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My Three Sons

 My Three Sons
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TVTItem
 My Three Sons
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My Three Sons
 My Three Sons
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MyThreeSons
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Dom Com starring Fred MacMurray as Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half of The Brady Bunch. Also in the cast were William Frawley and later William Demarest. The show aired on ABC (1960–65) and then CBS (1965–72), for a total of 378 episodes over 12 seasons.
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DBTropes
 My Three Sons / int_12982918
type
Same-Sex Triplets
 My Three Sons / int_12982918
comment
Same-Sex Triplets: Robbie and Katie's three sons, Stevie, Charley, and Robbie Jr.
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Men Can't Keep House
 My Three Sons / int_171b1206
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Men Can't Keep House: Double Subverted. The men had been perfectly able to manage an all-male household before Katie joined them. But when she goes away on a visit to relatives, they've forgotten all of their housekeeping skills.
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Title Drop
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comment
Title Drop: After the birth of Robbie and Katie's male triplets.
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Cousin Oliver
 My Three Sons / int_20314beb
comment
Cousin Oliver: Ernie (the Douglas' adopted son, joining the household in 1965), and later, Dodie (played by Dawn Lyn), as Steve's stepdaughter after he re-marries in 1969. In the case of the addition of Dodie, the former Jump the Shark website entry for My Three Sons had some very negative remarks about the character, eventually prompting Lyn to post her own entry sharing her positive experiences on the show and working with MacMurray, Garland, Demarest and the rest of the cast.
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 My Three Sons / int_234fa9ba
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May–December Romance
 My Three Sons / int_234fa9ba
comment
May–December Romance: Somewhat, as a 50s-something Steve begins a romance with a widowed 40-year-old woman (Barbara, played by Beverly Garland) and eventually marries her. This was also joked about in "Big Ol' Katie".
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 My Three Sons / int_240fd641
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Long-Runner Cast Turnover
 My Three Sons / int_240fd641
comment
Long-Runner Cast Turnover: The only two actors in the main cast who remained on the show all 12 seasons were Fred MacMurray and Stanley Livingston (Chip).
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Companion Cube
 My Three Sons / int_2482df9c
comment
Companion Cube: Dodie's puppet doll, Myrtle,note most likely following the lead of Family Affair with Buffy and her doll although it was used less as the series went on and Dodie aged.
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My Three Sons / int_2482df9c
 My Three Sons / int_2809a15a
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Old-School Chivalry
 My Three Sons / int_2809a15a
comment
Old-School Chivalry. Moments of this occur throughout the series, like when Bub tells Robbie to tuck his shirt in after a lady enters their house in Chip Off the Old Block, or when Mike offers to drive a girl home rather than let her walk in Brotherly Love. Discussed in "The Chaperone". Robbie complains that Bub ruined a party he (Robbie) was attending by insisting that the teenage party-goers behave this way.
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 My Three Sons / int_28ea0e57
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Cock Fight
 My Three Sons / int_28ea0e57
comment
Cock Fight: One-sided on Robbie's part in the episode Brotherly Love, when he thinks Mike is trying to steal a girl he has a crush on.
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My Three Sons / int_28ea0e57
 My Three Sons / int_3498cb66
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Love-Obstructing Parents
 My Three Sons / int_3498cb66
comment
Love-Obstructing Parents: Steve mentions in The Elopement that his father-in-law, Bub, fought him every step of the way when he wanted to marry his first wife. The show's premise and their interactions throughout the series suggest they got over it.
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My Three Sons / int_3498cb66
 My Three Sons / int_35e077
type
Fourth-Date Marriage
 My Three Sons / int_35e077
comment
Fourth-Date Marriage: Steve and Barbara meet in the first episode of season 10, get engaged three episodes later, and are married four episodes after that. More or less the standard on this show, with the only exception being Mike and Sally, who are engaged for over a season and half.(They did, however, get engaged five episodes after her introduction.)
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My Three Sons / int_35e077
 My Three Sons / int_3c0bf189
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Adults Dressed as Children
 My Three Sons / int_3c0bf189
comment
Adults Dressed as Children: During Barbara's dream sequence in "Fit the Crime," her and Steve sport outfits that would be more suited to the turn of the century than 1971, making this a Type B. (Ernie and Dodie, meanwhile, are dressed as adults.)
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 My Three Sons / int_43273c71
type
LongRunner
 My Three Sons / int_43273c71
comment
Long Runner: Ran for 12 seasons (five on ABC, seven on CBS). Had it not been for faltering ratings during the final season, the possibility existed for renewal for the 1972-1973 season.
