1.3.: Bub in the Ointment

Now, this is how you do a second episode. It's kind of too bad that it's the third but... The focus is kept right on the main characters. All five of them, except for Chip, get moments to be featured. The show has a slow, steady pace that (apart from the laugh track) feels more like a mini-movie than an episode of a TV show, possibly because of Fred MacMurray. We learn a bit more about each of the characters, filling in some of the gaps left open in the first two episodes, but still leaving lots of space for development. An episode like the last one, as I said, would work better if it were later in the season or if it were so funny that you couldn't deny it. Episode Three isn't as madcap as two and probably not as humorous but it's better television. And, that gives the upcoming episodes a little more shine. I want to see what happens next because I like what happens here

Well, I just wrote my complete review right there. I should probably shift that to the end but I'll leave it where it is. Let's do a little plot and character chat.

The three boys are living their lives but Bub seems to keep embarrassing them. At the PTA meetings for Chip's school, he shocks all the other housewives with his candor and this gets back to Chip and...Oh it hurts! . Robbie (who I'm guessing is around 13 or 14) is in a dramatics class and Bub enters. Immediately, the old man starts giving the teacher tips on how to do vaudeville. Oh the embarrassment! Mike (who must be around 16 or 17) is being visited by a recruiter from State College and Bub dips his wick in...Oh the humanity! Yes, he gets in the way of all three boys. So, they go to Steve and say "Talk to Bub!"

In what I imagine will become a Steve Douglas trademark, he makes some phone calls, arranges a few things (all the while smoking his pipe) and convinces the boys that Bub is OK after all. Bub's swell! Actually, at first, he tries to appeal to the boy's better natures. ("Well, I guess I'll be the one to have to hurt his feelings." "Gosh Dad, don't do that." "Well, Robbie, whoever tells him is going to hurt his feelings, right?") And, Fred MacMurray makes it work. Bub is a bit of a pain in the hole. There's a reason why Fred and Etehl never had kids. But, Steve points out what Bub has done for them. I should have written down the full speech but...

Steve reminds the boys that when their mother died...Bub moved in. He made them laugh when there was nothing they could find to laugh about. Bub gave up the successful movie theater he owned and ran to help them. He deserves to be humored when he forgets himself. And, Steve is right. Of course, the thing I like is that the boys won't stop their Dad from going to talk to Bub until all the little Steve Douglas-chicanery goes through. Then, they see it. Boys will be boys, I guess.

It's nice to see Mike and Robbie get a bit more development. I think, to be honest, Mike is probably my favorite of the Three Sons. Chip is a fun little kid. Robbie is a slightly confused teen. But, Mike has a lot of his Dad in his character. He's more reserved but with a light wit. I suppose that's why his running around in the previous episode seemed strange. This Mike I like. Let's see where they take him from here.

Bub is as ribald as ever. Well, as ribald as one can get on TV in October of 1960. He clearly loves the boys and wants the best for them. He just doesn't like BS and will steamroll himself over whatever he doesn't like. Tactless, sure. Charming, sometimes. Not really the point, though. Bub is an integral part of the house. I think hitting on the "What's this old guy doing there?" issue in the third episode was a wise choice. After the previous episode, I'm not sure if it was done on purpose but it works.

So, I'm giving a Thumbs Up to 2 out of the first 3. Goin' good so far. Let's see what's next.

Next episode: Countdown

1.2.: The Little Ragpicker

Mrs. Pitts (Marjorie Eaton) has just moved in down the street from the Douglas's. (Although, I'm not sure it's the same street we were on in the last episode.) She knows that Mr. Douglas is a widower and wonders how he can take care of his three sons when all the help he has is from that strange old man, Bub. As the boys run wild and Bub tries to run the house with all the plumbing out, she watches what seems to be a day of debauchery at the Douglas house. In the end...it's all a big misunderstanding!

Oh, the fun we have with the lady from Monstrosity/ The Atomic Brain! That movie was sleazy and odd and made her out to be a grotesque old woman. This episode is several years before that but they don't seem to be filming her any differently. She looks like the archetype of the Repressed Old Librarian. Every time she makes her squeezed up "What's going on over there?" face, it's more disturbing than anything. Even in the end, when all is well, she's still filmed in a rather too close manner that calls attention to the fact that she is not the loveliest of ladies. And, she seems to be our audience identification for this episode as we certainly don't know enough about the Douglas family to be able to side with them. (More on this in a bit...)

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling while watching this. Again, no one is really developed. Chip, Bub and Steve are exactly the same as the previous episode. Mike and Robbie run around a lot getting involved in boyish shenanigans. Which makes me think: How old are they supposed to be? It feels like the script was written for 3 10-year-old boys. Mike, especially, feels too old to be running around the whole time.

Am I supposed to just sit back and laugh at the proceedings? Certainly there are more funny moments here than in the last episode but it's all seen from the point of view of Mrs. Pitts (well, most of it). She's one of those busybody's who doesn't seem to understand that all you need to do is ask a few questions and everything gets cleared up.

Chip, why are you so dirty?

