My Three Sons - General Discussion

[MushMarch]

On 8/27/2019 at 4:51 AM, jenniferhartwell said:

I think a Christmas episode was a real missed opportunity with M3S. Especially around Season 10, when Dodie was added. But, i guess it would be hard to use most of the usual Christmas tropes in hot, sunny, California.

There was a Thanksgiving episode in Season 1, a Halloween episode in Season 3 and . . . that's it, as far as I recall, concerning seasonal episodes.  A Christmas episode was a missed opportunity, and a real head-scratcher since just about every series back then did one (even The Twilight Zone, a great one with Art Carney playing a Christmas Santa).  And in other news, I can't believe we finally made it to page 9 - page 8 seemed like it went on forever.

[jenniferhartwell]

they should have put a long hair wig on Dawn Lyn in season 10.

[Thalia]

I've been rewatching the triplets episodes again, and every time Uncle Charley worries about Little Charley and ignores the other two I want to scream.  

Scene:  [Douglas Living Room].  Uncle Charley comes in, out of breath and clutching a baby.  

Steve:  Charley, what happened? 

Charley:  The triplets and I were at the park when a Mountain Lion showed up.  Thank goodness I was quick enough to grab Little Charley and get out before anything happened. 

Steve:  What about little Steve and Rob? 

Charley:  Little Charlie is the bravest of the three and I was afraid he'd go after the mountain lion himself if I didn't get him out of there!  Maybe you should go back over to the park and get them.  You should have heard them cry.   Real cowards.  Not like Little Charley here! 

[Glendenning]

@Cobb Salad @MushMarch @SanDiegoInExile It's a shame Season 10 is the only "Dodie" season offered for local syndication at the moment. In Seasons 11 and 12, she no longer has that •••• doll, has longer, more flattering hair, and is finally allowed to wear pants.

[Cobb Salad]

@Glendenning MeTV has shown seasons 11 and 12. 

[dgpolo]

6 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

@Glendenning MeTV has shown seasons 11 and 12. 

I know I saw them on MeTV, then they started over with the black and white episodes, which I hadn't seen in so long and was looking forward to, and then my daughter (who I live with) decided to cut the cable and I can't find them on any streaming channel that we are getting now.

I know the advent of Dodie created continuity problems. Fred MacMurray had a contract that said he only had to work something like 63 days a year so the had to film all the scenes he was it first. So in some scenes with Dodie she has no front teeth and in another in the same episode her teeth are growing in etc.

[dgpolo]

On 5/26/2019 at 10:06 AM, Cara said:

They must have had a very limited wardrobe budget. I’ve seen the same clothes repeated multiple times. I know I’ve see Robbie wear one shirt at least a dozen times! 😉

I actually find this much more realistic, I know I can't afford to wear different clothes every day for forever. I do wear the same things over and over again. I remember the first time I noticed this was one of the shirts that Greg Brady used to wear over and over on the Brady Bunch.

On 5/27/2019 at 3:17 AM, Jacqs said:

Dodie tries to walk to Katie and Robbie's apartment, Reality Ensues and she is snatched off the street and bundled, screaming, into a strange man's car

I remember watching an episode where Barbara sends 6 or 7 year old Dodie off to school, by herself, even stating that it's is several blocks away and she'll have to cross streets by herself. I can't imagine that happening today, and I did imagine the above happening.

Sorry for the double post.

[Cobb Salad]

36 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

I remember watching an episode where Barbara sends 6 or 7 year old Dodie off to school, by herself, even stating that it's is several blocks away and she'll have to cross streets by herself. I can't imagine that happening today, and I did imagine the above happening.

If my neighborhood is any indication, school would be far enough away for a bus ride, Barbara and Dodie would either be waiting by the school bus stop with the other parents and children or sitting nearby in the car.  Yeah, back in the day I had to take a bus to school for a year.  The bus stop was a short distance up the street and I walked up there by myself and met the other kids there.  No adults waited with us.

MeTV is available over the air in many areas - do you have a TV that can pick up over the air signals?

[dgpolo]

8 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

MeTV is available over the air in many areas - do you have a TV that can pick up over the air signals?

Sadly no, in my area we would have to put an antennae on the roof and I'm not even sure we could hook up the TVs if we did. I'm hoping either one of our streaming services will add MeTV or another channel, like COZI will pick up M3S.

