My Three Sons - General Discussion

[MushMarch]

Yeah, the Andy Griffith thing turned out to be temporary, I had missed that "Month of MAYberry" theme before I posted.  It's good to see Happy Days in the MeTV lineup, I enjoy the early shows with Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" as the theme song and before the Fonz became way overdone.  Speaking of early shows, MeTV has been showing the first season of Mission: Impossible with Agent Briggs (played by Steven Hill) in place of Agent Phelps (Peter Graves), which has not been easy to find on television over the years (kind of like the B&W MTS episodes with Bub).  Here are a few classic shows I would like MeTV to run that are rarely seen:

• Secret Agent (aka Danger Man)
• The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel, not the Marvel superheroes)
• Room 222
• The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (it used to be seen a lot in re-runs, but something happened in the 90's and it became impossible to find)
• 50's sci-fi like Tales of Tomorrow and Lights Out (both were once shown on the now beyond useless SyFy channel)

[SanDiegoInExile]

Someone finally uploaded the (dreadful) 1977 Thanksgiving Reunion Special, hosted by those two *single parents* Fred MacMurray and Shirley Jones.  

They apparently guaranteed David Cassidy and Shirley Jones two solo songs.

Its horribly corny, awkward, and memorable.....

 

 

[Cobb Salad]

6 hours ago, SanDiegoInExile said:

Someone finally uploaded the (dreadful) 1977 Thanksgiving Reunion Special, hosted by those two *single parents* Fred MacMurray and Shirley Jones.  

They apparently guaranteed David Cassidy and Shirley Jones two solo songs.

Its horribly corny, awkward, and memorable.....

Thanks for posting this.  I saw it when it originally aired and thought it was an odd pairing of shows.  I remembered the reunion part where the actors appeared and talked about themselves and the show but somehow I did not remember the part where they did a 70s version of My Three Sons with Steve and Barbara.  Wow was that cringeworthy.  

[S45apUSA]

How old was Mike in the season vs how old was Robbie was in the 1st ABC season? Chip was 9 years old when the series began. How old was Ernie when the character was introduced and when he was adopted how old was he?

[Cobb Salad]

51 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

The Polly episodes are really brutal to get through.  The angst, the whining, yikes.  Barbara towards the end was just as bad.  Even Katie had her moments.

Watching them as a child I didn’t see them as too bad but now - yes, they are bad.  Her constant whining and then wanting to marry Chip.  Their living in the dorm apartment after getting married makes no sense.  Where do they live when school isn’t in session?  I guess I’m putting too much thought into a TV show.  

I watched the episodes this past week.  No Polly, no Chip but unfortunately we got lots of Dodie.  Ugh.  I don’t know why I’m watching these episodes.  Soon they’ll be showing the Fergus episodes.  

[HyeChaps]

What was the rush for them to get married so young?

What did they live on? 

[WinnieWinkle]

 

 

16 minutes ago, HyeChaps said:

What was the rush for them to get married so young?

 

For some reason the topic of this show came up in conversation between my husband and I the other day, we agreed we didn't like the Robbie Katie marriage, especially them having triplets, and, didn't like the Steve Barbara marriage, especially adding Dodie into the family but the LAST STRAW and what made the show Not Must See TV was the haste to marry off Chip with Polly.  It's been years since I saw the show and I may be remembering it wrong but I think the only reason they got married was that Polly wasn't happy at home.

Edited June 26, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[Egg McMuffin]

I think by that point, the show had been on so long that they felt the need to start each season with a multi-episode arc. So we got Robbie’s marriage; the twins; Steve’s marriage; Chip’s marriage. Steve should have strongly discouraged the latter, since as you pointed out, Polly was only interested in marrying him to be part of the Douglas family and escape her unhappy home life. Chip was way too young to be married.

I’m glad the show didn’t last long enough for an arc about Polly’s pregnancy. I like to think that they got divorced after the series ended, and Chip found someone much less needy.

[dgpolo]

47 minutes ago, Kyle said:

So we got Robbie’s marriage; the twins; Steve’s marriage; Chip’s marriage.

Triplets. My THREE Sons

3 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

 Soon they’ll be showing the Fergus episodes.  

