History Series / Route66

* CharacterFilibuster: A feature of practically every episode.

* BookDumb: Buz. He claims he received a diploma without being able to ''spell'' "diploma", and in the first episode confuses the homophones "poor" and "pour": "We're P-O-U-R."
** Yet later episodes show that with nothing better to do, he'll settle in with Creator/WilliamShakespeare and [[Creator/ErnestHemingway Hemingway]].
* CharacterFilibuster

* GenreShift: The finale, the Season 4 two-parter "Where There's a Will, There's a Way" is a ScrewballComedy with a lot of DarkHumour. Tod marries Madge, played by Creator/Barbara Eden, briefly suffers a DisneyDeath, then wins a battle of wits with her murderous uncles and aunt. This involved getting one uncle eaten by crocodiles, another shot by firing squad in a BananaRepublic, and the last kidnapped by the Soviets for failing to provide a commissar with American lipstick.

** And, in fact, the producers had originally wanted Andre Previn's "Like Young" to serve as the theme tune but couldn't get it, so Riddle (who had already been signed to compose the weekly scores – executive producer Herbert B. Leonard did not like the idea of a RecycledSoundtrack, so both this series and his ''Naked City'' had original scores) was asked to write a piece in the same vein.

** And, in fact, the producers had originally wanted Andre Previn's "Like Young" to serve as the theme tune but couldn't get it, so Riddle (who had already been signed to compose the weekly scores -- executive producer Herbert B. Leonard did not like the idea of a RecycledSoundtrack, so both this and his ''Naked City'' had original scores) was asked to write a piece in the same vein.

* TheyFightCrime: Well, sometimes they do.

* CorruptHick: The antagonist of the very first episode, in fact.

A 1960–64 drama series on Creator/{{CBS}}, created by Herbert B. Leonard and Sterling Silliphant and starring Martin Milner (later of ''Series/AdamTwelve'') and George Maharis.

The show's writing, much of it by co-creator Silliphant (who later wrote the classic Oscar-winning film ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight''), could be clever, nuanced, and heartfelt. And its format, which was essentially that of an {{Anthology}} with two recurring characters, allowed Silliphant to explore a vast number of topics as he felt like it. However, whether due to a changed social landscape, the dawn of the cynical age, or the fact that invariably any drama will have scenes that miss their mark, the series is also the victim of extensive {{Narm}}; it was made in a period that still falls thematically into the era exemplified by TheFifties (as opposed to TheSixties).

* GrandFinale: The Season 4 two-parter "Where There's a Will, There's a Way", which has Tod getting married and Linc returning home to Texas.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted.

* GrandFinale: The Season 4 two-parter "Where There's a Will, There's a Way".

The writing, much of it by series co-creator Silliphant (who later wrote the classic Oscar-winning film ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight''), can be clever, nuanced, and heartfelt. In fact, the series was essentially an {{Anthology}} with two recurring characters that allowed Silliphant to explore a vast number of topics as he felt like it. However, whether due to a changed social landscape, the dawn of the cynical age, or the fact that invariably any drama will have scenes that miss their mark, the series is also the victim of extensive {{Narm}}; it was made in a period that still falls thematically into the era exemplified by TheFifties (as opposed to TheSixties).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0710.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Tod Stiles (left) and Buz Murdock (right).]]

* InstrumentalThemeTune: Composed by Nelson Riddle (see PopStarComposer below) after the show's producers decided not to pony up for the rights to the Bobby Troup standard "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", it was released as a single and actually became a fair-sized hit.

* PopStarComposer: Nelson Riddle, responsible for the show's jazzy theme tune, moved into television and film scores but rose to fame as a popular bandleader and musical arranger for the likes of Music/FrankSinatra, Creator/JudyGarland, and Nat King Cole.

* HalloweenEpisode: "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing" (Season 3) has Tod and Buz encountering Creator/BorisKarloff, Creator/PeterLorre, and Lon Chaney Jr., who are concerned that their brand of old-school horror is lost on a younger and more jaded generation.

* ContemplateOurNavels: Tod and Buz are "searching" for "something" and along the way they're going to spend a lot of time musing philosophically.
** A lot of the writing is reminiscent of Faulkner on a comprehensible day.

* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: Buz's experiences, and in one episode he almost cries because Tod returns a runaway orphan to a state-run orphanage. In another episode, he himself tries to bring a child to the attention of the authorities because of the boy's alcoholic father. That episode suggests that it would be better if [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist Social Services Did Not Exist]] and that everyone's alcoholism could be cured with a simple moral lesson, like "be responsible for yourself and your offspring" which is a ''tad'' [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic]].
* FamilyVersusCareer: This is ''kind of'' the situation in "Poor Little Kangaroo Rat", where a MarriedToTheJob scientist's wife threatens to take their son and leave him. Tod believes that family should be his first priority and finds his neglect of them disgusting. Buz solves the problem by reminding the man's wife that a woman's place is supporting her husband, no matter what financially precarious and ulcer-inducing work he may choose. He's a ''man'', you see, and that means he's got to have an identity outside the house, outside the family sphere. Whereas...
--> Buz: Don't you think he has the right to do any kind of work he wants to? ... He's a man. Do you have the right to force him to be something less than a man, because all you understand is that he owes you companionship? What about the companionship that you owe him?
** ... she's a woman, so she should get back in the kitchen and scrape together a pie using whatever she can find in the almost-bare cupboards. That will be a comfort to him. She's utterly convinced by this, too.
* FauxlosophicNarration: Several episodes, where (usually) Tod's narrations are pseudo-ContemplateOurNavels affairs that try to make ''this'' particular run-in with a beautiful or troubled woman seem more extraordinary than usual.

