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HAPPY DAYS Happy Days changed dramatically from the series that premiered in 1974. Originally it was the story of two high school kids, Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and his pal Potsie Weber (Anson Williams), at Jefferson High in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley), Richie's father, ran a hardware store while Chuck (Gavan O'Herlihy, replaced by Randolph Roberts later in the first season) was Richie's college-bound older brother and Joanie (Erin Moran) his 13-year-old kid sister. Richie and most of his friends hung out at Arnold's Drive-In, a malt shop near the school.
Richie was supposed to be the innocent teenager and Potsie his more worldly pal. So as not to make the show too much like Ozzie and Harriet, however, the producers added some slightly more extreme counterpoint in the person of the leather-jacket, greasy-haired motorcycle kid, Fonzie (Henry Winkler). That was the move that made the show a hit. Instead of the fairly hackneyed Richie-Potsie relationship, the show came to center on the relationship between the "cool" dropout Fonz, and the "straight" kids represented by Richie. Henry Winkler made the character of Fonz three-dimensional, vulnerable as well as hip. One of the classic episodes, which ran traditionally every Christmas, was the one that first showed the Fonz's own pad, a dingy, cluttered room with his motorcycle in the middle of the floor -- and only a tiny, pathetic tree to indicate that it was Christmas. Too proud to admit to being alone for the holiday, the Fonz -- whose father had deserted him at the age of three -- nevertheless allowed himself to be brought into the Cunningham's home to share in their Christmas celebration.
As Fonzie's popularity spread (his thumbs up gesture and "aaayyh!" became trademarks), the show became a bigger and bigger hit. Winkler moved from his original fifth billing to third, then second behind Ronnie Howard and finally first when Howard left in 1980. But ABC claimed that there would be no spinoff series, because without the Richie-Fonzie contrast there would be no Happy Days. Not only did Fonzie's billing change as the series grew, but so did his residence. During the 1975-1976 season he moved into a small apartment over the Cunningham garage. He was thus always available to give Richie advice about life and girls (the Fonz made every girl in Milwaukee swoon).
Changes in the cast were fairly minor in the early years. Dozens of high school kids came and went, and Richie's older brother disappeared from the family early on, never to be referred to again. Arnold (Pat Morita), the Oriental who owned Arnold's, first showed his face in 1975 but was replaced by a new owner, Alfred (Al Molinaro), in 1976. (Pat Morita had gotten his own series that fall, Mr. T and Tina.) Two lower-middle-class girls (Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams) who turned up briefly in late 1975 -- on a double date with Richie and Fonzie -- quickly went on to a series of their own, Laverne & Shirley. Chachi (Scott Baio) arrived in 1977, as Fonzie's younger cousin, the same season that Richie began going steady with Lori Beth (Lynda Goodfriend), with the performers who played both roles turning up together on an NBC series, Who's Watching the Kids, the following fall as well.
As the 1976-1977 season ended, Richie and the gang graduated from high school and it seemed that Fonzie, the dropout, might be left behind. But at the last minute it turned out that the Fonz, while working days at various garages, had been going to night school and would get his diploma too. Richie, Potsie and Ralph enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, with Fonzie still around (though not enrolled) to advise them on love and life. Richie enrolled as a journalism student and Potsie as a psychology major, while Ralph followed in his father's footsteps to become an eye doctor -- though he really wanted to be a comedian.
In 1980 series star Ron Howard announced that he was leaving (as was Danny Most, who played Richie and Potsie's pal Ralph Malph), so Richie and Ralph were written out as having joined the army. They were stationed in Greenland, and from there Ritchie corresponded with and eventually proposed to Lori Beth. Fonzie, meanwhile, had become so straight that he was now a co-owner of Arnold's and also shop teacher at Jefferson High. Marion's nephew Roger Phillips (Ted McGinley), a Yale man, also joined the faculty as basketball coach. It was now the 1960s and the focus of the program turned increasingly to the next generation, particularly the teenage love of Chachi and Joanie, and Joanie's independent, boy-crazy friend, Jenny Piccalo (Cathy Silvers), who was finally seen on the show, after years of only being referred to.
The program had by this time become such an institution that in 1980 it was announced that Fonzie's leather jacket was being enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.
The origin of this immensely successful series was a skit that appeared on Love, American Style in February 1972, titled "Love and the Happy Day," and starring Ronnie Howard and Anson Williams. The original theme song for the series was Bill Haley's famous 1955 hit record "Rock Around the Clock," which promptly became a best-seller all over again in 1974 as a result of its exposure on the show. It was later superseded as the theme by an original composition, "Happy Days," which was itself on the hit parade in 1976.
ABC aired reruns of Happy Days on its daytime lineup from September 1975 to March 1979, and an animated Saturday morning version from November 1980 to September 1983. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERIES At first the series alternated on Sunday nights with The Nancy Drew Mysteries, which starred Pamela Sue Martin in the title role. In the fall of 1977 the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew appeared jointly in some episodes, and then in February 1978, the two programs were combined into one, with the title changed to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and all three leads appearing together regularly. Unhappy with the elimination of her separate series, Pamela Sue Martin left the program and was briefly replaced by 18-year-old Janet Louise Johnson. The character of Nancy Drew was dropped altogether in the fall of 1978, and the title was shortened to The Hardy Boys.
In addition to his adventures, Shaun Cassidy found time to launch a singing career while on this program, much as his older brother David Cassidy had done while on another series, The Partridge Family, seven years earlier. Shaun sang "Da Do Ron Ron" on an April 1977 telecast, and saw it become a number one record hit in the summer.
The Hardy Boys mystery books, on which this series was based, were the product of a remarkable "writing factory" founded in the early 1900s by Edward Stratemeyer, which was also responsible for the Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, Rover Boys, and Bobbsey Twins series, and hundreds of other juvenile adventure best-sellers. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
HART TO HART The series was created by best-selling novelist Sidney Sheldon. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
HAWAII FIVE-O Hawaii Five-O was filmed entirely on location and it may well have been the beautiful scenery as well as the action and adventure that made it so popular. Whatever the causes, Hawaii Five-O was immensely successful. It was the longest continuously running police show in the history of television. Surprisingly, there was very little turnover among the leads. Steve did go through two secretaries, May (Maggi Parker) being replaced by Jenny Sherman (Peggy Ryan) after the first season, and one of his assistants, Kono Kalakaua (Zulu), left after four seasons, but for most of the cast the working conditions in Hawaii were too pleasant to give up. After ten seasons, however, Kam Fong tired of the role of Chin Ho Kelly and was written out of the show by having his character killed in the final episode of the 1977-78 season.
