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?
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