While I am glad they at least mentioned Mike a time or two I can't figure out why they didn't mention him more often. We didn't have to see him, just a line here and there would at least tell us he wasn't disowned from the family. Even something like 'I really enjoyed Mike and the families visit last week' to show they did visit would have been nice.

[Glendenning]

I was talking about the episodes that are offered to LOCAL stations for purchase NOT MeTv. At the moment CBS only offers Seasons 6 to 10 for LOCAL stations, so the only "Dodie" season your average viewer would see is 10 - where she has that weird puppet Myrtle, has "hatchet" hair and wears too-short dresses.

[LucyEth]

On 10/3/2019 at 5:22 PM, Thalia said:

Charley:  Little Charlie is the bravest of the three and I was afraid he'd go after the mountain lion himself if I didn't get him out of there!  Maybe you should go back over to the park and get them.  You should have heard them cry.   Real cowards.  Not like Little Charley here! 

I don't remember that scene, so he actually left 2 babies alone in the park?

About Steve marrying "Mrs. Harper"  didn't the family members besides Katie and Rob spend any time getting to know each other.  It's like all that was important was that Steve and Barbara were in love.  Chip or Ernie refers to Dodie as "little what's her name" the day of the wedding and I think Charley  called her "Barbara's little demon" in the episode when Steve finally realizes he has to get to know Dodie.  Also, how old is Dodie?  How old are Steve and Barbara?  Ridiculous sloppy storylines.   

[Glendenning]

Dodie's age is vague in Season 10, although she's younger than Dawn Lyn (much to Dawn's chagrin and humiliation).

[floridamom]

I found it unrealistic that Chip told Barbara that he and Ernie didn't remember THEIR mother much...Remember, Ernie was Chip's friend, Sudsy, and was adopted after the real older brother, Mike, moved away. When Steve told Barbara's mother that he had THREE sons, that was simply not true. Did Mike suddenly not exist? Steve has FOUR sons....Mike, Robbie, Chip and (renamed) Ernie. Amazing how these sitcoms re-wrote their own history.

I agree that Dawn Lyn was an awful choice to portray Barbara's daughter. Awful haircut, yes, too short dresses where he panties are in plain view, not photogenic or cute in any way. Back in the 60s, when the show was new, I watched it then and thought the same thing. She was annoying to me.

[Glendenning]

Look at the publicity shot of the family taken for the Steve and Barbara wedding episode - Dawn's panties are poking out her dress is so short!

[dgpolo]

7 hours ago, floridamom said:

emember, Ernie was Chip's friend, Sudsy, and was adopted after the real older brother, Mike, moved away

This is wrong. Sudsy was Sudsy Pfeiffer, Ernie was Ernie Thompson a foster child who moved in down the street until he was adopted by the Douglas'. He was NOT renamed (at least his first name)

The writers should definitely have said something like, 'I have three sons here in California' or something similar.

[Glendenning]

It's "out of sight, out of mind" plus retconning. Just as how from a point onwards in the series, Bub never existed, Ernie was always Steve's son, Dodie was always Steve's biological daughter and etc.

[floridamom]

Has anyone been having audio problems on ME-TV this past week? The sound comes in and out...mostly out? The other stations are fine. Thanks, guys.

[Gemma Violet]

On 10/16/2019 at 5:06 AM, Glendenning said:

Look at the publicity shot of the family taken for the Steve and Barbara wedding episode - Dawn's panties are poking out her dress is so short!

My niece was born a year after Dawn Lyn and I can remember her wearing dresses really short with the underwear showing when she'd run or sit on a chair.  I think it was the style then for 5-year-olds.

[Glendenning]

Dodie and her female "fat" friend (who was also Buffy's "fat" friend on Family Affair)

[Cara]

I vaguely remember watching the last couple of seasons of My Three Sons in first run when I was in early elementary school. I remember not believing my much older sister when she told me Ernie was adopted! I‘ve watched a number of reruns over the years. But I’ve DVR-ed the current run on METV. So it is the only time I’ve watched it basically from the beginning till the end. 

