I’m still getting suggestions from friends for other examples of mispronounced French words, including a true classique: the Fontainebleau Hotel, above, in Miami which everyone and his grandmere pronounces as “Fountain Blow.” Even I do. And pourquoi pas? It’s as American as, well…Miami Beach.

All of which reminds me of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Surfside 6, which aired on ABC in the ’60s, and was produced by Warner Brothers. Starring Troy Donahue, Van Williams and Lee Patterson as three humpy detectives who just happen to live together on a houseboat across the street from the Fontainebleau, it captivated a generation of viewers who longed for fun in the sun, Coppertone tans, Pepsodent smiles, castles in the sand, and gorgeous boys and girls in skimpy bathing suits.

Sitting down with a TV dinner while watching Surfside 6 was the closest thing many poor souls trapped up North during the long winter months had to sampling the good life of sunny Florida. Thanks to a TV channel called aptly enough “Good Life,” which has recently rerun the series (and to my brother who steered me to it), I was able to experience once more Surfside 6’s uniquely scintillating pleasures.

What is it about this short-lived show that makes me watch it over and over again? It certainly isn’t that mind-numbing theme song (above). I must have been a mere infant when it first aired on national television in 1960-1962. No doubt the three leading men had something to do with my interest. Even at the ripe old age of five I knew a hunk when I saw one. And Troy Donahue certainly qualified for that status. He’d been a leading man in the 50s, starring in such Hollywood soap operas as Imitation of Life, Parrish and A Summer Place.

He was at the height of his fame when he signed on to this series. But the glory days did not last long. And it’s obvious watching episodes now that he is not always at his best here. He sometimes looks bedraggled and distracted. Rumors of drugs and drinking plagued him for years. But he was clearly the main attraction and appeared in more episodes than the other two. He later moved over to the sister series Hawaiian Eye, playing hotel director Philip Barton.

Lee Patterson played the goody-two-shoes role, the buddy always there in a pinch. He was not quite as dazzlingly handsome as his co-stars, but he never failed to land a female when he threw out a line. He may have been the best actor of the trio as well, and often the bulk of the dialogue seemed to land squarely on his ample shoulders. He did, however, have a tendency to wear the loudest clothes, including several polka dot bathing trunks, that gave him a kind of goofy appeal.

But from the get-go my money was on Van Williams, who filled out his bland, one-color bathing suits rather snugly and was often shown shirtless. He had the best body of the bunch. Van had already made his mark in a previous series, Bourbon Street Beat, set in New Orleans. In fact, his character, Ken Madison, was a carry-over from that show. Van Williams (born Van Zandt Williams in Texas, 1934) would not have won many awards for his dramatic skills in Surfside 6. He tended to act entirely with his jaw, and what a finely chiseled and sturdy jaw it was! But it gave him a kind of uptight, highly wired, clenched-teeth approach to emoting that seemed to belie the laid-back lifestyle of houseboat living.

What was up with that ménage à trois in the first place? It seems ludicrous in hindsight that three sexy dudes would live alone on a boat in a canal by the ocean. Surely they would have had girlfriends and shacked up with them, one on one. And who did the decor on that houseboat? Billy Baldwin? Some details are straight out of Town & Country magazine. There’s an oven built into the brick wall surrounding the fireplace. What kind of houseboat would have a working fireplace to begin with?

Perhaps to rid the series of its vague aura of homoeroticism, a fourth character was added: Diane McBain as Daphne Dutton. Imagine a cross between Nancy Drew and Gidget and you get the idea. Beautiful and funny (think Lee Remick and Elizabeth Montgomery) McBain delivered the goods. But she was never romantically involved with the three houseketeers. In fact, she was a kind of Vestal Virgin, a good-as-gold mistress of intrigues who was merely a device to keep the creaky plots zipping along.

I had a special place in my heart for Margarita Sierra as Cha Cha O’Brien. This was the height of Cuban chic, not long after Castro’s coup d’état, and television execs were especially keen on catering to a Hispanic audience. Margarita could often be found singing and dancing at the Boom Boom Room in the Fontainebleau. Sadly, she died at 27, after heart surgery, a year after the show was canceled.

Van Williams, of course, went on to greater fame in the hit series The Green Hornet, opposite Bruce Lee as Kato. Unfortunately his handsome features were too often covered by a green mask. He made few appearances after that show, making his mark in other arenas. A shrewd businessman, he invested his earnings in real estate and made a killing as an entrepreneur. He owns a large ranch in Oahu, Hawaii.

Where does this obsession with Surfside 6 get me? Not very far. I might find a few photos here and there on eBay, or catch an episode or two on one of the online video sites. But I’m holding out for a deluxe DVD set, with commentary from Van, the Man, himself. Until then, I’ll continue to surf the web, trying to recreate my youth, one cheesy TV show after another.