I recently came across episodes of this show on Youtube. It is especially memorable for me because it was telecast during the same years I was in college, starting in 1963. The overwhelming feeling watching these old episodes again is "how easily we were entertained back in the 1960s." It was a different time, shows were more family oriented, sexual references were very indirect, and there was no objectionable "blue" language.Ray Walston was the title character who became known as Uncle Martin to avoid revealing where he really was from. After his Martian craft crashed, he was found by Bill Bixby as columnist Tim O'Hara who took him and his damaged spacecraft in. Much of Martin's thrust is to get his craft repaired so he can return home. Other than that each of the 107 episodes was acting out some humorous situation.Fun TV series, brings back good memories.

From personal opinion, the 1960s was a great decade for television, seeing shows with creative concepts and memorable characters that fascinated and appealed at the time and still hold up now ('The Addams Family', 'The Munsters', 'Doctor Who', 'Bewitched' and 'I Dream of Jeannie' are just a few examples, have a soft spot for 'Batman' too).'My Favourite Martian' is another one of those shows. When it comes to sci-fi and comedy, individually and meshed together, 'My Favourite Martian' is a landmark and still holds up as enormously enjoyable. The third season sadly doesn't live up to the high quality of the first two, with story lines that were predictable, repetitive, disjointed (with them having one half of something and then a second half of something else entirely) and got overboard with the silliness to the point of redundancy, also relying on a formula that got stale too early.With the first two seasons, the story lines were the complete opposite. They were engrossing, imaginative and clever, succeeding as entertainment and provoking thought. Likewise with the hilarious and intelligent writing, with dialogue that makes one laugh and think. The chemistry between the well-defined, the titular character one would go as far to say is iconic, characters is simply magical.It is impossible to think of anybody else so well suited to the title role than Ray Walston, a role he was born to play. Bill Bixby shows remarkable and perfectly pitched comic timing and works so well with Walston. All the supporting cast are very good, J. Pat O'Malley is particularly fun and Pamela Britton is charming.Production values don't look too primitive. Although 'My Favourite Martian' does look pretty good in colour, it fares to me better in black and white where things look smoother and more atmospheric. The sets and effects are pretty inventive. The music is a good fit and it is hard to forget the theme music.Overall, a genre landmark and a near-classic if it weren't for its disappointing last season. The 1999 film that bases itself on this is not worth bothering with, the only emotions one will feel watching it are sheer disappointment, anger and questioning the point of it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

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.

I've always loved the Broadway Show Damn Yankees and if you watch Ray Walston on My Favorite Martian, the characters are very similar.On Damn Yankees Walston played the Devil and made many commentaries about the human race especially in the song "Those were the Good Old Days". He is also frequently seen making commentary about the human race on the TV show as well.The character Joe Hardy is given super normal baseball powers when he makes a deal with the devil. Tim O'Hara in My Favorite Martian is not given super normal powers but he takes advantage of what the Martian character can do for him. Ray Walston frequently points this fact out on the show.Also as the Devil in Damn Yankees, Walston possesses extraterrestrial like powers as he does in My Favorite Martian which in my opinion made him perfect for the part.I looked at some of the commentaries, and I did not notice anyone seeing this similarity of character.I would welcome any thoughts on what I think.