Obviously there were many unrealistic things over the run of the series . But watching now I think the most unrealistic thing was Barbara’s and Steve’s marriage. They should have had them date for a long time, so they all got to know each other. I think that could  have provided endless story possibilities. That’s how people would have done it in real life! Dodie went  from calling him Mr. Douglas to Daddy way too quick. How about calling him Steve in the mean time? My husband called his step-mother Mom. But he said that evolved over time; several years, not 5 minutes! I could go on and on but I know  I’m rambling. But yeah...not to be overly cliche this where MTS jumped the shark!
 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Cara

[dgpolo]

6 minutes ago, Cara said:

They should have had them date for a long time

Please, no, I was happy they got married so they could stop going to that stupid restaurant.

[Cara]

1 minute ago, dgpolo said:

Please, no, I was happy they got married so they could stop going to that stupid restaurant.

Well when you put that way I’ll have to agree with you!!!! The owners of that restaurant were so completely annoying!

[Glendenning]

Plus I think they should have used the character's real name of Dorothy rather than Dodie. Much more dignified.

[alegtostandon]

On 10/16/2019 at 12:23 AM, Glendenning said:

Dodie's age is vague in Season 10, although she's younger than Dawn Lyn (much to Dawn's chagrin and humiliation).

I remember reading an interview with Dawn Lyn a few years ago,  she said she was always embarrassed at having to act like a toddler and ther reason they wanted her to wear those short dresses with her panties showing was to make her seem younger than she was.   She really got on my nerves when I was a kid,  hated her ugly puppet doll.  As an adult,  I kind of feel sorry for her.  From what ther interview said,  she was the main breadwinner for her family till her brother made it. That had to be a lot of pressure for a  little girl

[Gemma Violet]

14 hours ago, alegtostandon said:

She really got on my nerves when I was a kid

Me, too.  I remember disliking her intensely during the first run of the show.  I think it was her voice.  It still annoys me a bit.  Not her fault, of course.

I do think they should have had an episode where Chip and Ernie are resentful of Dodie.  I know they were both written to be mature teens, but what teen would happily accept a new sibling moving in almost overnight without the least a bit of friction between them.  

[Cara]

I thought it was worth mentioning that today is the 29th anniversary of Fred MacMurray’s death! 
https://apnews.com/0a4ff9a34974b606b4afc4fc27a5119c

[floridamom]

Great comments here about that 'stupid Italian restaurant". Was that the only one in town? As a person of close Italian ancestry was insulted by how those two stupid characters, the owner of the restaurant and her brother, were portrayed. The guy was also dressed like a gypsy, not an Italian.

On another note, I also was annoyed by the Dodie character. That girl was so short, her dresses were ridiculous and I don't think she was a good cast as the daughter. One thing I have noticed in these episodes that have been airing over the last few weeks is the fact that Dawn Lyn's primary missing front teeth were different in scenes in the same episode. In one scene, she had both front teeth missing, then it was only 1 front tooth on the left, then only 1 on the right...all in the same episode..and differed like that in many different episodes. It was like they filmed all of her scenes for the season on certain days. Not good continuity to begin an episode with both front teeth missing, then in the next, one was back again. Inconsistent in the other episodes too. Anyone else notice this too? It happened again in today's episode.

[dgpolo]

2 minutes ago, floridamom said:

. It was like they filmed all of her scenes for the season on certain days. Not good continuity to begin an episode with both front teeth missing, then in the next, one was back again. Inconsistent in the other episodes too. Anyone else notice this too? It happened again in today's episode.

It's rather famously known that Fred MacMurray had a contract that stated he would only be on set for a very few days. All of his scenes were shot at once and other scenes without him, shot later. I believe there are posts further back in this thread that talks about it more. Or you can google it.

[Gemma Violet]

So I guess all the scenes with Steve and Dodie together were filmed within the span of a couple of days or a week  and then the scenes with Dodie and someone else were filmed later.  Explains the teeth problem.  I hadn't noticed that, but I'll be on the lookout for it.     

[Glendenning]

Being 1969, it might have been better for audience reception and reaction had Dodie been a blue eyed blonde.. and had had long hair from the outset, instead of that "hatchet" hairdo.

@Gemma Violet @floridamom

[Glendenning]

Of course, when CBS poached Dawn Lyn from ABC's planned "Nanny and the Professor", she *was* replaced by a blonde as Prudence Everett 🙂

[floridamom]

I think they just started a new season of shows on Friday and Dawn's permanent front teeth had grown in.