* IceCreamKoan: Frequent.
--> '''Mechanic''': Who are you fellas?
--> '''Buz''': Who're we supposed to be?
--> '''Audience''': ...

* MayDecemberRomance: Buz gets involved in these, because he's got a mommy complex as big as the moon.

* MushroomSamba: "The Thin White Line". Insidious clocks!

* OddCouple: Thankfully kept low-tone for the majority of the series. Tod came from a wealthy family, was classically educated in the best private schools, attended Yale, and when drunk he has the tendency to reveal what a toffee-nosed snob he really could be if he weren't so nice. That is, he tells 'hilarious' stories about free tickets to the opera and being on the fencing team, while Buz sits stone-faced because he is an orphan from Hell's Kitchen.
** Tod and Buz pull quadruple duty as SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan, RedOniBlueOni, OddCouple, and HeteroSexualLifePartners.
* OrphansOrdeal: Buz, though revenge/seeking his true origins aren't (usually) on the schedule. He can [[{{Angst}} whinge]] with the best of them about his past, though.

* ProductPlacement: Tod's CoolCar. The Corvette logo on the hood is sometimes conspicuously center-frame. [[EverybodyOwnsAFord An inordinate number of guest stars drive Corvettes as well.]]

* WhatBeautifulEyes: Buz's eyes are often the source of comments. It might be how they're framed by his long, black lashes, and the way that the lighting constantly reflects in them and makes them ''sparkle''... [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny sorry, what]]?

* YouFailBiologyForever: The most {{Egregious}} example occurs in the episode "The Newborn". A woman (presumably) bleeds to death after delivering, and the two leads are left to look after the baby. There is no attempt to get the baby to feed, thus stimulating contractions that could have helped stall the bleeding, and later Tod insists newborns are not fed "in the first 10 hours". This may have been the practice in 1960, but to modern folks with passing familiarity with first aid it sounds like whatever material he claims to have read about birth was sourced from the 50s equivalent of Wiki/{{Uncyclopedia}}.
** Though he is basically correct that the Prime Directive of untrained personnel assisting a normal birth is to offer reassurance and do nothing.

* PopStarComposer: Nelson Riddle, responsible for the show's jazzy theme tune, moved into television and film scores but rose to fame as a popular bandleader and musical arranger for the likes of FrankSinatra, Creator/JudyGarland, and Nat King Cole.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: "I'm not exactly a boy. [[DoubleEntendre There's a line of departure, and I took that step long ago."]]

''Route 66'' chronicles two heroic [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth (or at least the continental United States) in a [[CoolCar Corvette convertible]]. Each week Tod Stiles (Milner) and Buz Murdock (Maharis) -- the latter replaced late in the third season with Murdock's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Linc Case (Glenn Corbett) -- stumble upon different AdventureTowns and take odd jobs to support themselves while committing random acts of kindness, chasing skirts, putting right what once went wrong, wearing skinny late-50s ties, etc.

''Route 66'' chronicles two heroic [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth (or at least the continental United States) in a [[CoolCar Corvette convertible]]. Each week Tod Stiles (Milner) and Buz Murdock (Maharis), and then Murdock's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Linc Case (Glenn Corbett), stumble upon different AdventureTowns and take odd jobs to support themselves while committing random acts of kindness, chasing skirts, putting right what once went wrong, wearing skinny late-50s ties, etc.

''Route 66'' chronicles two heroic [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth (or at least the continental United States) in a [[CoolCar Corvette convertible]]. Each week Tod Stiles (Milner) and Buz Murdock (Maharis), and then Murdock's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Lincoln Case (Glenn Corbett), stumble upon different AdventureTowns and take odd jobs to support themselves while committing random acts of kindness, chasing skirts, putting right what once went wrong, wearing skinny late-50s ties, etc.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Lincoln Case, who does the dark and brooding to Tod's golden-haired also brooding. He pretty much picks up right where Buz left off.

* SpecialGuest: The third season episode "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing" is a HalloweenEpisode that features Creator/PeterLorre, [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 Lon Chaney Jr.]], and Creator/BorisKarloff as themselves.

A 1960–64 drama series on Creator/{{CBS}}, starring Martin Milner (later of ''Series/AdamTwelve'') and George Maharis, ''Route 66'' chronicles two heroic [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth (or at least the continental United States) in a [[CoolCar Corvette convertible]]. Each week Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock, and then Murdock's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Lincoln Case, stumble upon different AdventureTowns and take odd jobs to support themselves while committing random acts of kindness, chasing skirts, putting right what once went wrong, wearing skinny late-50s ties, etc.

The writing, much of it by series creator Sterling Silliphant (who later wrote the classic Oscar-winning film ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight''), can be clever, nuanced, and heartfelt. In fact, the series was essentially an {{Anthology}} with two recurring characters that allowed Silliphant to explore a vast number of topics as he felt like it. However, whether due to a changed social landscape, the dawn of the cynical age, or the fact that invariably any drama will have scenes that miss their mark, the series is also the victim of extensive {{Narm}}; it was made in a period that still falls thematically into the era exemplified by TheFifties (as opposed to TheSixties).

** And in fact, the producers had originally wanted Andre Previn's "Like Young" to serve as the theme tune but couldn't get it, so Riddle (who had already been signed to compose the weekly scores - executive producer Herbert B. Leonard did not like the idea of a RecycledSoundtrack, so both this and his ''Naked City'' had original scores) was asked to write a piece in the same vein.

[[quoteright:237:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MMRoute66.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:237:Tod Stiles (left) and Buz Murdock (right).]]

* HalloweenEpisode: "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing" (Season 3) has Tod and Buz encountering Creator/BorisKarloff, Creator/PeterLorre, and Lon Cheney Jr., who are worried that their brand of old-school horror is lost on a younger and more jaded generation.