ever did, from the devil in Damn Yankees to his crusty judge in Picket Fences. As for Bixby this was the first of several TV series that established him as a fine light comedian. More serious roles would come later in his career.
Bixby and Walston rent a room over the garage of Mrs. Brown played by Pamela Britton. She was a good hearted soul who accepted Tim's explanation of his newly arrived uncle without question. But always lurking around was Detective Brennan of the LAPD. Alan Hewitt was at his supercilious best. He was jealous because he thought Walston might be moving in on his time with Britton. He was never satisfied with all the explanations he got about Walston. Hewitt's curiosity was the basis for about half the episodes.
Walston was a marvelous alien, over a 1000 years old, an expert in fact on Earth history because he'd made many trips here for research. He could read minds, levitate objects, and with the raise of a couple of antenna from the back of his head, disappear. Some of these things were of inestimable value to Bixby as a reporter.
My Favorite Martian was a cute comedy that sadly will have no basis in truth because of our recent discoveries about Mars. Wouldst we could go there and find a race of Ray Walstons. We could probably learn a lot.