At least you'll know it's almost over.

[WinnieWinkle]

3 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

 Soon they’ll be showing the Fergus episodes.  

I had to look this up because I didn't know who Fergus was!  I guess I must have completely stopped watching the show by the last year because I don't remember that story arc at all.  It sounds pretty dreadful!

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, WinnieWinkle said:

It's been years since I saw the show and I may be remembering it wrong but I think the only reason they got married was that Polly wasn't happy at home.

That’s my take on it too. They were already spending a lot of time together and everyone else would have considered her a part of the family anyway so what was the hurry.  The show needed something big to start each season so they kept going back to the well to have another wedding.  

[WinnieWinkle]

Thinking more about this show and I realized I had no idea when I was originally watching it that there had ever been episodes with Mike and Uncle Bub or, for that matter that they'd ever lived anywhere but California.  I distinctly remember the first episode I ever saw involved Ernie getting lost and meeting Zsa Zsa Gabor.  Checking out the IMDB I see that this episode was from 1968 and the 8th season.  I know I saw episodes before Robbie and Katie get married so those I must have seen when the show was in eternal re-run loop for a few years there.  Did they show the pre-California shows in reruns back then and I just never saw them?

[Cobb Salad]

7 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Did they show the pre-California shows in reruns back then and I just never saw them?

Yes, they showed 2 prior seasons when they were in Bryant Park, when the show first went to color and started broadcasting on CBS.  

Edited June 26, 2021 by Cobb Salad

[Egg McMuffin]

The original syndication package included seasons 6-10 and the first half of season 11. The black and white years and the last season and a half were left on the shelf (local stations weren’t interested in nearly 400 episodes of the show).

My mother used to watch the reruns with us and occasionally commented about an older son, Mike, who had moved away. But since we never saw Mike (we didn’t catch his cameo in the first color episode), we just thought she was confused. Sorry Mom!

Bub, BTW, is their grandfather - the father of Steve Douglas’ late wife. He’s not an uncle. Charley is his brother, so he is the boys’ great uncle.

[Badger]

I remember Martin Sheen had a recurring role as one of Mike's friends.

[Egg McMuffin]

12 hours ago, Badger said:

I remember Martin Sheen had a recurring role as one of Mike's friends.

Did not know that! I can just see Martin pushing Steve Douglas to confront the issues of the day, instead of leading Chip’s scout troop or planning the family’s latest fake vacation (done on a studio set rather than location).

[MushMarch]

On 5/18/2021 at 9:13 AM, S45apUSA said:

How old was Mike in the season vs how old was Robbie was in the 1st ABC season? Chip was 9 years old when the series began. How old was Ernie when the character was introduced and when he was adopted how old was he?

Mike was in his last year of high school in season one (1960-61), so I'm guessing his character was 17 or 18 years old (Tim Considine was actually 19-20 years old over that time period).  Robbie was in junior high during that first season, with no specific year given, so I'm estimating 14-15 (Don Grady was actually about 15-16).  With Ernie, the age fluctuates.  When he was first introduced in at the beginning of the fourth season in 1963 (replacing Chip's previous best bud Sudsy), he was a classmate of Chip and so roughly the same age.  By the time the family adopted him at the beginning of season six in 1965, he was demoted in age to being several years younger than Chip (3-4 years younger?).

[Egg McMuffin]

The funny thing is that when I watch those later episodes now, I think that Beverly Garland as Barbara was the best thing about them. MacMurray had clearly checked out and was phoning it in (not that he was every truly checked in). It’s too bad they didn’t come up with a more appealing daughter character. Or maybe just drop the daughter entirely and focus on Barbara bonding with her new stepsons. They had a good episode where Barbara felt like she wasn’t really able to parent the boys, but it was all resolved in 30 min when she went to school to defend Chip against a cheating allegation. The boys were calling her Mom by the end of the episode and they never revisited this again.

[Egg McMuffin]

Yep - agreed. Jodie was a talented, appealing little actress. She guest starred in a lot of TV shows as as child, but it was probably better for her career that she never got tied to a single series.

