I agree with OMalley and DeFelice -- I, too, saw it when I was 11, and my best friend, who was 13, and I watched every crazy episode. We had huge crushes on Callan (who was not a bad dramatic actor - catch "The Interns" and "The New Interns")and we though it was the perfect vehicle for Callan's and Harty's comedic talents; it just somehow captured the romance that was the mid- to late '60s. It wasn't all angst and social conscience (not that those are bad, it's just that there was so much more to the era that made it great). My friend and I thought we were the only ones on the planet who remember and loved O.W. That the show was a tad daring and had slightly surreal non-plots only added to its appeal. So much, even on cable, feels so overproduced these days, this was a fresh approach back then. (Does anyone remember "He and She" with Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin - also very cute, and they were married on the show as in real life.) There was so much wonderful, many-layered stuff on TV back then, some of it off the wall, some of it totally charming -- "The Addams Family," "The Name of the Game" (starring the adorable Tony Franciosa, Susan St. James, Gene Barry and Robert Stack, based on the excellent made-for-TV pilot "Fame is the Name of the Game"), "Man From U.N.C.L.E." (and its more serious counterpart "I Spy" and hey, Stephanie Powers was cute as "Girl From U.N.C.L.E.), "The Avengers" (from the U.K.), "Secret Agent," etc. And, I loved "The Beverly Hillbillies," too, for what it's worth.
Review of Occasional Wife