[Cara]

I think the Dodie years are my least favorite! It would have been better if they had given Barbara a child in her early teens. There would have been better story possibilities. I guess Steve never thought twice about nearing retirement age and suddenly having another child to raise.

[Glendenning]

Also Fred MacMurray was a generation older than Beverly Garland. He should have played her father, not her husband.

@Cara

[dgpolo]

4 minutes ago, Glendenning said:

Also Fred MacMurray was a generation older than Beverly Garland. He should have played her father, not her husband.

@Cara

Beverly Garland was the same age as June Haver, MacMurray's second wife who he was married to for 37 years until he died.

[Cara]

17 minutes ago, Glendenning said:

Also Fred MacMurray was a generation older than Beverly Garland. He should have played her father, not her husband.

@Cara

Yeah, I thought that too. But the age difference between Fred MacMurray and Beverly Garland was roughly the same distance as there was with Mr MacMurray and his real life wife June Haver. So I guess they thought that made it okay. 

But still,  Beverly Garland was 44 in 1970. She was easily old enough to be the mother of a teenager. 

[floridamom]

I'm watching the episodes where Polly enters the scene with Chip. I remember watching this when they were new back when I was a kid. I never noticed how annoying Polly is with her constantly fawning over Chip's family and 'just having to be a part of it!'. Man, was she putting pressure on Chip to get married and soon! It's obvious now to me that she disliked her even more annoying father and just wanted to get away from him. Back then, I guess the only way OUT for her was to get married....to anyone. I wish they down played her adoration of the Douglas Family Displays of Love... TV sure was different in 1970. Anyone else annoyed with Polly and how she was written?

[dgpolo]

5 minutes ago, floridamom said:

TV sure was different in 1970. Anyone else annoyed with Polly and how she was written?

I did think, when I saw the Polly episodes fairly recently that her desire to marry Chip immediately if not yesterday was was way too much. They probably wanted him married for some reason and advanced the romance but yes. Too much.

Beyond that I don't really like Ronne Troups style of acting, she's much too... passive? I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for, but then most of the acting on the show has a certain style that's not quite realistic to me. I would imagine that is down to the director? or producer? Anyway I think MacMurray is the most natural actor on the show as he should be with his wrong career where he's played both villains and Disney perfect dads. Beverly Garland is also believable and again that can be traced to a long career but after them I find the one with a more natural style is Tina Cole and she didn't have too much of a career before MTS. All the boys seem very either stiff or so laid back there's almost no emotions showing.

Anyway, something about the acting on this show is different from most shows I watch.

(I heard somewhere that Ronne Troup was in line to play Sally Fields part in The Flying Nun, I cannot picture that)

[Glendenning]

@floridamom @dgpolo The lack of a Christmas episode real boils my potatoes. Especially as they could have easily done one once Beverly and Dawn came on board.

[PaulBMA]

Charley must have been a FIRST world war veteran. But he didn't have hearing problems from naval battles, PTSD etc. What a trouper! 😉

[floridamom]

When shows start to bring in 'look alike relatives' like Fergus here in My Three Sons, you know it was time for this show to be cancelled. I wondered why did they bother to introduce Polly, have her and Chip get married; then we hardly see them on the show anymore. On another note, can't Katie, who is a grown married woman, manage to live on her own with her children for a while when her husband is supposedly working away? I found that whenever Robbie was 'out of town', she moved back in with the family as if she wasn't an adult in her own right. Wow, times have changed. 

[Cobb Salad]

That whole story arc with Fergus makes me cringe.  I agree @floridamom they were really grasping at straws for a season premiere storyline to bring in a character that no one has seen since a one off appearance in the 4th season.  The lookalike gag got old pretty fast too.  Then Uncle Charlie finds Fergus someone pretty fast, it might have made for a more interesting storyline if say both Barbara and Katie each knew someone they thought was suitable for Fergus and it became a friendly competition.  

Then the episode today when Steve’s left alone with the triplets then had to go out and eventually loses them - Barbara had to fill in for someone volunteering, Charlie had something else to do and the rest of the family went to a fair.  Really, couldn’t the triplets go to the fair too?  They seemed to be into everything and pretty destructive which also gets pretty old fast.  

[PaulBMA]

Dodie might have worked if she'd been in her early teens instead of five. Mind you, M3S would have been seen as laughably outdated next to Norman Lear.