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My Three Sons / int_43273c71
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Sensitive Guy and Manly Man
 My Three Sons / int_43dc74d0
comment
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Bub and Steve play with this dynamic, especially in the episode "Brotherly Love." The former thinks his grandsons should solve their problems with fisticuffs, while the latter thinks they should resolve it with diplomacy. However, Bub is the homemaker and Steve is the breadwinner.
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Early-Installment Weirdness
 My Three Sons / int_4f4372e9
comment
Early-Installment Weirdness: Most of the 'Bub and Mike' episodes, particularly the first season, are decidedly more manic and slapstick than the more phlegmatic episodes that come later in the run. Steve in particular is more like a mild Bumbling Dad than the wise sage that he would later become.
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Spinning Paper
 My Three Sons / int_51923571
comment
Spinning Paper: The opening of "Heat Wave".
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Not What It Looks Like
 My Three Sons / int_52d1f46e
comment
Not What It Looks Like: The entire plot of The Little Ragpicker. Miss Pitts, a neighbor, thinks the Douglas men are criminally dangerous because of a few out-of-context moments.
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 My Three Sons / int_66dfe36a
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Missing Mom
 My Three Sons / int_66dfe36a
comment
Missing Mom: Steve's first wife had died at some point before the series began, leaving him a widower with three sons. At some later point, Steve hires his father-in-law (his first wife's father), William "Bub" O'Casey (William Frawley), to help manage the household. The first wife's uncle, Charles ("Uncle Charlie") O'Casey, Bub's brother, takes over in 1965.
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 My Three Sons / int_6a52d957
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One-Line Anxiety
 My Three Sons / int_6a52d957
comment
One-Line Anxiety: In "Robbie Valentino", an educational film is being shot in Robbie's chemistry class, and he is given one line he can't stop worrying over: "Please pass the Bunsen burner."
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 My Three Sons / int_6b1013ef
type
Paranormal Episode
 My Three Sons / int_6b1013ef
comment
Paranormal Episode: In the episode "Coincidence." After wishing that he'd had three girls instead of boys, Steve gives a ride to a mysterious hitchhiker visible only to himself. In a unknown neighborhood on the other side of town, Steve's car breaks down and he seeks help at a house with a widow, her mother-in-law and her three daughters - the distaff counterparts of his family, down to being the same age with similar names.
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Endangered Soufflé
 My Three Sons / int_6bfebfe2
comment
Endangered Soufflé: In "Happy Birthday, World," son Robbie tries to earn extra money by setting up a home business making birthday cakes. At one point, while he's making a set of cakes, a door is slammed in the house and causes the three cakes in the oven to collapse.
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 My Three Sons / int_6e429ce0
type
Standard '50s Father
 My Three Sons / int_6e429ce0
comment
Standard '50s Father: Steve Douglas is an exemplar. He smokes a pipe, works an office job, wears suits and cotton pajamas, loves his sons wholeheartedly and tries to raise them right.
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 My Three Sons / int_754df088
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Put on a Bus
 My Three Sons / int_754df088
comment
Put on a Bus: At least three instances: Bub O'Casey, who left in early 1965 after Frawley's health began to fail. Bub was said to be on a tour of Europe, and when Frawley died in 1966, no mention was made of Bub's passing. (His replacement was Uncle Charley, played by William Demarest.) Mike Douglas, played by Tim Considine, who left after the first color episode of the 1965-1966 season when he grew tired of the role. He was married to his girlfriend, Sally (played by Meredith MacRae), and the two moved out east... never to return. The resultant void was filled by Ernie (Chip's orphaned friend, played by Stanley Livingston's real-life brother, Barry). Robbie Douglas, the (initially) middle son played by Don Grady, who left the show in 1971. Robbie, who followed his father into engineering, was sent to an extended construction project in Peru.
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 My Three Sons / int_7b7f1657
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Canine Companion
 My Three Sons / int_7b7f1657
comment
Canine Companion: Chip and his dog, Tramp, are often paired together in plotlines or individual scenes.
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 My Three Sons / int_8f00b02a
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Always Identical Twins
 My Three Sons / int_8f00b02a
comment
Always Identical Twins: Robbie and Katie's triplet sons, Stevie, Charley, and Robbie Jr, are identical.
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 My Three Sons / int_9ed90b36
type
Elopement
 My Three Sons / int_9ed90b36
comment
Elopement: Chip and Polly in season 11. Also seems to be a Fourth-Date Marriage, as they get married seven episodes after her introduction.
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 My Three Sons / int_a7850fbf
type
Only Known by Their Nickname
 My Three Sons / int_a7850fbf
comment
Only Known by Their Nickname: Almost every major character: "Steve" for Steven Douglas "Bub" note or, less commonly, "Bill" for William O'Casey "Mike" for Michael Douglas "Robbie" for Robert Douglas "Chip" for Richard Douglas Chip's original best friend Hubert "Sudsy" Pfeiffer. Later "Ernie", for Ernest Douglas. Charlie, for Charles O'Casey "Katie" for Katherine Douglas, Robbie's wife. "Dodie" for Dorothy Douglas, Steve's stepdaughter. The exception is Barbara (Steve's second wife) who is only occasionally called "Barb", usually by Robbie or Katie.
