Is Season 1 The Weakest?

[Jack1000]

Guys,

I don't want to say worst, because that carries too negative a message. I LOVE season's 5 and 6 the best because they showed Beaver with more complex, or at least, realistic situations. Beaver's character was richer and more developed than earlier seasons. The sincerity and maturity of Beaver was stronger. He was able to act and interact more with the characters. With regards to Season 1. Beaver's character was more reactionary and simple because he was a "cute kid." But, other than "Gee Wally" or "I wanna be like you Wally" there wasn't as much interactive storylines. It was more like "Watching Beaver do something silly or goofey and we react to it because he is a cute kid. " But, when we get into the later seasons, you see more of an involved charactor for Beaver. Jerry's emotions and reactions were more realistic because he was facing REAL problems associated with being a teenager. I REALLY LIKED HIM DURING THOSE LATER SEASONS. In fact, it would have been great to know him during those seasons in particular because so many of the issues that Beaver delt with on the show as a teen, were things that I could have related to in my own life as a teen. Jerry portrayed that awkward teen brilliantly!

I believe that the biggest problem with a select few epiosdes of LITB, was trying to make Jerry adjust to situations at 14-15 that would have been better suited for a 7 to 8 year old. This is why episodes such as "Beaver the Bunny" directed by the lesser known Anton Leader, just didn't work. Yet, Hugh Beaumont directed "Beaver's Electric Trains", which suffers from the same awkwardness as "Beaver the Bunny". As Hugh directed some of the best episodes of this classic series, perhaps the faults of some weaker episodes lies with the writers. It would have been interesting at the time of filming the "trains" or "Bunny" episodes if Hugh or Jerry had said something like, "Isn't Beaver a little too old for a situation like this?" Is this type of conversation reflected in any of the Beaver books?

I don't hate Season 1. LOL! There are a few good episodes within it, and I will most likely buy the Season 1 DVD when the price comes down. While I think the Haircut episode is over-rated, I LOVE the Lumpy Rutherford episode and several others. I think that the series starts to get going from Season 3 onward, because that is when Larry Mondello really gets into the picture and we have some all-time classic episodes that he is in! But for the best and greatest characters, chemestry, and realisim for Beaver, I like Seasons 5 and 6 the best!

Jack

[JudgeGarth]

Personally, I agree that Season 1 was the weakest. I think the series got better each year, but I would attribute that more to the natural progression of most tv series. It usually takes some time for the characters and the writing to hit their stride and settle in.

[Mrs. Ducky]

I agree totally! I get watching some episode when Beaver was really little. It was always "Gee, Wally, can I come along?" If I were Wally I would have told him to go hang out with his own friends. In the later seasons Beaver was more independent and in my opinion the series was funnier.

[1954Boomer]

I, too, always enjoyed the last two seasons much more than the first season. While Beaver was cute and all, I just didn't care for the episodes themselves as much. I didn't like seasons five and six so much for the Beaver---who got really glomly looking and acting---but for Wally, Eddie and Lumpy. I think Eddie really sharpened up his "wise guy" image in the later episodes, too.

However, I did like the relationship between Ward and June in the early episodes better than in the later seasons. As others have mentioned here, they seemed more playful toward each other, and their lines were more witty.

[Tundra Wolf]

I agree with you guys yeah season 1 is the weakest. However another thing I like the later episodes better (with the jazzed up opening) because I grew up with those ones.

[tdr]

I'm not sure if "weakest" is how I would describe season #1, but I have always thought that it did take the entire first season to really start to 'gel' in how the characters related. In fact, it's no coincidence (IMO) that it is in the last few eps of season #1 that Larry Mondello really comes in as Beaver's fat foil buddy. I agree this gets better into seasons #2 and especially #3, but it really begins near the end of season #1.

I really can't agree with putting "Beaver's Electric Trains" in the same category as "Beaver the Bunny." In the former, it is precisely because Beaver is getting older that makes a significant plot element, as he gets out his trains only to find that his long-neglected toy is still 'fun" as long as no one knows he is playing with it. In "Beaver the Bunny" Beaver and his classmates are just 'put back' 3 or 4 years to the kind of show 1st or 2nd graders might do, and that point is never raised as an issue.

I really think season #1 had some of the best situations, but many of these might have been better episodes if they were 2nd, 3rd, or 4th season eps, when the character have established their relationships better.

[WardOleMan]

I for one liked the first season better than the last. Though Wally and his friends charactors were very well developed by then, I felt Beaver acting had become horrible. I think the cuteness of Beaver and his interaction with Wally was enough for me to rate season one abover the last year.