At the end of the following season, James MacArthur decided he had enough of playing McGarrett's top assistant, Danny "Danno" Williams, and he too left Hawaii Five-O. That fall three new members were added to the Five-O team, including former policewoman Lori Wilson (Sharon Farrell). The ratings were falling, and the infusion of new people didn't help. It became obvious to all that this would be Hawaii Five-O's last season. Near the end of the run, on April 5, 1980, McGarrett's most bitter enemy was finally brought to justice. Disguised as a scientist, McGarrett sprung a trap that sent Wo Fat, seen for the first time in five years, to jail.
The Ioni Palace which in this series was the seat of the Hawaiian government, had at one time housed the Hawaiian Legislature. That time was long gone, however, as it had been a museum for many years prior to the start of Hawaii Five-O.
Reruns from the last season's episodes aired under the title McGarrett on CBS Late Night.
On September 20, 2010, CBS premiered a new "reimagined" Hawaii Five-O set in present-day Hawaii with a cast including Alex O'Loughlin as Steve McGarrett, Scott Caan (son of Oscar-nominated actor James Caan) as "Danno" Williams, Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly, Grace Park as Kono Kalakaua, and Jean Smart as Gov. Patricia Jameson. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
HEE HAW Although the humor was purposely cornball, the music on Hee Haw was first-rate Country material. Co-hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark were both major Country stars, Clark being one of the best banjoist-guitarists in the business. Other big names from the Country field, both current and long-established, were also featured regularly. Hee Haw was in the Top 20 nationally when it was dropped from the network in 1971, a victim of CBS's decision to "de-ruralize" its programming (national advertisers want only young, urban audiences). Like Lawrence Welk, which was dropped by ABC for similar reasons, it promptly went into syndication with all new shows and was a major hit for several more years on a non-network basis. When co-host Buck Owens left the show after the 1985-1986 season he was not replaced. Instead, a policy of having Roy Clark joined by weekly guest co-hosts was instituted. Buy Hee Haw Collection - Premier + Laffs at Amazon.com
HERE'S LUCY When it appeared in the fall of 1962, The Lucy Show cast its star as a widow with two children. Chris (Candy Moore) and Jerry (Jimmy Garrett), living in suburban Danfield, Connecticut, and sharing her home with a divorced friend, Vivian Bagley (Vivian Vance), and Vivian's son, Sherman (Ralph Hart). Both women were desperately looking to snag new husbands and Lucy, in an effort to keep busy and meet eligible men, eventually went to work part-time for Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) at the Danfield First National Bank. In September 1965, Lucy moved to San Francisco, as coincidentally did banker Mooney, and again she was working as his secretary, this time at the Westland Bank. Lucy's daughter Chris was no longer with the cast and Vivian Bagley, no longer a series regular, appeared only occasionally as a visitor from the East. Lucy's new cohort was friend Mary Jane Lewis (Mary Jane Croft). The last episode under this title aired on September 16, 1968.
In September 1968 the show returned with a new title (Here's Lucy), a couple of major cast changes, and a modified story line. Lucy had moved to Los Angeles and her last name was now Carter. She was still a widow and with two children, but they were now named Kim and Craig (played by her real-life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr.). She worked for the Unique Employment Agency, which was owned by her brother-in-law, Harrison "Uncle Harry" Carter. Gale Gordon was thus retained as her blustery, ever-suffering foil. During the summers of 1968-1971 reruns of the earlier Lucy Shows were aired. CBS aired weekday daytime reruns of The Lucy Show from September 1968 to September 1972, and of Here's Lucy from May to November 1977. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
HOUSE CALLS Dating someone with whom you work can create problems, as Charley Michaels (Wayne Rogers) and Ann Anderson (Lynn Redgrave) learned. He was a surgeon at Kensington General Hospital in San Francisco, a good doctor but less than enthusiastic about conforming to hospital rules and regulations. She was the hospital's new administrative assistant, an English lady with a commitment to keeping the hospital running efficiently. They were romantically involved but often at odds when Charley's concern for his patients conflicted with Ann's concern for the business side of Kensington. Others in the cast were Norman Solomon (Ray Buktenica), a neurotic young obstetrician; Amos Weatherby (David Wayne), the brilliant but absent-minded (some would say senile) chief of surgery; Ann's stuffy boss, Conrad Peckler (Marc L. Taylor); and Mrs. Phipps (Deedy Peters), a flighty hospital volunteer who provided patients with books, candy, and other inexpensive odds and ends.
Based on the motion picture starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON Adding to the epic scope of the series was the spectacular setting; the program was filmed on location in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Southern California. The executive producer was John Mantley, who had also been producer of Gunsmoke. The series was based on the 1963 motion picture of the same name, which was directed by John Ford and featured an all star cast, including John Wayne.
THE HUDSON BROTHERS SHOW THE INCREDIBLE HULK The Incredible Hulk was based on the comic-book character created by Stan Lee in 1962. From September 1982 to September 1985, NBC aired an animated version of The Incredible Hulk as part of its Saturday morning lineup. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
IRONSIDE JAMES AT 15 James was an avid photographer and also a daydreamer. One of the novel elements of the series was his periodic lapses into daydreaming of himself as he would like to be -- heroic, suave, etc. -- portrayed in special dreamlike sequences. Although there was comedy in James at 15, none of the main characters were caricatures, and likewise the subject matter was sometimes rather serious: a young friend who was dying of cancer, teenage alcoholism, venereal disease, the discovery that Kathy was having a pre-marital affair. Perhaps the most controversial episode was one in which James lost his own virginity in an affair with a Swedish exchange student, Christina Kollberg (Kirsten Baker). Although the subject matter in the series was tastefully handled, and NBC had high hopes for the show, it did not attract a large audience and was canceled after a single season.
