Movies - The Littlest Hobo

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	Movies - The Littlest Hobo

The Littlest Hobo is the title of a 1958 American motion picture, a Canadian-produced television series based upon the film that aired from 1963 to 1965 and a second Canadian series (a revival) that aired on CTV from 1979 to 1985.

All three productions centre around a stray German shepherd dog that wanders from town to town helping people in need. (This concept was similar to that of Lassie.) Never actually named on-screen, the dog is often referred to in publicity by the name Hobo though he is given a multitude of names by his temporary owners. Although there were recurring actors in the 1960s series, the only constant was the dog; the 1970s revival featured no regularly appearing human actors.

Following the 1958 film, the 1960s TV series was aired in syndication around the world, and is best remembered for a scene (later included in the closing credits of most episodes) showing the dog actually riding a parachute. (This was before animal treatment regulations outlawed such activity in film productions).

In 1979, CTV revived the series, which unlike the previous series was shot on videotape rather than on film. Over six seasons the New Littlest Hobo (as it was sometimes called) featured many big-name Hollywood guest stars and plotlines that ranged from traditional "dog helps boy" stories to outlandish secret agent-type tales. Its theme song, "Maybe Tomorrow", is considered a classic Canadian TV theme and, like the 1960s series, this version was also syndicated around the world. In Canada, the series is oftened viewed as the quintessent cheaply produced domestic television program; in rerun for many years, mainly to fulfill CTV's mandated Canadian content obligations.

The dogs that starred in the two series were both named London though it's not known if they were actually related.

Selected episodes of the 1960s series have been released on DVD in North America.

Corner Gas tribute

An episode of the popular Canadian sitcom, Corner Gas, paid tribute to The Littlest Hobo in the episode "The Littlest Yarbo" that first aired in October 2005. In this episode, a German shepherd mysteriously arrives in show's fictional setting of Dog River, Saskatchewan and begins intervening whenever someone gets into trouble. Hank, the town's resident dimwit, is convinced this dog is the Littlest Hobo from TV. The episode ends with "Hobo" stealing a steak off a barbecue and hopping onto the back of pick-up truck heading out of town, as "Maybe Tomorrow" plays over the episode's closing credits.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Littlest Hobo ]

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