The plumbing's busted. Plumber's on the way.

Chip, why are you collecting rags? Is it because you're very poor?

We're having some sort of rag collection for charity.

Chip, why are you so hungry?

Bub can't cook until we get water because all the dishes need cleaning.

Chip, has Bub been drinking?

No.

She asks none of these questions. Instead, the hilarity meter shoots through the roof as she stares at the Douglas boys and Bub engaged in what must be horrible behavior! So, she has to save Chip. When he comes by for rags, she sits him down on her couch and feeds him...lemonade, ice cream and cake and cookies. Way to go! Was this stuff nutritious back in 1960? Lady, why do you have nothing but deserts to eat in your house where you live all by yourself? One of my favorite parts of the episode happens after Steve arrives home. "Where's Chip?" "Don't know." Night is falling. Chip is missing. Oh, here he is. He was at Mrs. Pitts's house. She wouldn't let him leave. It's all a big misunderstanding and certainly not kidnapping.

(An aside: This type of character and these sorts of situations used to bug me when I was a little kid and they drives me crazy now. The only way, I think, you can get away with a character like this is if they are extremely funny. If the hilarity is so high, that it is all justified. Mrs. Pitts...not so much.)

The comedic peaks occurs because of Bub's coveralls. They are dirty and covered with paint. When Bub takes them off, Chip fills them with rags. Mike and Robbie think it's Bub, at first. Then, once they've ascertained that this is not a man, they begin to move the full coveralls around the house and people keep mistaking it for a guy. When the plumber arrives, he's wearing coveralls...Oh no! Oh yes. When the plumber is in the bushes, Steve comes home and starts talking to him. Mike and Robbie laugh at their dad for talking to the empty coveralls. So...they grab the legs and drag the screaming plumber along the ground for about twenty feet.

In order for this story to work, Mrs. Pitts has to go out of her way to ask absolutely no questions that a normal human would ask in these situations. And, everyone else has to be as clueless as possible. The coveralls filled with rags do not look like a person. There is no head and no feet, for example. Surely, Bub can make something for dinner? Why are all the dishes dirty at the same time? How does that work? Does he let them all pile up until there's nothing left? Sorry.

Really, I should just let this ride. It's a breezy episode of a sitcom. It's got a few giggles and it's fun, somewhat. It's just that after the intelligence of the first episode, this is like a kick to my Dumb Place and I'm, frankly, a bit insulted. It's the second episode. We know Mrs. Pitts will probably never appear again. Why is this felonious old woman our touchstone for this episode? Isn't it time we learned who the heck the "Three Sons" are exactly? This is all so generic I wouldn't be surprised if it was a script for another show.

It's not just the Mrs. Pitts and the "everyone act dumb now" angle that I dislike. There's this constant run of wackiness occurring here and the show acts like this is all normal. And, it very well might be. However, after only one other episode, you could have fooled me. An episode like this works when we know the characters. Then, you bring in someone from the outside who sees them and thinks "They're nuts." But, the first episode was very low-key, nothing like this. So, it just ends up looking out of place and being somewhat annoying.

Sorry. I'm sure the next episode will put me back on track. This one just disappointed me. The first episode hinted that we could be in a very generic sitcom land. This one is practically holding up a sign saying "Welcome to Generic Town! Home of the Douglas Family!" Sophomore slump, I guess. I hope.

On another track, I can see the "Fred MacMaurry is only available for a limited time" disadvantage being used to their advantage here. The episode is 25 minutes long. Steve shows up about 17 minutes in. But, to Mrs. Pitts, everything moves around when "Mr. Douglas is coming home". When he does arrive, he actually does very little because, let's be honest, not much has actually happened. He gets worried about Chip, engages in some comedy with the coveralls and is in the final scene with Pitts & Company. The fact that he is constantly referenced makes his presence felt even if he's there for very little of the episode.

I wonder if anyone thought it strange that the big star of the show is in this for only about one-third of the episode. I'm now interested to see how they deal with "The Vanishing MacMurray" from here on out. But, please, let's keep the Mrs. Pitts to a minimum. Think of the children.

1.1: A Chip off the Old Block

Chip and Steve have lady troubles. A gal in Chip's class won't leave him alone. She says she's in love with him. Steve tells Chip to be kind to her because that's the way gentlemen act. But, Steve meets a nice lady at a dinner party. And, she's after Steve! Will Chip and Steve be married by the end of the episode?

No. No, they won't. Both guys agree that a gentleman would tell a lady when he's not interested. Chip does, Steve doesn't. Not yet. I'm not sure if his lady friend will show up in the next episode but I imagine Steve will do what he needs to do very soon.

Well, my first episode of My Three Sons has been watched. And, I enjoyed it. It's very charming. I think I giggled once. It's not much of a laugh-out-loud kind of thing. There are a couple of jokey moments but most of it is calm (sometimes slow) drama about a father and his young son being faced with the exact same problem: they're far too handsome.

Fred MacMurray is excellent. He brings a certain gravitas to this that some of the other sitcom dads of the time never did. I like him because he's not a dope. He's a smart man with a streak of wisdom going through him.