Effective February 9, 1978, the episode dealing with James' affair, the series' title was changed to James at 16.
THE JEFFERSONS One of the Jeffersons' neighbors was an erudite Englishman, Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict); another was Tom Willis (Franklin Clover), a white man with a black wife named Helen (Roxie Roker). Their daughter Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert) became Lionel's girl friend, fiancée, and finally wife when they were married in the 1976 Christmas show. George's quickly acquired wealth enabled his natural snobbishness to assert itself, and he was often pretty intolerable. He resented Lionel's involvement with the child of a mixed marriage and was continually at odds with Tom and Helen. Adding to the general level of discord in the Jefferson apartment was their wise-cracking maid, Florence (Marla Gibbs).
Mike Evans, who had played the role of Lionel on All in the Family and stayed with it when The Jeffersons first went on the air, left the show in the fall of 1975. He was replaced by Damon Evans, another young black actor, to whom he was not related. Early in the 1977-78 season a young, street-wise black named Marcus Garvey (Ernest Harden, Jr.) was added to the cast as an employee of the branch of George Jefferson's chain of cleaning stores that was located in the lobby of the building in which the Jeffersons lived. The following fall brought Allan Willis (Jay Hammer), Jenny's white brother, back from a commune to become a regular member of the cast and source of irritation to both his own father and George Jefferson. Damon Evans had left the cast and, although Lionel was occasionally referred to in various episodes, he was no longer seen until Mike Evans, the original Lionel, returned to the series in the fall of 1979. Lionel and Jenny had a baby girl, Jessica, the following spring. After graduation from college, Lionel found a job as an electrical engineer for Teletex Electronics. His career was moving along but his marriage was faltering, and in the fall of 1981 Lionel and Jenny separated. Although Lionel no longer appeared on The Jeffersons, Jenny, who had become a fashion designer, continued to show up periodically. Neighbor Bentley returned in late 1983, after a two-year stay in Russia, still his very proper self, and George's business, as well as The Jeffersons' ratings, continued to prosper. In 1984 George went into partnership, along with Tom Willis, in Charlie's Bar, a little place that became their leisure-time hangout, and the following January Lionel and Jenny filed for divorce. That summer, after a run of more than a decade, The Jeffersons finally faded from the CBS prime-time schedule.
CBS aired reruns of The Jeffersons as part of its weekday daytime lineup from February 1980 to September 1981. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
KOJAK The supporting role of Detective Stavros was played by Telly Savalas' brother George who, during the first two seasons the show was on the air, was billed as Demosthenes in the credits rather than by his real name. Starting with the 1976-77 season, considerable location filming was done in New York with Kojak seen all over the city licking his trademark lollipops. Kojak received much favorable publicity from police departments around the country for its realistic portrayal of police work.
In 1989, years after the original series ended, 65-year-old Telly Savalas returned to the mean streets of New York to make some new Kojak films for ABC Mystery Movie. Kojak was now an Inspector, with a bright, young assistant named Det. Winston Blake (Andre Braugher). Det. Paco Montana (Kario Salem) was Blake's regular partner, and Pamela (Candace Savalas) was Kojak's secretary. Lollipops and "who loves ya, baby" were once again the order of the day, and in one episode a characer from the old series even turned up. Lt. Bobby Crocker (played by Kevin Dobson), now a hotshot assistant D.A., was out to prosecute his successor Blake for murder. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER Kolchak was based on the highly successful TV movie of the same name. It premiered, appropriately enough, on Friday the 13th, but lasted for only a single season. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
KUNG FU Then one day young Caine was involved in an incident in which he was forced to kill a member of the Chinese royal family. Fleeing China, he landed in the American West where he began a search for a long-lost brother -- while he himself was pursued by Chinese Imperial agents and American bounty hunters. Caine spoke very little, uttering occasional cryptic statements about the nature of being and universal harmony. He was usually a loner, although in the final season an American cousin, Margit McLean (Season Hubley), began to make occasional appearances. Kung Fu used many gimmicks to lend its surreal aspect, such as slow-motion photography, and included frequent flashbacks to Caine's days as a youth in China in which his teachers, Master Po (Keye Luke) and Master Kan (Philip Ahn), appeared, as well as Caine as a young boy (Radames Pera).
The star, David Carradine, was responsible for much of the publicity surrounding this show. A member of a respected theatrical family (his father, John Carradine, had appeared in many famous movies of the 1930s and 1940s), David dropped out of Hollywood's glittering world and lived a decidedly unconventional life in a ramshackle old house in the Hollywood hills, reflecting the same philosophy of mysticism and "oneness with nature" that Caine represented.
Kung Fu, incidentally, translates roughly as "accomplishment technique," and is China's ancient science of personal combat, from which karate and judo are derived. It enjoyed quite a vogue in the U.S. during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a result of the movies of Chinese-American actor Bruce Lee. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
LAVERNE & SHIRLEY Laverne & Shirley was a spinoff of sorts from Happy Days, in which the girls appeared only briefly. It was set in the same city and period, and the girls' friend Fonzie sometimes stopped by to say hello. With friends like that Laverne & Shirley shot to the top of the ratings. During the 1977-78 season it was the number one program on television.
With the 1978-79 season, the program moved into the 1960s. Frank De Fazio and Mrs. Babish, both single, began dating, and in the fall of 1979 they were married. Then, in the fall of 1980, the whole crew picked up and moved to Burbank, California, all seeking to better their lot in a new environment. The girls began trying to get into the movies. Frank and Edna opened a restaurant, Cowboy Bill's. Carmine just wanted to be near his best girl, Shirley. New neighbors included Rhonda (Leslie Easterbrook), a caustic dancer and model, and Sonny (Ed Marinaro), a stuntman, and their apartment building manager.
Life behind the scenes on Laverne and Shirley had always been tumultuous, due to an intense rivalry between its two stars. Demands were made, writers fired, feuds erupted. Finally in 1982 Cindy Williams, who was pregnant, left the series. Her character, Shirley, married an army medic named Walter Meany who was assigned overseas. Laverne tried to go it alone, but, faced with withering competion from The A-Team on NBC, Laverne & Shirley quietly expired the following spring.
