Herbie, The Love Bug (1982)
In 1982, Herbie did make a brief appearance in a short-live live-action TV series called “Herbie, The Love Bug,” retitled after it was called “Herbie, The Matchmaker.” Dean Jones returned as Jim Douglas, and Patricia Harty played Susan, his wife. The series premise followed Jim as he opened a driving school with Herbie as one of the teachers. His partner was a previously unseen character named Bo (Richard Paul) and his arch rival was a fellow named Randy, once engaged to Susan.
“Herbie, The Matchmaker” was an immediate bomb, and was canceled after only five episodes. I have watched only one hour-long episode, and I can kind of see why. The show is dumb, features dumb humor, no charm or wit, and a maddeningly slow pace. If you are more of a Herbie completist than I, then you are free to watch the entire run of the series online. They have been posted on YouTube. Watch the first episode, and go from there.
Me? I’m fast-forwarding 15 years…
