[1] Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the pet of Porter Ricks, chief warden at Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve (a fictional version of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, Florida), and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud.

The producers also departed from the films by endowing Flipper with an unnatural degree of intelligence and an extraordinary understanding of human motives, behavior, and vocabulary.

Browning also wrote the book Flipper based on the ancient legend of Taras, a mythical founder of the Spartan city-state of the same name (on the coast of Italy where modern day Taranto is located), who was rescued from shipwreck by a dolphin sent by Poseidon, which was picked up and adapted by famous producer Ivan Tors into the first Flipper movie.

Ratings declined only slightly in season two 1965–66 United States network television schedule buoyed by its proximity to NBC's popular new Saturday night shows I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.

The series follows a bottlenose dolphin named Flipper who is the wild pet of Porter Ricks, a park warden, and his sons, Sandy (15) and Bud (10).

Flipper is able to somehow communicate through different chatter-like tones, head nods and shakes, and other attention-seeking antics with Sandy and Bud, and draw their (and Porter's) attention to danger or in the direction of people needing help.

Few women are in the lives of the Ricks males, but in the first season, Porter does have a date, and Sandy falls for the girl operator of a floating zoo, who appears in four episodes.

A female oceanographer enters the series in the second season to add a feminine touch to the proceedings, but little more than mild flirtations and fondness between Porter and her ensues.

In the conclusion of a two-part episode, the characters of Sandy and Bud are written out of the show (by that time, both Halpin and Norden had grown out of their roles), as it is detailed how each plans to leave Coral Key — Sandy has been accepted to the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, and Bud will be attending a private school to study oceanography in Boston, Massachusetts, as arranged by their Aunt Martha.

The two new children are depicted as unfamiliar with maritime life, but they promptly befriend Flipper, and promise to be his new companions after Sandy and Bud leave.

Plans were made for a fourth season, revolving around the Whitman children taking the role of Flipper's guardians/playmates and their mother becoming involved in a serious relationship with Porter.

All this was for naught, however, as Ivan Tors chose not to continue to make a fourth season in this new format, so NBC cancelled it.

Most of the images of Flipper jumping against a skyline were not in the originally aired version, as the filming took place in an enclosed lagoon.