Big John, Little John 

A middle-aged schoolteacher transforms into a 12-year-old boy at inopportune moments.

Stars:

Herb Edelman, Robbie Rist, Joyce Bulifant

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Herb Edelman	...	Big John Martin 13 episodes, 1976
Robbie Rist	...	Little John Martin 13 episodes, 1976
Joyce Bulifant	...	Marjorie Martin 13 episodes, 1976
Mike Darnell	...	Ricky Martin 13 episodes, 1976
Olive Dunbar	...	Bertha Bottomly 13 episodes, 1976
Kristoff St. John	...	Homer 3 episodes, 1976
Cari Anne Warder	...	Valerie 3 episodes, 1976
Stephen H. Cassidy	...	Stanley 3 episodes, 1976

Storyline

Junior high school science teacher John Martin, on a vacation in Florida, drinks from the legendary Fountain of Youth allegedly discovered by Ponce de Leon. A few weeks later, he transforms into a 12-year-old version of himself. The change is temporary, but from then on, John proceeds to randomly switch back and forth from "Big John" to "Little John" and back again at unexpected moments. John's wife and son were in on the secret, explaining "Little John" away as their nephew, but the struggle to keep John's secret made up most of the show's humor. Miss Bottomly was the matronly school principal who harbored Dr. Bellowsesque suspicions about John.

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Plot Keywords:

son | wife | boy | teacher | adult as a child | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1976 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions, Redwood Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Enough Said (2013)

User Reviews

Big John, LIttle John, Monster Squad, MacDuff the talking dog

These were a period of Saturday morning I will never forget. Apparently there was a wish to bring back real life shows and try to downplay the appeal for animation. These were hokey, but Big John, Little John was pretty good to a ten year old anyhoo. Edelman, Rist and Bullifant made do very well this premise of a man who drank from the fountain of youth in Florida and now grew young and old. Rist was not as annoying here as he was on the Brady Bunch. Jokes worked. An older child would be calling him dad and he would call him son back. Funniest moment I can recall was Big John transforming while wearing a suit of armor for a costume party. Bullifant, as his wife, had to hurry the nosey neighbor or houseguest out the door then get the armor on the couch. She's screaming 'John, John, John?!" as she yanks off the helmet and there is no head. They found little John halfway down. I would die if I saw this again.