The basic concept of Route 66 was to be the adventures of two young,totally unattached young men.They were both without parents,siblings,wives,girlfriends,children,property,business careers or any other ties.They were "chasing a star".Searching for the right place to build a life and/or girl to marry.The early episodes were faithful to the series' concept.Tod and Buz and what happened to THEM were the story.As the series went on many of the episodes had Tod and Buz as mere peripheral players to the stories (see "A Bunch of Lonely Pagliacci's" as an example).The illness of George Maharis which caused him to be unable to work (he missed 8 of the first 79 episodes and quit after episode #79) and the generally mundane acting ability of Martin Milner led the producers to focus less on the adventures of the principals and more on "message" stories.As the series continued,many of the "message" stories became darker and less optimistic dealing more and more with death and the future being grim for the characters Tod,Buz and Linc encounter. Maharis as "Buz Murdoch" gave a John Garfield-ish dramatic quality to the stories which balanced the lukewarm Milner's "Tod Stiles". Late in the series,the replacement for "Buz Murdoch","Lincoln Case",was even less true to the series concept."Linc" was far from unattached (both of his parents were still living,married and residing in the family home) and despite having the background of being a Vietnam combat veteran his character was usually even more sedate than Milner's "Tod".Glenn Corbett played the part woodenly and showed very little acting ability. All in all,the initial concept of the series was brilliant and while many of the "message" episodes were quite good,the series became overly talky and less about the experiences of "Tod","Buz" and "Linc"."Message" became more important to the producers of the series than the "search for a place in this world".

The episodes A Lance of Straw, The Strengthening Angels and The Clover Throne have segments which look like they were filmed in and around Oxnard, CA. I know that Martin Milner had to lodge in Port Hueneme during a time when filming of one of those episodes was "on location". It would be nice if someone can verify if one of or all three were filmed in Ventura County of California. The Fugitive TV series would film in Oxnard at times and they would rename the area for its rural appearance. Most studios did not like to venture more than two hours from their filming base during episode filming. Often times a production person would scout out locales which could double for a remote area.

In 1960, as a seven year old boy growing up in historic Salisbury, North Carolina, the weekly TV show, Route 66, whisked me away to the open road and high adventure in an open-topped red Corvette convertible. Howmuch better could life be for a seven year old boy in Small Town USA?! This was high-living for the next four years of my life. "Buzz" and "Todd" (the main characters) had quickly become my best friends as I rode with them every Friday night (8PM) to high adventure. I wish "TV Land" would bring this show back into our lives and show kids of today that you don't need to have sex and violence in order to enjoy some great TV! Herbert W. (Bo) Newsome, Salisbury, NCIn summary, This was a wonderful show!

I've just seen several episodes of Route 66, which I remember from reruns in the late 60's. The location shots are absolutely wonderful - how Martin Milner and George Maharis survived all the travel to shoot on location is amazing in itself.The story lines deal with people and their personal lives in a very intimate way. Wonderful "guest stars" too - from Robert Redford and Robert Duvall to Walter Matthau and Jack Lord.I grew to appreciate Milner and Maharis from earlier parts they played -Milner as the stoic, sincere jazz guitarist in "Sweet Smell of Success," in 1957 and Maharis in the first hour-long episode of Naked City in 1960. My kind of actors.All in all, Route 66 is a great show.