[Blergh]

I wonder if Miss Foster has ever taken Miss Lyn's calls. She sure hasn't cast her in any of her productions. despite having been one-time colleagues. 

[SusanM]

We have a local station that has older shows as their daytime programming.  A few weeks ago they added My Three Sons to the line up.  I've never seen these early shows with William Frawley and Tim Considine.  They are really holding up well IMO unlike a few other 'golden oldies' that I just find so dated and, frankly, not all that good!  I can see with My Three Sons why it was so popular for so long.

[SanDiegoInExile]

On 10/9/2021 at 5:31 AM, Kyle said:

The funny thing is that when I watch those later episodes now, I think that Beverly Garland as Barbara was the best thing about them......They had a good episode where Barbara felt like she wasn’t really able to parent the boys, but it was all resolved in 30 min when she went to school to defend Chip against a cheating allegation. 

"My son does not cheat!"

[SusanM]

Bumping this thread to say how sad I was to learn that Tim Considine has died, aged 81.  I guess if I'm going to watch these golden oldie TV shows this is something I'm going to have to get used to.  Really liking these "young" actors and then mourning the news of their death.  Dammit.  I loved him as Mike.

[Egg McMuffin]

It doesn’t seem possible he could be that old, but the show started almost 62 years ago and Tim was 18 or 19 when he started.

I really liked Mike. The show was never the same after he and Bub flew the coop. Robbie mellowed from his hotheaded when he became the new eldest brother and the dynamic of the three boys was different.

[SusanM]

I am feeling sad today and it's not for the usual reasons of world events or family issues.  It's because we are fast approaching the point in the series where Mike and Sally marry and Mike leaves the show.  Which isn't what makes me sad.  What has me feeling blue is that, according to what I've read Mike is mentioned a handful of times in a few episodes after he leaves and in the future it's almost like there never was an oldest son named Mike.  I guess it's just I've really come to love this TV family and it's just weird to watch this show knowing Mike is soon going to be Chuck Cunninghammed even though he was an integral part of the show for 5 years.  Totally sucks!

[Egg McMuffin]

Yep. It’s so different after that. Bub disappears next week - he goes away to visit Ireland, is mentioned a few more times, and then it’s like he never existed (similar to Mike). And Bub is way better than his replacement, Uncle Charley. Bub is a bit of a curmudgeon but he has a warm and humorous side, with a twinkle in his eye. Charley is just a grouchy old crank who dyes his hair bright orange to distract us from the fact that he’s 107 years old.

After Mike leaves, Robbie is tamed and domesticated so he can be the new eldest brother, and becomes boring. Chip’s personality is flattened, too. Steve was always a little dull, so it’s up to Ernie to add some life to the show after that.

And because the show has so many episodes, it’s going to be another 9 months before we see Mike and Bub again.

[SusanM]

6 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

After Mike leaves, Robbie is tamed and domesticated so he can be the new eldest brother, and becomes boring. Chip’s personality is flattened, too. Steve was always a little dull, so it’s up to Ernie to add some life to the show after that.

Right now the episodes I've liked least have been the ones that focus on Robbie - least favourite character for sure!  I had never seen these early episodes before.  I saw the show in reruns when I was a kid and only remember the brothers as being Robbie, Chip and Ernie.  I stopped watching after they married Chip off because I lost interest in the show completely after that - didn't like Beverly or Dodie or Chip's wife and thought the whole storyline with Robbie and Katie having triplets was just silly!  These first years of the show have been so warm and they created a believable, happy family.  

[Egg McMuffin]

Hotheaded Robbie is the most irritating son in the B&W episodes, for sure. But teenaged boys can be irritating, so it’s realistic. I didn’t like later on when everyone was so nice and calm and dull.

Yeah, don’t get me started on the triplets. Triplets are kind of a nightmare to begin with, and who wants triplets at the ripe old age of 21? I actually liked Tina Cole as Katie a lot, but why the rush to marry them off? She could have been a semi-regular for a while as Robbie’s girlfriend, a la Meredith MacRae as Sally.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Egg McMuffin

[SusanM]

43 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

I actually liked Tina Cole as Katie a lot, but why the rush to marry them off? She could have been a semi-regular for a while as Robbie’s girlfriend, a la Meredith MacRae as Sally.