The theme song of the series was on the hit parade in 1976 in a recording by Cyndi Grecco, who was also heard on the show. Reruns of Laverne & Shirley were on ABC's daytime lineup from April 1979 to June 1980, and a Saturday morning cartoon version was seen from October 1981 to September 1983. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS Dan Haggerty, who starred in the series, played the same role in the movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and a similar role in another film, The Adventures of Frontier Freemont. Haggerty was originally an animal trainer rather than an actor, and was chosen for the film roles partly because of his remarkable rapport with bears. Denver Pyle appeared as his costar in both films.
There was a real Grizzly Adams, upon whom this series was loosely based. He was born in Massachusetts in 1812, and spent many years in the Sierra Nevadas after having gone bankrupt through a series of unfortunate business deals. The real Grizzly was a bit less altruistic than his TV counterpart. Having deserted his wife and children, he spent much of his time hunting and killing animals and capturing others for zoos (a few of the larger beasts almost killed him on one occasion or another). The real Ben died in a zoo that Adams himself opened in San Francisco in the 1850s. But Adams also loved animals and cared for many of them throughout his wilderness days. He died while on tour with P.T. Barnum in 1860. Buy the pilot movie on VHS at Amazon.com
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) was a homesteader struggling to make a living for his family on a small farm near the town of Walnut Grove, Plum Creek, Minnesota. The Ingalls had moved from the great plains of Kansas to Walnut Grove in search of a future in a young and growing community. With Charles were his wife Caroline (Karen Grassle) and three daughters, teenagers Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson) and Laura (Melissa Gilbert), and little Carrie (played alternately by a pair of identical twins, Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush). Stories related the experiences of family life and growing children, the constant struggle against natural disasters and ruined crops, and the dealings with other members of the little community in which they lived. Among the Ingalls' new friends were Mr. Hanson (Karl Swenson), the mill owner; Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), the proprietor of the general store; and Mr. Edwards (Victor French), a nearby farmer who became a good friend, despite his rather harsh exterior.
A lot happened on Little House since that simple beginning, as the program came to resemble a serial. First, Mr. Edwards left in 1977 (Victor French got his own series, Carter Country), and was replaced by Jonathan Garvey (played by former Los Angeles Rams star Merlin Olsen). Garvey had a wife named Alice (Hersha Parady) and a young son, Andy (Patrick Laborteaux). In 1978 Caroline gave birth to a fourth daughter, Grace (played alternatively by Wendy and Brenda Turnbeaugh), but oldest daughter Mary lost her sight and was sent to a school for the blind. Mary promptly fell in love with her instructor, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer), and they moved off to the Dakotas.
No sooner were they gone than the town of Walnut Grove fell on hard times, and Charles and his family (along with some other regulars) had to pack up and move to the bustling frontier city of Winoka, where their household was enlarged again by the addition of Albert, a young orphan they adopted. City life didn't sit well with the family, however, so they all moved back to Walnut Grove, which had miraculously recovered from its problems. Mary and Adam moved back too, and had a baby boy, who unfortunately perished (with Alice Garvey) when the school for the blind where Mary was teaching burned down.
Feeling left out amid all this travail, daughter Laura decided to become a teacher, and was courted by and eventually married Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler), in the fall of 1980. Even nasty Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) got married, although problems arose when it was discovered that her husband, Percival (Steve Tracy), was really Jewish and a decision had to be made about how to raise their children. Since Nellie had twins, everything was resolved by deciding they raise the son as a Jew and the daughter as a Christian!
Jonathan Garvey, now a widower, moved to nearby Sleepy Eye to manage a warehouse, and convinced Charles to set up a freight business between there and Walnut Grove. Meanwhile, over in the Adam and Mary subplot, Adam regained his sight in a freak accident, and was accepted to law school.
Michael Landon's decision to leave Little House prompted a number of changes in the fall of 1982. The title was changed to Little House: A New Beginning, and Laura and Almanzo became the principal stars. Economic problems forced Charles to sell the "little house" and move to Burr Oak, Iowa, where he had found a job. Moving into the former Ingalls home were John and Sarah Carter (Stan Ivar and Pamela Roylance), who ran the town newspaper, and their sons Jeb and Jason (Lindsay Kennedy and David Friedman). Laura gave up her teaching job to raise both her newborn daughter Rose and niece Jenny Wilder (Shannon Doherty), who was orphaned when Almanzo's brother Royal died. Laura's replacement at the school, Etta Plum, was portrayed by Michael Landon's daughter Leslie.
The series' audience had been declining for several years, and the revised version lasted only a single season.