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 My Three Sons / int_ae3d6438
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Deadpan Snarker
 My Three Sons / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: All of the casts. Even the mild-mannered Steve has his moments.
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 My Three Sons / int_b30c44b7
type
The All-American Boy
 My Three Sons / int_b30c44b7
comment
The All-American Boy: Chip is blonde, plays baseball (National Pastime), substitutes a raft for a treehouse (Raft on the River), and even wished for a younger sister (The Lostling). His brothers have elements of it as well. Robbie tinkers with machinery in the garage and Mike has a fondness for letterman jackets.
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 My Three Sons / int_b321fcad
type
It's a Costume Party, I Swear!
 My Three Sons / int_b321fcad
comment
It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: Robbie falls victim to one of these pranks (as does Bub) in "The Chaperone". Luckily, his Girl of the Week love interest (who was hosting) realized how mean-spirited the prank was and also came in costume.
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My Three Sons / int_b321fcad
 My Three Sons / int_bee8baee
type
Faint in Shock
 My Three Sons / int_bee8baee
comment
Faint in Shock: Miss Pitts faints when she sees what appears to be Chip beating his grandfather's dead body. It Makes Sense in Context.
 My Three Sons / int_bee8baee
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My Three Sons / int_bee8baee
 My Three Sons / int_c33ba0a8
type
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
 My Three Sons / int_c33ba0a8
comment
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Possibly the originator of this trope, except in name. As mentioned below, Bub was no longer referred to sometime after William Frawley left; sometimes, even flashbacks showed only Uncle Charlie. Once after Mike left, it was discussed having the two younger boys move in with him, and then he was mentioned no more, neither was Ernie's being adopted. One imagines the re-marriage and Dodie would have eventually been so retconned, making Beverly Garland's character a very tired woman. Knowing of this policy, Katie's actress wondered what would happen to her if the show continued without Robbie. It only lasted one season past this, though.
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 My Three Sons / int_d3beb0de
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Precocious Crush
 My Three Sons / int_d3beb0de
comment
Precocious Crush: Dodie and several of her classmates all develop one on their new teacher, Mr. Turley, in "The Love God". It ends after Mr. Turley has dinner with the Douglases, brings his fiancee along, kisses her "right at the table", and "slobs his custard" while eating dessert.
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 My Three Sons / int_d59baaa7
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JumpTheShark
 My Three Sons / int_d59baaa7
comment
In the case of the addition of Dodie, the former Jump the Shark website entry for My Three Sons had some very negative remarks about the character, eventually prompting Lyn to post her own entry sharing her positive experiences on the show and working with MacMurray, Garland, Demarest and the rest of the cast.
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 My Three Sons / int_d87ed408
type
Short Teens, Tall Adults
 My Three Sons / int_d87ed408
comment
Short Teens, Tall Adults: Mike, Robbie and eventually Chip and Ernie, are considerably shorter than their father through their teens and (with Mike and Robbie) even into their twenties. Could be explained by their taking after their mother's family; Mike, Robbie and Chip are about the height of Grandpa Bub.
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 My Three Sons / int_df2b3ec
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Kindly Housekeeper
 My Three Sons / int_df2b3ec
comment
Kindly Housekeeper: Leona, a one-shot character.
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 My Three Sons / int_e2f5760
type
House Husband
 My Three Sons / int_e2f5760
comment
House Husband: Or rather "House Grandpa" for Bub, and later "House Uncle" for Uncle Charlie.
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 My Three Sons / int_e563bf09
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Insistent Terminology
 My Three Sons / int_e563bf09
comment
Insistent Terminology: Myrtle is a puppet, not a doll, as Dodie will tell anyone who refers to her as such.
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 My Three Sons / int_f7916eb9
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Afraid to Hold the Baby
 My Three Sons / int_f7916eb9
comment
Afraid to Hold the Baby: Discussed in "Marriage By Proxy". Steve tells Mike that he was too afraid to hold him for about a week after he was born, not wanting to infect Mike with his "adult germs."
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 My Three Sons / int_fd7f0823
type
Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe
 My Three Sons / int_fd7f0823
comment
Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Also Smoking Is Cool. Steve smokes a pipe, and in several later episodes, Robbie also takes up pipe smoking. In addition, at least one episode showed Katie taking a job as a cigarette vendor at a nightclub (although Katie never smokes in any episode).
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My Three Sons

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

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My Three Sons
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