This show really did go for early marriages didn't they?  At least Mike and Sally are waiting for him to graduate from college but even so he's only around 20-21 at this point and I don't recall Steve really saying anything about getting a few more years of living under his belt before settling down!  Then we get Robbie marrying at around 20-21 while he and Katie are still in school and then marrying off Chip at IIRC 18!  Was this a sign of the  times?  Did people marry younger in the 1960s?  

Edited March 19, 2022 by SusannahM

[Egg McMuffin]

I read that the ratings started to trail off during the seventh season, which was the last season in Bryant Park and in the original format (life in an all-male household). The weddings and the babies were designed to boost the ratings and they actually did do that. I think they hurt the show’s quality, but likely extended the length of the run. It probably wouldn’t have run for 12 years with just the boys, Steve, and Bub/Charley.

[SanDiegoInExile]

I prefer the CA years. Cannot stand to watch the Bryant Park years.  I like that each CA year brought some much-needed breaths of fresh air.  Katie,  then Triplets, then Barbara, then Polly.  Admittedly, Fergus and Absent Robbie made the Final Year really bad.

And guick Google shows the median age to get married in 1960/70 was Age 20 for female and Age 22 for men.  Median means half the marriages were older, half were younger.

[Egg McMuffin]

When I was growing up and they only had seasons 6-11 in the syndication package, I never liked it when they went back to season 6 and the family was in Bryant Park. I missed Katie and thought those episodes were dull. But now that I’ve seen the B&W Bryant Park years with the original cast, I prefer those episodes. I’ll probably check out the color Bryant Park years (seasons 6 and 7) again when they turn up on MeTV in a few weeks, just for comparison.

[SusanM]

I watched My Three Sons only in reruns and the ones I saw must have been fairly late in the run as I realize now.  Robbie and Katie were married and the triplets were either born or on their way, I had no idea there even was a Mike or Bub and in my memory Ernie was the star of the show!  It's been very interesting to see the original version of My Three Sons and I like it.  A lot.  There are definitely episodes that show their age of course and a few were, frankly, snoozefests that I ended up deleting but for the most parrt I've fallen hard for the Douglas family and am going to miss Bub and Mike.  I do like little Ernie though so it's nice to see more of him.

[SusanM]

I saw an episode today that had me thinking Robbie met Katie a lot earlier than I realized.  I was right, the actress was Tina Cole, but she was playing a different role.  She really did shine in this particular episode so it's not hard to see why she was asked back later!

[Cobb Salad]

10 minutes ago, SusannahM said:

I saw an episode today that had me thinking Robbie met Katie a lot earlier than I realized.  I was right, the actress was Tina Cole, but she was playing a different role.  She really did shine in this particular episode so it's not hard to see why she was asked back later!

Tina Cole made 3 appearances (each time a different character) on My Three Sons before she joined the cast as Katie.  I agree, she did shine in the episodes she appeared in!

[SusanM]

3 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

Tina Cole made 3 appearances (each time a different character) on My Three Sons before she joined the cast as Katie.  I agree, she did shine in the episodes she appeared in

This is the first time I've noticed her - I'll have to watch out for her appearances (assuming they are still to come and I didn't miss them!)  Typical sitcom - she is playing his latest girlfriend who goes to great lengths to make sure his family doesn't sell their house and move and then in the very next episode there's no mention of her and Robbie's got a new love of his life!  

[Cobb Salad]

@SusannahM her 3 appearances are -

Season 4, episode 22 House for Sale

Season 5, episode 10, The Coffee House Set

Season 6 episode 22, Robbie and the Little Stranger

Enjoy!

[Egg McMuffin]

I was watching the episode today where Mike is frustrated with his bossy future mother-in-law taking over the wedding plans. And I realized that Mike and Chip have the same mother-in-law. Weird! Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

[Blergh]

On 4/20/2022 at 9:55 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

I was watching the episode today where Mike is frustrated with his bossy future mother-in-law taking over the wedding plans. And I realized that Mike and Chip have the same mother-in-law. Weird! Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

Perhaps they were twins. Anyway, I like how Chip standing up for Polly after Polly's dad Tom fessed to sending the private eye to spy on the two of them and refused to back down(the angriest I recall Chip getting due to  that action having scared Polly) , inspired Polly's mom Margaret to stand up to her too overwhelming husband (and even squares like Steve and Uncle Charley weren't buying that he had the healthiest paternal outlook) AND Margaret notorized her permission to so Polly could get married and AWAY from that deal! 