[Thalia]

The show's penultimate episode was the one with Mickey Dolenz as a rock star from Bryant Park.  Despite my love for all things Monkee, it is not a very good episode IMHO, as the main story line revolves around Chip's sudden decision, made without much apparent thought, to drop out of his chemical engineering program and also become a rock star. 

I wonder if the show was a not so subtle dig at Don Grady, who had quit a sure thing (Chemical engineering degree/steady TV gig) to go work in the music industry?  

[alegtostandon]

I guess yesterday was the last episode of My Three Sons.  Steve's boss comes to him with problems he is having with their 16 year old son.  Boss & Boss Wife decide Steve & Barbara are the perfect parents & want advice.  I don't know why it irritated me so much,  but why is Barbara accepting credit for raising Ernie?!   The only MTS characters in this whole episode are Steve,  Barbara,  Ernie, then Uncle Charlie & Katie for a few seconds.  I don't think they knew the show was going to be canceled.  

So,  that means this morning was the very first episode.  This means the 'Forgotten Oldest Son', no Ernie and Bub instead of Uncle Charlie. 

Edited January 23, 2020 by alegtostandon

[floridamom]

Why was Robbie Douglas delegated to work in Peru and off the show? Did Don Grady quit and try to pursue a music career?

[Cobb Salad]

6 hours ago, floridamom said:

Why was Robbie Douglas delegated to work in Peru and off the show? Did Don Grady quit and try to pursue a music career?

Yes

[MushMarch]

On 1/23/2020 at 7:53 AM, Thalia said:

The show's penultimate episode was the one with Mickey Dolenz as a rock star from Bryant Park.  Despite my love for all things Monkee, it is not a very good episode IMHO, as the main story line revolves around Chip's sudden decision, made without much apparent thought, to drop out of his chemical engineering program and also become a rock star. 

I wonder if the show was a not so subtle dig at Don Grady, who had quit a sure thing (Chemical engineering degree/steady TV gig) to go work in the music industry?  

Yes, I agree that episode is definitely lacking, and the title ("Barbara Lost") makes little sense in the context of what's going on in the show (shouldn't it have been titled "Chip Lost"?).  Plus, the music is terrible - why is it that purported "rock-and-roll" in 60's shows never sounds like actual rock-and-roll, but instead some kind of terrible cocktail lounge jazz mutation (the Annette/Frankie Beach Party movies were especially notorious for this)?  However, to this episode's eternal credit there is one great scene, and that occurs at the very end when Steve has a heart-to-heart with Chip and there is a short clip-flashback to the first episode of MTS where Steve and a very young Chip are having a deep discussion while washing dishes.  If this had been the last episode of the series, that would have been a fitting way to wrap things up.  Instead, we got the episode where everyone except Ernie is afraid to say the word "pot".  If the episode is a subtle dig at Don Grady, the screenwriters had more imagination than I normally would have credited them.  Too bad they didn't direct that smidgen of creativity toward improving the characters of Dodie and Uncle Charley.

[MushMarch]

MeTV recently yanked My Three Sons from its offerings.  My usual reaction would be, "well, it's had a good long run, time to give it a rest", and I'm not overly upset about it since I've seen all the episodes at least once during their long run these past few years.  However, what I don't like is what they replaced it with, and I get the bad feeling that this might be a turn for the much worse for MeTV.  The replacement is . . . "The Andy Griffith Show".  Now I have nothing against the Andy Griffith Show, it's a 60's sitcom classic, but it has been DONE TO DEATH.  It's not like you can't watch episodes of it on 27 other cable channels, not to mention all the online streaming options.  And when a network begins replacing classic programming with endless Andy Griffith (I'm calling out Nick at Nite and TV Land here), it's usually been the signal that it's gonna be all downhill from here on out (wall-to-wall "Beverly Hillbillies" is also indicative of worse things to come).

[Cobb Salad]

 

I think the removal of My Three Sons is temporary just for May, you know, the “Month of MAYberry”, lol.  Why they bumped My Three Sons, who knows but I had been tuning in lately to see episodes I have never seen before.  Anyway, I have similar sentiments toward The Andy Griffith Show too, I just wish MeTV had replaced another show on their schedule like one that gets a lot of airplay somewhere else.  My Three Sons isn’t shown much anywhere else these days.  
A bit off topic here but I see they’re adding Happy Days in June.