The stories told on Little House were originally based on the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which contained her recollections of growing up on the American frontier. On the TV series, the actress playing Laura functioned as the narrator. Michael Landon, who starred in this series, was also its executive producer. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
LONGSTREET Kung Fu expert Bruce Lee appeared in this series as Longstreet's self-defense instructor. Buy this series on VHS at Amazon.com
LOU GRANT The personal life of reporter Billie Newman was the focus of the 1981-82 season premiere episode of Lou Grant, as Billie wed baseball scout Ted McCovey (Cliff Potts). The series concluded its run the following spring, amid a controversy not radically different from the type that had served as story material for Lou Grant. Despite CBS' statement that Lou Grant was canceled because of declining ratings, there were many who felt that the political statements of series star Ed Asner were the real reason. Asner himself accused CBS of dropping the show because of his unpopular and highly publicized condemnation of U.S. involvement in Central America. Buy this series on VHS at Amazon.com
LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE
A short list of those appearing in Love, American Style reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood: Phyllis Diller, Nanette Fabray, Tammy Grimes, Ann Southern, Paul Ford, Pat Paulsen, Milton Berle, Sonny & Cher, the Lennon Sisters, George Gobel, Dorothy Lamour, Wally Cox, Tony Randall, Paul Lynde, Burt Reynolds, Harry Morgan, Rich Little, Ozzy & Harriet, Tiny Tim (as a suspected vampire), Sid Ceasar, Imogene Coca, Jacqueline Susann, and Martha Raye. Ronnie Howard and Anson Williams appeared in a skit entitled "Love and the Happy Day," which served as the pilot for the hit series, Happy Days. The first telecast, on September 28, 1969, was typical of the show's format. Act I, "Love and a Couple of Couples": Michael Callan is a suitor about to propose when his ex-wife turns up, spies the ring, tries it on -- and can't get it off. Act II, "Love and the Hustler": Flip Wilson is pool shark "Big Red," who undertakes to instruct a young lady in the fine points of the game. Act III, "Love and the Pill": Bob Cummings and Jane Wyatt are parents worried about their daughter's plans to embark on a "swinger's tour" of Europe with her boyfriend. Love, American Style reruns were seen in ABC daytime from June 1971 to May 1974. An updated series of romantic vignettes, titled New Love, American Style, was produced for ABC's week-day daytime lineup more than a decade later, running from December 1985 to August 1986. Love, American Style reruns were seen in ABC daytime from June 1971 to May 1974. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE LOVE BOAT
Among those appearing in guest roles were many TV and movie favorites, including Raymond Burr, Pearl Bailey, Steve Allen, Ethel Merman, Jane Wyman, Don Adams, Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, and Dick Van Patten. Some stories revolved around the crew, with Capt. Stubing's womanizing brother Marshall (also played by MacLeod) showing up on occasion, and Vicki (Jill Whelan), Stubing's 12-year-old daughter by a past girl friend, becoming a regular cast member in 1979. The Love Boat was filmed on two real cruise ships, the Pacific Princess and the Island Princess, during their regular voyages from the Virgin Islands to Alaska. Paying passengers were invited to participate as extras, getting a raffle ticket for each day they "worked." Most passengers were delighted to take part, and cruises on which filming was planned were always booked solid long in advance. In the spring of 1986, at the end of the original series run, Capt. Stubing romanced and married Emily Heywood (Marion Ross). A number of new two-hour Love Boat specials were aired during the following season. The series was based on Jeraldine Saunders' book The Love Boat (written about her experiences as a cruise hostess), and first aired as a series of specials during the 1976-1977 season. ABC aired reruns of The Love Boat on weekday mornings from June 1980 to June 1983. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
M*A*S*H
The cast and characters of M*A*S*H were all members of the 4077th M obile A rmy S urgical H ospital, stationed behind the lines during the Korean War. Their job was to treat the wounded being sent to them from the front lines and to try to save as many lives as possible. The environment was depressing; many of the doctors (who had all been drafted) could not really believe they were living under the conditions to which they were being subjected. There was an overwhelming sense of the futility and insanity of war that permeated their daily lives. A certain sense of humor was necessary for survival. Most of the senior members of the M.A.S.H. unit had wives and families back home, but that never stopped them from propositioning every good-looking nurse they could con into their quarters. After all, they did need something to alleviate the depression that resulted from contact with a constant stream of maimed and dying young G.I.'s. Two of the surgeons were Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) and Capt. John "Trapper John" McIntyre (Wayne Rogers). Like virtually everyone else, they were always breaking regulations. Hawkeye, despite his escapades, was probably the most intellectual of the doctors and was sometimes seen musing on the dehumanizing nature of war and questioning its moral validity. Among others who were featured was Maj. Frank Burns (Larry Linville), who was possibly the worst doctor in the unit, and the constant butt of practical jokes perpetrated by Hawkeye and Trapper because of his arrogance and his feigned adherence to military regulations. Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) was the head nurse who, despite her admonitions to both her nurses and the doctors about fooling around with each other, had been having an affair with Frank Burns for an extended period. Lt. Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), the commanding officer whose prime concern was the work of the doctors in the operating room, couldn't care less about what they did during their free time. Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) was the extremely shy and bumbling young aide to Col. Blake. There were also numerous nurses who came and went, with the same actress being referred to in different episodes by different names -- a large number of actresses were collectively called Nurse Able and Nurse Baker. Dr. Sidney Freedman (Allan Arbus), an army psychiatrist, made sporadic visits to the 4077th M.A.S.H. to check on the mental condition of the staff. There were changes in the cast over the years. The most significant addition was that of Cpl. Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr), an aide to the doctors in the operating room. There was nothing really wrong with him; it was just that he always dressed in women's clothing in a desperate, though futile, attempt to get himself discharged as mentally unfit. McLean Stevenson left the series in the spring of 1975, to sign a long-term contract with NBC, and his character, Col. Blake, was written out of the show in the last episode of the 1974-75 season (he was discharged and on his way home, only to have the plane in which he was flying go down in the Sea of Japan). He was replaced by Col. Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan), who was somewhat more sardonic and definitely less silly than his predecessor. In the summer of 1975 Wayne Rogers also left the series, in a contract dispute; his character, Trapper, got a discharge and returned home at the beginning of the 1975-76 season. Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell) replaced Trapper as Hawkeye's tentmate and co-conspirator. At the beginning of the 1977-78 season Larry Linville left, and so Major Burns was written out of the series. Having seen his love affair with Hot Lips end when she married Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott, Frank abruptly went AWOL and was permanently transferred. Replacing him was an aristocratic Bostonian, Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester (David Ogden Stiers). Hot Lips' marriage to Col. Penobscott, who was not stationed with the 4077th and who was virtually never seen with his wife after the honeymoon, ended in divorce during the 1978-79 season. Gary Burghoff, the only member of the cast who had played the same role in the movie version of M*A*S*H, departed in the fall of 1979. His character, clairvoyant company clerk Radar O'Reilly, received his discharge and returned to the States. Cpl. Klinger, after a rocky start, settled in as the new company clerk. The series finale, a highly anticipated, two-and-a-half-hour episode entitled "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," aired on February 28, 1983, to one of the largest audiences in the history of television. We learn the end of the war is only hours away, but the casualties keep coming in. Finally, the surgical teams learn of the immediate cease-fire as they operate on a group of desperately wounded soldiers and civilians. The war is over. At the noisy, joyful camp party that night, members of the company talk about their lives after the war. Col. Potter looks forward to becoming a semi-retired country doctor. Hot Lips declares she has opted for the States and a big city hospital. Klinger announces his engagement to a local Korean girl and says that he is staying in Korea to help find her parents. Charles is going back to Boston; devoted family man B.J., of course, wants to go home, yet refuses to actually say "goodbye" to the others. And Hawkeye? Perhaps, after all, he will not be going to the big city surgical post that he always dreamed of. After Klinger and his new bride leave the camp in traditional Korean style, the other members of the company depart one by one. By now, the camp is a ghost town. Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) leaves to start a new life ministering to the deaf. Hot Lips is kissed and hugged. Charles himself exits with a company sergeant in a garbage truck. Col. Potter takes his beloved horse Sophie for one last ride before she is adopted by the orphanage. Finally, B.J. and Hawkeye go together on B.J.'s motorbike to meet Hawkeye's chopper. As Hawkeye looks down over the desolate camp, he sees a message B.J. has left on the pad: a "GOODBYE" marked out in stone. Some members of the 4077th -- Col. Potter, Klinger, Father Mulcahy -- would meet again in a sequel the following fall, called AfterMASH. M*A*S*H was based on the hit motion picture of the same name, which in turn was taken from the novel. The novel had been written by a doctor who had actually served in one of the Korean War M.A.S.H. units, but who used a pseudonym -- Richard Hooker -- in writing, so as not to compromise his medical standing by his revelations. Reruns of M*A*S*H aired on CBS' weekday lineup from September 1978 to September 1979. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE MAGICIAN
When the series moved to Monday nights in January 1974, Tony had taken up residence at Hollywood's famous Magic Castle, where many of the most renowned magicians in the world performed, and some of them were seen on this show. The magic acts performed by Blake were also genuine: Bill Bixby himself was an amateur magician. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MANNIX
The high point of every episode seemed to be a wild brawl, and the body count even in the first few minutes of the show was sometimes appalling. On their radio show, comedians Bob and Ray ran a continuing parody on the series called Bummix, in which the hero always held a polite conversation with some suspect, calmly agreed that mayhem was the only answer, and then was invariably beaten to a pulp. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MARCUS WELBY, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. portrayed the cases of a veteran general practitioner in Santa Monica, California, whose thoroughness and dedication involved him in the lives of all sorts of patients. Assisting him was young Dr. Steven Kiley (James Brolin), who during the first season contracted work with Welby for one year before resuming his training as a neurologist (he stayed). Thus the inevitable tension between youth and experience was established, but in this case Welby tended to be the more unorthodox of the two, often confounding the dedicated but textbook-oriented Kiley with his psychiatric approach to medicine. Welby treated the whole patient, his temperament, fears and family environment, as well as his physical ailments. The ailments were certainly varied for a suburban GP: during the first season alone there were tumors, autistic children, strokes, pernicious anemia, blindness, emphysema, LSD side effects, leukemia, diabetes, Huntington's Chorea, faith healing, dope addiction, an overweight racing jockey, and a diver who kept getting the bends. A love interest was provided for Dr. Welby during the first season by Myra Sherwood (Anne Baxter), but this role was soon dropped. The only other suggestion that Welby might have a life of his own came in the last season, when his married daughter Sandy (Ann Schedeen) and six-year-old grandson Phil (Gavin Brendan) were occasionally seen. There was no Mrs. Welby. The only other regulars over the years, in fact, were nurses Consuelo Lopez (Elena Verdugo) and Kathleen Faverty (Sharon Gless). Although romance eluded Dr. Welby it did finally come to young Dr. Kiley, in the person of Janet Blake (Pamela Hensley), public relations director of Hope Memorial Hospital. They were married on the telecast of October 21, 1975. Marcus Welby premiered in 1969 and soon became the biggest hit in the history of the ABC network to that time -- it was the first ABC series ever to rank number one among all TV programs for a full season (1970-71). Part of its success, truth to tell, was in scheduling; for its first two years it ran against a CBS news documentary hour and frequently against documentaries on NBC as well (First Tuesday). The limited appeal of these shows practically forfeited the audience to ABC. But once viewers had gotten used to Welby they stayed, against competition soft and strong. The program also won an Emmy and was held in very high esteem by medical groups, with Young serving offscreen as honorary chairman of numerous national fund drives and observances. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was the creation of producer Norman Lear and had been offered to the major networks, all of which rejected it as too controversial. Lear then sold the series to local stations as a syndicated entry in 1976 and had a much-publicized success with it. The novelty of a satirical soap opera attracted many viewers (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ran after the late local news in many cities). When star Louise Lasser left the show in 1977, it continued for another six months under the title Forever Fernwood with most of the original cast intact. However, Tab Hunter took over the role of Martha Shumway's husband George (with the explanation that Goerge had fallen into a chemical vat and been restored with plastic surgery); and new characters included Eleanor Major (Shelley Fabares), Tom Hartman's new love interest; Harmon Farinella (Richard Hatch), who sought an affair with Loretta Haggers; and Mac Slattery (Dennis Burkley), the truck driver. CBS, the network that had first rejected it, aired selected reruns of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman as part of its late-night lineup for a few months in 1980. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW
Mary worked for WJM-TV News producer Lou Grant (Edward Asner), an irascible, cantankerous, blustery man whose bark was much worse than his bite. Underneath that harsh exterior beat the heart of a pussycat. Lou had problems with his home life as well as his job. During the 1973-74 season he separated from his wife Edie (Priscilla Morrill) and they were later divorced. Though it never developed, there was an underlying feeling that he and Mary might have had a serious relationship, if they could have ever really gotten together. Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod) was the head newswriter at the station. He was happily married, had a positive outlook no matter what happened, and was a good friend to all. Anchorman on the WJM-TV News was Tex Baxter (Ted Knight), not too bright, prone to put his foot in his mouth both on and off the air, and possessor of such a misplaced sense of his own wonderfulness that he was the butt of everyone's jokes. Ted's long courtship of bland, emptyheaded but well-meaning Georgette (Georgia Engel) culminated in a marriage he was not quite ready to commit himself to in November 1975. The following spring he and Georgette adopted eight-year-old David (Robbie Rist), and in the fall of 1976 had a baby of their own. Mary's closest friend was one of her neighbors, Rhoda Morganstern (Valerie Harper), an interior decorator for a local department store who, like Mary, was still single though in her 30s. Unlike Mary, however, Rhoda was desperately looking for a husband. Unable to find one in Minneapolis, she moved back home to New York City, and to her own series, Rhoda, in the fall of 1974. The other neighbor see frequently in Mary's apartment was Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman). Phyllis was the building's resident busybody, and though it took quite a while to find out, also its landlady (her husband Lars, who was talked about but never seen, actually owned the building). Phyllis was oblivious to everyone else's feelings and had an extremely flaky personality. She, too, got her own series when, following Lars' death, she and her daughter Bess (Lisa Gerritsen) moved to San Francisco in the fall of 1975, and Mary moved into a more luxurious apartment high-rise. As some of the regulars left the series, including WJM-TV's weatherman Gordy Howard (John Amos), others took up the slack. Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White) arrived at the station in 1973 with her "Happy Homemaker Show," and Georgette's role was expanded. Sue Ann was in her late 40s and extremely man-hungry. She was constantly trying to get every male in sight into the sack, but primarily Lou Grant. Mary eventually was promoted to associate producer to producer as Lou moved to the job of news director. Mary Tyler Moore, who, with her husband Grant Tinker, produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show, decided that the series would end in 1977, despite its still large audience. In the last episode new management took over the station and, in an effort to bolster its weak news ratings, fired virtually the entire staff. Ironically, the one survivor was anchorman Ted Baxter, probably the primary cause for the news' low ratings. There were tearful farewells and everyone went their separate ways. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MAUDE
Maude lived in Tuckahoe, New York, with her fourth husband, Walter (Bill Macy), owner of Findlay's Friendly Appliances. Living with them was Carol (Adrienne Barbeau), Maude's divorced, 27-year-old daughter, and Carol's nine-year-old son Phillip (Brian Morrison). Even though much of the comedy centered on Maude's determination to represent the independent, even dominant, woman, she herself always had a female servant in the house. In fact, during the course of the series, she ran through three of them. Maude's first maid was Florida (Esther Rolle), a bright, witty black woman who left early in 1974 to star in her own program, Good Times. (Her husband, Henry (John Amos), was renamed James in Good Times, even though the same actor continued in the role.) Florida was succeeded by a cynical, hard-drinking Englishwoman, Mrs. Naugatuck (Hermoine Baddeley). Mrs. Naugatuck was never as popular with viewers as Florida had been, and after marrying Bert Beasley (J. Pat O'Malley) in November 1976 she left the show, ostensibly to return to the British Isles. Her replacement was Victoria Butterfield (Marlene Warfield), who joined the Findlay household in the fall of 1977. The Findlay's next-door neighbor, and Walter's best friend, was Dr. Arthur Harmon (Conrad Bain). When the series began Arthur was a widower, but he subsequently began dating Maude's best friend, Vivian (Rue McClanahan) (who had just been divorced), and in February 1974 they were married. Everyone on this show seemed to be either married or getting married, except for Maude's daughter Carol. She came close with boyfriend Chris (Fred Grandy) in 1974, but that didn't work out and he soon disappeared from the cast. Although this was a comedy show, the subject matter was often on the serious side. During the run, Maude became involved in politics, had a face lift, had an abortion (which drew heavy viewer protest mail) and went through menopause. Walter went through a severe bout with alcoholism, saw his store go bankrupt, and had a nervous breakdown. Maude could be very funny, but in its efforts to be realistic, it could also be controversial and sometimes depressing. Yet for several seasons viewers made it one of the top programs on television. Finally in 1977-78 the audience began to decline, and some major cast changes were planned for the next season. The Harmons and Carol were to move out of town, and Walter was to retire from the appliance business. Maude would begin a career in politics, with a new supporting cast. But early in 1978 Bea Arthur announced that she was leaving the series. The producers candidly admitted that no one else could play the role as she had, and so after six years Maude ended its run. The political career that had been planned for Maude was used as a basis for the ill-fated 1979 series Hanging In, starring Bill Macy and Barbara Rhoades. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MAYBERRY R.F.D.
Like Griffith's Andy, Berry's Sam Jones was a young widower with a small son, Mike (Buddy Foster). Sam was a gentleman farmer who had recently taken up residence near Mayberry. Not long after his arrival he found himself elected to the Mayberry Town Council, a position for which he had no prior experience. That hardly mattered in Mayberry, however, as in his friendly, bumbling way he attempted to perform his new duties and tend to the simple needs of the townsfolk. Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) moved in with him as his housekeeper for two years, then was replaced by Aunt Alice (Alice Ghostley) for the 1970-71 season. Millie Swanson (Arlene Golonka) was Sam's romantic interest. For a couple of years Mayberry R.F.D. was virtually as popular as The Andy Griffith Show had been. The new program was one of the top four shows on television during its first two years (Andy Griffith had reached number one in its final season). It was still in the Top 20 when CBS canceled it in 1971, as part of an extensive cutback in "rural"-oriented programming.