[SanDiegoInExile]

Polly's mother was one of the best things about Season Eleven. The reveal that she gave notarized permission was priceless.

Edited April 28, 2022 by SanDiegoInExile

[SusanM]

Maybe it's me not expecting much from a sitcom from the early '60s but I've been pleasantly surprised by a few episodes that have dealt with women.  There have been shows where Steve, for instance, has gotten involved with 'career' women who have been engineers, owners of businesses, even a congresswoman and it's not written in a "but all the little ole gal really wants is a man to take care of her" kind of way.  I remember sitcoms of way more recent vintage that didn't handle this kind of thing nearly as well.

[SusanM]

A day or two ago was the last appearance of Bub and today we said hello to Uncle Charley.  Up to this viewing of My Three Sons I had never seen any episodes with Bub or Mike for that matter.  I have grown to love them both so knowing Bub is no longer going to be part of the family is sad (and knowing Mike won't be around much longer is even sadder) but I was glad to see Uncle Charley!  I'm interested to see, going forward, which of the crusty old men I prefer as the family caretaker.  

[SusanM]

On 5/5/2022 at 3:18 PM, SusanM said:

I have grown to love them both so knowing Bub is no longer going to be part of the family is sad (and knowing Mike won't be around much longer is even sadder) but I was glad to see Uncle Charley!  I'm interested to see, going forward, which of the crusty old men I prefer as the family caretaker.  

Quoting myself to say that so far while I do feel Uncle Charley fits in well I prefer Bub.  And today they are airing the last episode with Mike.  I feel blue.

ETA: speaking of feeling blue am watching now and this is the first colourized episode.  Nice to know that big leather chair is red.

Edited June 1, 2022 by SusanM

[Blergh]

I saw the 'In-Law Whammy' (1964) in which they had Mike meet his fiancee's Sally's father Tom Morrison (Sebastian Cabot) for the first time. OK, right off the bat, Mike accidentally spilled coffee on Mr. Morrison and I had hoped that THAT would be the end of the mishaps and the rest of the episode would have been them trying to make up for having started on the wrong foot. ..but NO, it wound up the start of  a literal orgy of injuries, mishaps, breakages done to the hapless Mr. Morrison with the laugh track going into utter hysterics over it. And the WHOLE time Mr. Morrison never was once less than polite and patient to Mike or the rest of Mike's family in spite of all injuries and damages they wrought (albeit unintentionally).  Mr. Cabot was a very versatile actor who could do excellent dramatic and comedic performances but he truly didn't deserve to have been mistreated as a literal punching bag for his sole guesting episode. It seemed as though they might as well have changed the name of the show to 'My Three Stooges' for this episode. 

I suppose his ability to have gamely endured the character's rather cruel and unwarranted mistreatment might have been a contributing factor for the producers to have had be cast as the iconic gentleman-gentleman turned manny  Mr. French in Family Affair (1966-1971). IMO, Mr. French was the only interesting   and vaguely realistic character of the regular cast. 

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, patriciahelenkit said:

Uncle Charley deliberately lied to a woman about who the triplets's grandfather was. To be fair, Bub and Mike had been erased from existence by then.

The triplets' grandfather was Steve. Do you mean that he lied about their [late?] great-grandfather Bub (his own brother?)

[BigBingerBro]

Super late to the MTS party, but I had not watched the show since the 80s and decided to binge watch all 12 seasons on Soap2day.  Took me over a month and I am shocked I managed to get through it without getting sick of it.  Here are my comments in no particualr order:

- They sure travelled a lot.   The b&w episode where Chip stowaways on the plane and ends up in Paris is so far-fetched.  The initial Fergus episode irks me to no end.  As if every man in Scotland wore a kilt daily in the 1960s.