William Frawley is great, too. He seems to be peering in from a slightly different sitcom. The first real joke in the show is the reveal that the "woman of the house" is Bub. Bub is Steve's father-in-law. He runs the house.

Stanley Livingston is fun as Chip. He's mostly just a regular sitcom kid but his scenes with MacMurray lift it up a bit.

The other two sons, Mike & Robbie, don't do very much. I'll talk about them more when they actually do stuff. Robbie is loud. Mike is on the phone. Possibly the show is meant to be about Chip? I'll keep you posted.

I think the thing that really grabbed me is the calm dramatics of all of it. The thing rarely goes wacky. It's a rather sophisticated family comedy. Bub and the other two sons provide the sitcom moments while Steve and Chip have the main plotline. And, it's very nicely done.

Oh, Steve has been a widower for six years. I realized when I reached the end that they probably said how old the boys were but I didn't write it down. They'll say it again.

I was a bit surprised that we don't actually really get to meet everybody, apart from cursory moments. At the end, I feel like I know Steve and Chip a bit. There's a possibility that Bub is as developed as he will ever get. But, Mike and Robbie? Who are they? I figured they would delve a little further into them but they don't.

Strange...I thought I'd have more to say but I don't. It's a pleasant opening episode for the series and I look forward to seeing how it develops but there's nothing out of the ordinary here. And, I can't find much to say except that it's charming. To a modern audience, it's going to seem like it's about an hour long instead of 25 minutes. However, if you like what you see, then this is a heck of a nice place to spend the time.

Next episode: I've no idea. Something about the other two sons, possibly?

What I Know About My Three Sons

Not too much, as it turns out.

As of the date of this post:

- It was an American Sitcom
- Ran for 12 seasons 1960-1971
- B&W for first five seasons
- Color as of 1965-1966 season.
- On film with a laugh track.
- Fred MacMurray shot all his scenes on a very limited amount of days to accommodate his film and golf schedules. The episodes were built around what they could film with him in the time they had.
- Steve Douglas is a widower.
- Mike, Chip & Steve are the sons. I'm not 100% sure on their ages.
- I believe when Mike leaves Steve adopts another son.
- Bub is the boy's Grampa, played by William Frawley. He is the "mom" of the house.
- Bub is replaced by Uncle Charlie after a few seasons.
- Steve marries a woman played by Beverly Garland. This happens in the late 60's/ early 70's.
- All the boys get married and, I think, have kids of their own.
- When I watched it as a kid, I remember it being very much in the Leave It To Beaver-style of sitcoms. Not without its charms but never really all that funny or fascinating. But, 12 years! C'mon!

There is plenty of extra information on the My Three Sons page on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Three_Sons) but I'm trying to ignore it.

Some of the info I know may be wrong. If so, I'll correct myself as we go.

Well, that's what I know. Let's go to the first episode of My Three Sons...

Welcome!

Hello. Welcome to the My Three Sons Episode Guide Experiment.

What is it, exactly? Well...

I have another blog that reviews episodes of the1965-1971 sitcom Green Acres. Then, for a change of pace, I have one reviewing individual issues of the MAD-magazine ripoff, CRACKED. The thing that these two review sites have in common is that I know Green Acres and CRACKED very well. I own the Seasons 1-3 DVD box sets of Green Acres. For the remaining three seasons (with only one episode missing), I have TV Land copies. I own a large collection of CRACKED magazines from 1973-1985. I have watched Green Acres all the way through, in order, once. The CRACKED magazines are flipped through on a regular basis. So, when I review them, I write from the point of view of a fan. Someone who knows these works, someone who appreciates them and...this is important... can see down the line towards future events, tying the individual pieces together as a whole. I can mention Lisa Douglas doing something in one episode of Green Acres and reference one hundred episodes ahead, if need be. I can say "The Fonz first appears here" and then tell the readers when to expect the Fonz to reappear in CRACKED.

Writing from that point of view is fun but it can get a little tricky. I have to keep in mind a whole slew of things when I'm writing. And, every once in a while, you lose focus on what you're writing about at that moment because there's so much jumping around. That's how this blog came into my mind. I wanted to come at something cold. If I had thought about this four years ago, this blog would be about Dallas. But, I've thought about it now and chosen My Three Sons to experiment on. In the year 2009, I can get access to almost anything I need so I am deliberately not looking ahead in the show, not hunting down anything on it. I have some knowledge of its history, which I will list in the next post, but not much. I want to begin with Season 1, Episode 1 of My Three Sons and proceed through to the final episode, 12 seasons later. Of course, this brings up one issue...

What if I dislike the show? I have, in preparation, watched the first four episodes and enjoyed them. They're not completely my cup of tea but I am warming to it. The plan is this: I will do a complete review of the 36 episodes of Season One. Then, I will give my thoughts on the season and then...Well, if I like it, onto Season Two! If I don't, Bewitched is still available.

So, join me. Won't you? I know very little about where the show is going and even less about how it gets there. It was on for 12 years! That's a heck of a run. I'm hoping to love it. Let's see what happens.