MCCLOUD
McCloud premiered in 1970 as the first of four mini-series aired under the collective title Four-In-One -- the others being San Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery, and The Psychiatrist. The following fall it became, along with Columbo and McMillan and Wife, one of the three original elements in the NBC Mystery Movie rotation. It remained with that series throughout the rest of its run. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MCCMILLAN AND WIFE
McMillan and Wife was one of the three original rotating elements in the NBC Mystery Movie -- the other two were McCloud and Columbo -- and remained with the series throughout its long run. When Nancy Walker and Susan Saint James left the series at the end of the 1975-1976 season, the former to star in her own series on ABC and the latter in a contract dispute, the title was shortened to McMillan and cast changes were made. Sally was written off the series by having her die in a plane crash, and Mac, now a widower, had a new maid/housekeeper named Agatha (Martha Raye), who happened to be Mildred's sister. Mac also acquired a second assistant in Sgt. Steve DiMaggio (Richard Gilliland) (the dimwitted Enright had been promoted to lieutenant) and a new secretary named Maggie (Gloria Strook). Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MEDICAL CENTER
The personal and medical stories of the doctors and their patients, as well as others with whom they came into contact, provided the drama in this series. Gannon and Lochner embodied the youth vs. experience tension which seems to be a necessary element of every medical show. The elements certainly worked here, as Medical Center, with its seven-year run, was the longest-running medical series in the history of prime-time television. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE MEN FROM SHILOH
THE MOD SQUAD
A contentious trio, always questioning their own motives and their differing cultural backgrounds, the Mod Squad nevertheless proved an effective undercover task force against adult crime. For the first season they rattled around in a battered old 1950 station wagon named "Woody," but this was killed off early in the second season (driven over a cliff). Strangely enough, The Mod Squad was based on the true experiences of creator Bud Ruskin, a former police officer and later private detective. While a member of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in the 1950s he was a member of an undercover narcotics squad composed of young officers, which served as the inspiration for The Mod Squad. He first wrote the pilot script for the series in 1960, but it took eight more years before it reached the air in this highly successful ABC program. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MORK & MINDY
Mork was a misfit on his own planet because of his sense of humor (he was heard to call the Orkan leader, Orson (the voice of Ralph James), "cosmic breath"). So the humorless Orkans sent him off to study Earthlings, whose "crazy" customs they had never been able to understand. Mork landed, in a giant eggshell, near Boulder, Colorado. There he was befriended by pretty Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber), a clerk at the music store run by her father, Frederick (Conrad Janis). Mork looked human, but his strange mixture of Orkan and Earthling customs -- such as wearing a suit, but putting it on backwards, or sitting in a chair, but upside down -- led most people to think of him as just some kind of nut. Mindy knew where he came from, and helped him adjust to Earth's strange ways. She also let him stay in the attic of her apartment house, which scandalized her conservative father, but not her swinging grandmother, Cora (Elizabeth Kerr). After a season of simple slapstick and big ratings, both the producers and the network unfortunately got a little cocky and violated one of television's cardinal rules: "Don't tamper with a hit." In the process of doing so, they almost destroyed the program. The producers decided to shift to more "meaningful" stories, opening the second season with a strange, surrealistic episode in which Mork shrunk away to nothing and dropped into a never-never world filled with caricatures of good and evil. At the same time practically the whole supporting cast was changed. Simultaneously ABC decided to move the series from its established Thursday time slot to Sunday, to prop up their sagging schedule that night. Understandably confused, viewers deserted the show in droves and it lost nearly half its audience. By December 1979 ABC and the producers were scrambling to undo their mistakes. Mork went back to Thursday, and stories got less complicated. Mindy's father, who had been dumped (along with the grandmother), returned for a third season. He was supposed to have sold the music store and gone on tour as an orchestra conductor, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Now he, but not Cora, was back full-time. Other changes in the second and third seasons included the addition of brother and sister Remo (Jay Thomas) and Jean (Gina Hecht) DaVinci, recently arrived from the Bronx. Remo ran the New York Deli and was helping put Jean through medical school. Nelson (Jim Staahl) was Mindy's cousin, an uptight young social climber with grandiose political ambitions; Mr. Bickley (Tom Poston) was the grouchy downstairs neighbor (he had been on before, but his role was enlarged); and Mork's friend Exidor (Robert Donner) was a crazed prophet and leader of an invisible cult, the Friends of Venus. Mindy, a journalism student, got a job at a local TV station, where her boss was Mr. Sternhagen (Foster Brooks). All of this brought back some of the lost viewers, but Mork & Mindy never recaptured the enormous following it had during its first season. The fall of 1981 brought the most surprising developments of all. Mork and Mindy were married, and honeymooned on Ork -- which proved to be full of bizarre creatures. Shortly thereafter Mork gave birth, by ejecting a small egg from his navel. The egg grew and grew and finally cracked open to reveal a full-grown Jonathan Winters! Mearth, as they called their first child, weighed 225 pounds and looked middle-aged, but babbled like a baby, calling Mork "Mommy" and Mindy "Shoe." Since things work backwards on Ork, he would gradually grow younger (instead of older) and never want for affection in his waning years. Despite some hilarious scenes between Robin Williams and his idol Jonathan Winters, the series was by this time losing audience rapidly and left the air at the end of the season. It had succeeded primarily because of the versatile talents of Williams, who mugged, mimicked, and delivered torrents of one-liners and Orkan gibberish. At the end of each episode he reported back to his leader Orson, on Ork, twisting his ears and signing off, "Na nu, na nu" -- goodbye in Orkan. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
MY THREE SONS
The "family" in this case was all-male. Steve Douglas (MacMurray), a consulting aviation engineer, lived in a medium-sized Midwestern city (until 1967, when his job took him to North Hollywood) with his children. A widower, he seemed to spend more time raising his three sons than he did at his job, what with the usual growing pains of boys just beginning to date, going on camping trips, and the other "adventures" of middle-class suburbia. Steve also spent a good deal of time fending off attractive women, who wanted to marry him and take over that lovable, readymade family. Steve's father-in-law was "Bub" O'Casey (William Frawley), a lovable old coot who lived with them and served as a kind of housekeeper to the clan. When he left after five seasons to take a trip to Iceland (William Frawley had passed away during production), he was replaced by his brother, Uncle Charley (William Demarest), a retired sailor whose crusty disposition masked a soft heart. Others joining the cast in the early years were Sally (Meredith MacRae) as Mike's fianceé, and Ernie (Barry Livingston), the boy next door and Chip's (Stanley Livingston) pal (and real-life brother). When Tim Considine had grown out of the role as oldest son and wanted out of the series in 1965, Steve subsequently adopted the orphaned Ernie to reestablish the "three sons." Tramp was the family dog. In the fall of 1967, Robbie fell in love with Katie Miller (Tina Cole), one of his fellow students at college, and their romance blossomed into marriage before the end of the season. In the fall of 1968, the newlyweds discovered that Katie was pregnant and during that season she gave birth to triplets, Steve, Jr. (Joseph Todd), Charley (Michael Todd), and Robbie II (Daniel Todd) -- three sons, of course. 1969 finally brought new love to father Steve in the person of widow Barbara Harper (Beverly Garland), one of Ernie's teachers. They were married during the season and Barbara's young daughter Dodie (Dawn Lyn) joined the family. Even Chip (who was by now 17) got into the act, eloping with his college girl friend Polly Williams (Ronnie Troup) in the fall of 1970. From December 1971 until a few weeks after it ended its prime-time run in August 1972, CBS ran repeat episodes in its daytime lineup. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
- excerpted from The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows - Fifth Edition by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
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