- Ernie - he was quite good in the early years, but later as a teen he was so cringey and hard to watch.  Talk about over-acting.  They turned him into a goofball idiot.

- Katie grew on me.   glad they kept her on til the end.

- The Katie and Robbie bedroom re-model - it's so obvious that they expanded out the front of the house, but the exterior of the house never changed.  

- I prefered Bub to Charley.   Bub was more, shall I say "loving"?  They should have put Charley in his place more often,

- Honorable Grandfather Ray Huang (Wong?)- he referred to himself as "oriental" - was that actually acceptable in those days?

- They might as well have killed off Mike and his wife.  They were completely forgotten about.

- Barbara's hair went from Pollyanna to a more sprayed version of Samantha from Bewitched.  (why do I remember a scene with Steve and Barb (with long hair) in bed in Hawaii worrying about something going on back home? - am I thinking of another show?)

- Dodie - she either screamed her lines or she was so flat and monotone you can't figure out what she was saying.  Since this was one camera, I'll bet they fed her the lines off camera and she just parroted them back.  She had mostly one-shots.

- Polly - meh - I liked the episode where she went to charm school and glammed up, but she went back to the dumpy greasy look immediately after.

- Fergus - why, just why?  It was bad enough the first time, but then do it again as a series of episodes???  It would have been more tolerable had Fred actually attempted a Scottish accent, even badly it would have been better.

- Anyone else notice that in season 12 they began to introduce the groovy Brady Bunch twangy music in the episodes when something interesting was happening?  Listen for it.

- I finally figured out where one of my bad jokes came from!  When they took Dodie to the psychiatrist, the doctor's sone asks Dodie "What's the nature of your malady?"  to which she replies "I'm sorry I don't speak German".   I always say this whenever someone says something to me which is odd or confusing.  I could never recall where I got that bad joke from.

- They really tried hard to instill the fact that this was an all male household in the early years with the constant rough-housing and yelling.  Kind of over the top in many episodes.

I may have more later as I think about it all some more....

[Bethany]

I just started watching this.  I never saw any episodes before with Bub and Mike and I have to say I am loving this show,  Or at least the first season, so far.  There are definitely some episodes that would NEVER be made today but overall I am finding the Douglas family charming and I look forward to visiting.  I haven't reached any episodes where the family does any travelling but I sure have noticed that Steve always seems out of town for some reason or another!  In looking up the show I see that this is probably because of the unique shooting schedule that Fred MacMurray insisted on.

Also noticed a very young Beau Bridges playing a friend of Mike's!

[Gemma Violet]

Dawn Lyn had brain surgery and has fallen into a coma:

https://www.tmz.com/2022/10/31/my-three-sons-star-dawn-lyn-coma-brain-surgery-remove-tumor/

[Gemma Violet]

Update on Dawn Lyn:

DAWN LYN CONDITION IMPROVES

https://www.tmz.com/2022/11/09/my-three-sons-dawn-lyn-condition-improving-eyes-open-breathing-brain-tumor-surgery-coma/

[Egg McMuffin]

On 10/4/2022 at 7:48 PM, BigBingerBro said:

Super late to the MTS party, but I had not watched the show since the 80s and decided to binge watch all 12 seasons on Soap2day.  Took me over a month and I am shocked I managed to get through it without getting sick of it.  Here are my comments in no particualr order:

- They sure travelled a lot.   The b&w episode where Chip stowaways on the plane and ends up in Paris is so far-fetched.  The initial Fergus episode irks me to no end.  As if every man in Scotland wore a kilt daily in the 1960s.

- Anyone else notice that in season 12 they began to introduce the groovy Brady Bunch twangy music in the episodes when something interesting was happening?  Listen for it.

I love your post.

They do travel a lot but it’s always done on a set. You’d never see them actually in Hawaii or any of the other places they went. Fred MacMurray’s reduced schedule would never permit it.

Frank DeVol did the music for both MTS and the Bradys. The Bradys have more traditional sounding background music in the early episodes, but became more “groovy” in the middle seasons. Sounds like DeVol updated the MTS sound around the same time. I’ll have to listen for it the next time MeTV shows those episodes.