sentences: "I may be a dirty rat, but I'm not a dumb rat," Gilbert once declared.But as the series went on Gilbert became a more genuine friend of the Beav, really his closest friend, as seen in episodes like "Beaver on TV" (1963) when Gilbert is the only one to believe Beaver had been on a local TV show that did not air live as everyone expected (it had been taped for later broadcast, a new concept at the time).