The Season One cast of My Three Sons
However, by 1960 MacMurray wanted an easier work schedule. MacMurray owned 50% of the series and his contract stipulated that he work only 65 days per year. His scenes for each season were produced in two blocks of filming. He would report to the Desilu-Gower lot in late May and work thirty-five days (five days per week, weekends off), then take off for 10 weeks. He would then return to complete his remaining 30 days of shooting and was finished altogether around Thanksgiving. MacMurray’s ten-week hiatus in the middle of each season’s production schedule freed up the actor to follow other interests, while the filming of scenes with the other cast members continued. In short, all episodes were filmed out of sequence.
The first episode of My Three Sons aired September 29th1960 on ABC. Fred MacMurray played Steve Douglas, a widowed aeronautical engineer trying to raise his three sons; Mike 18 (Tim Considine) Robbie 14 (Don Grady) and Chip 8 (Stanley Livingston). For the past six years, Steve has taken on the responsibilities of the household with the help of his father-in-law, Bub O’Casey (William Frawley), who acts as a cook and confidant for everyone in the family.
The first season of My Three Sons was both directed and produced by Father Knows Best veteran Peter Tewksbury. While My Three Sons can never be considered a drama, the series’ first season is by far its bleakest. Episodes take on the issue of how a family movies on in the face of maternal loss. While these aren’t considered significant issues in the 2008 television landscape, the concept of a widowed parent was fairly unique in 1960.
Among the reasons My Three Sons remains a fan favorite is that fact that the series shows how different suburban lives were in the sixties. Somehow, with three boys in the house, nobody got into any real trouble! Even though a lot of things have changed, some things still stay the same. In this fast paced, ever-changing world we live in. sometimes it’s nice to go back fifty years and visit what seems like a simpler time. As a bonus, My Three Sons has plenty of off-set footage, too, so you can see neighborhoods, PTO meetings and schools, even freeways during that era.
As is the case with many Paramount/CBS DVD sets, eighteen of the first season’s 36 episodes are included here.
1) “Chip off the Old Block.” The opener introduces the family and, like the best episodes, found a topic that allowed all the family members to weigh in or interact in some way. In this one, Chip and Steve share a common problem: the attentions of a female that they’re not exactly crazy about.
2) “The Little Ragpicker.” In one of the weaker episodes, a spinster neighbor thinks the kids’ grandpa is an alcoholic and the family destitute when young Chip takes his wagon from door-to-door collecting rags. It’s for the school rag drive, but the neighbors don’t know that.
3) “Bub in the Ointment” finds Bub at the center of things. When he steps on the toes of each grandson in turn, Steve is about to rebuke him when the household returns to normal once again. Being chief cook, dishwasher and housekeeper to three boys is not fun for a grandfather as Bub soon finds out.
4) “Countdown” chronicles the Douglas family’s attempts to wake up, prepare for the day, have breakfast and get out of the house by a common, agreed-upon time, all carefully synchronized to a televised rocket launch countdown. While the premise itself may sound a bit boring, Peter Tewksbury’s concept was rather innovative for its time.
5) “Brotherly Love” has Mike and Robbie nearly coming to blows over a girl. While dad is trying to teach the boys a peaceful way to solve their argument, Bub, the former boxer, has other ideas.
6) “Adjust or Bust.” Steve meets with a top general to discuss one of his designs, and has to borrow Mike’s car to get there. Naturally, it breaks down and he has to take the bus.
7) “Lady Engineer.” Steve falls for a business associate who has no plans to reciprocate.
8) “Chip’s Harvest.” This one’s been done hundreds of times on family sitcoms and dramas: Chip brings home a destitute “friend” for dinner.
9) “Raft on the River.” Feeling left out when Mike and Robbie decide to go camping at Gunman’s Gulch, a lonely Chip uses a raft his brothers helped make in the backyard, on which he and Steve spend a night, pretending to float down the Mississippi. They are accidentally locked out when it begins to rain. Steve begins to worry when he wakes up from a nap and thinks it is way past 4am in the morning and thinks that Bub has not yet returned from his pinochle game. One of the best episodes on this set.
10) “Lonesome George.” Bub invites comedian George Gobel to dinner and he ends up in Steve’s bed.
11) “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year.” Girl troubles for Robbie are the focus here, in an interesting episode about male-female relationships in a less complicated time.
12) “My Three Strikers.” The boys go on strike, demanding more allowance.
13) “The Elopement.” Mike and the girl next door arouse the suspicions of Steve and Bub when secrets are exchanged and the two are seen leaving with suitcases.
14) “Mike’s Brother.” Constant comparison to his brother, Mike, leaves Robbie feeling inferior and angry.
15) “Domestic Trouble.” When Bub is suddenly called out of town, Steve seeks an agency to get temporary help–unaware that he may be recruiting a wife. With his older brothers passing the buck, Chip accidentally rings Domestic Bliss, Inc. – a marriage seeking department who send out a woman inspector right away.
16) “Bub Leaves Home.” This time Bub feels like the odd-man-out and decides to return to managing a movie theater.
17) “Mike in a Rush.” Mike tries to decide whether to pledge a fraternity.
18) “The Bully” finds Chip having to deal with a schoolyard bully.
Digitally remastered, My Three Sons -The First Season, Volume One looks surprisingly good for a program almost fifty years old. The picture is very good and the graininess is minimal. There are no flickers of dirt or imperfections that distract from the viewing process. The show is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. With a Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono soundtrack that, as with the video, is mostly clear and free of imperfections.
There are no extras included.
