My Three Sons
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| My Three Sons | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Starring | Fred MacMurray William Demarest Don Grady Stanley Livingston Barry Livingston Tim Considine William Frawley Meredith MacRae Tina Cole Beverly Garland Dawn Lyn Ronne Troup Daniel, Joseph, and Michael Todd |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | ABC (1960-1965) CBS (1965-1972) |
| Original run | September 29, 1960–August 24, 1972 |
| No. of episodes | 380 |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
My Three Sons is a television series situation comedy that ran from September 29, 1960 to August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of an aeronautical engineer and widower Steve Douglas, played by Fred MacMurray, and his three sons. This seemingly simple premise was a huge hit and a cornerstone of the CBS lineup in the 1960s. With 380 episodes produced, it is second only to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as television's longest running (live-action) family sitcom. The show began on ABC, but moved to CBS for the 1965–66 season after ABC would not commit to the expense of producing the program in color.
Episodes from 1960–1965 (ABC) were telecast in black-and-white; when the show switched to CBS in 1965, the show began to be telecast in color. Other changes happened that year; William Frawley (who had played Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy in the 1950s) was a series regular until poor health forced his retirement; he was replaced by William Demarest. Older brother Mike (Tim Considine) also left the series that year, written out with Meredith MacRae as his new wife.
To keep the show's title plausible, a storyline was developed where younger brother Chip (Stanley Livingston)'s young friend Ernie (played by his real-life brother Barry) was revealed to be living in a foster home, awaiting adoption, since his parents died. When Steve tries to adopt Ernie, he faces trouble as a single parent, until Uncle Charlie (Demarest) comes to the rescue. (In the storyline, the law requires a woman to live in the home of an adoptee. The judge determined that the intent of the law was to make sure a full-time caregiver would be present; with Uncle Charlie meeting that role, he assents to a legal fiction declaring himself "housemother" to the Douglases.)
Reportedly, most, if not all, of MacMurray's scenes for each season were produced in one block of filming, freeing the actor up to follow other pursuits while the remainder of season production continued. This sometimes produced noticeable continuity problems onscreen, especially as the boys grew and changed styles.
My Three Sons was created by George Tibbles and produced by Don Fedderson throughout the show's run, with MCA Television co-producing the series during its 1960-65 ABC run. CBS Paramount Television presently owns distribution rights to the 1965-71 CBS episodes, while the ABC episodes and the final season on CBS (1971-72) are included in a separate syndication package. The early episodes (at least) were syndicated in the past, and were seen on Nick-at-Nite in the 1990s.
[edit] Cast
The actors and the characters they played:
- Fred MacMurray, Steven "Steve" Douglas
- Tim Considine, Michael "Mike" Douglas (1960–1965)
- Don Grady, Robert "Robbie" Douglas
- Stanley Livingston, Richard "Chip" Douglas
- Barry Livingston, Ernest "Ernie" Thompson/Douglas (1965–1972)
- William Frawley, Michael Francis "Bub" O'Casey (1960–1965)
- Meredith MacRae, Sally Ann Morrison Douglas (1963–1965)
- William Demarest, Uncle Charlie O'Casey, Bub's brother (1965–1972)
- Tina Cole, Katie Miller Douglas (1967–1972)
- Beverly Garland, Barbara Harper Douglas (1969–1972)
- Dawn Lyn, Dodie Harper Douglas (1969–1972)
- Ronne Troup, Polly Williams Douglas (1970–1972)
- Daniel, Joseph and Michael Todd, Robbie, Stevie and Charlie Douglas (respectively, 1970–1972)
Recurring cast:
- Cheryl Holdridge, Judy Doucette (1960-1964)
- Mimi Gibson,Carol (1966-1968)
- Lesley-Marie Colburn, Frieda (1964-1965)
- Marcia Mae Jones, Mary (1964-1968)
- Susan Gordon, Eloise (1962-1967)
- Marta Kristen, Linda Francis (1960-1964)
- Ricky Allen, Sudsy Pfeiffer (1961-1967)
- Hank Jones, Pete (1964-1966)
