Do you think Ritchie Petrie is a cute kid or an annoying little brat. I usually like him, but on the episode where Rob brings home the baby ducks, Ritchie is very whiney.

Originally posted by hawaii five-o
Do you think Ritchie Petrie is a cute kid or an annoying little brat. I usually like him, but on the episode where Rob brings home the baby ducks, Ritchie is very whiney.

He is like every other normal kid: cute AND annoying! :lol:


Lolac (mother of 3)

:happyface

H5-0,
I suspect many people would agree with you. If you play episode #124, "Baby Fat," with Garry Marshall's comentary on, you'll hear him say that Richie was the character that no writer wanted to write to. That probably explains his somewhat lack of developement. In fact, had Marshall and Belson not written to him regularly, he would be even more obscure.

Steve

I go with cute.

One of my favorite lines was when Rob asks Richie if a little girl likes him (forgot her name) richie replies:

"No,"
Pause
"She loves me,"
Pause
"She wants to marry me"

I think it is soo cute. :)

Krs

In defense of Richie, he was really quite an innovative "kid" character. Most of the children on 1950's and 60's TV sitcoms were cute-as-a-button, "perfect" children....however, Richie seemed more like a real-life kid. He tended to be on the chubby side (not really FAT, but it was obvious that he COULD be if Laura hadn't doled out the goodies in small doses), and he wasn't perfectly behaved. He didn't run out to greet his father like the "perfect" kids of "Father Knows Best" did....Greedy little Richie would run into the living room and ask Rob, "What'd ya bring me, Daddy?".

Sure, Richie may have been annoying at times...but THAT'S what made him such a realistic, true-to-life character instead of just a prim and proper, well-behaved "perfect" sitcom child!

It was pretty funny when Ritchie would ask Rob what he brought him, because it was usually a rubber band or a paper clip and Ritchie was always satisfied because it was from his dad.

Originally posted by hawaii five-o
It was pretty funny when Ritchie would ask Rob what he brought him, because it was usually a rubber band or a paper clip and Ritchie was always satisfied because it was from his dad.

That WAS funny! Rob would him a paper clip and the kid would take it and go to his room admiring the gift, like it was a real toy! :lol:

I think he was cute. All kids have their annoying moments though. I also thought it was cute the way he would ask Rob for something as soon as he got home. My favorite was the Crumby Buttons...Yechhh! ;)

Originally posted by Carrie
I think he was cute. All kids have their annoying moments though. I also thought it was cute the way he would ask Rob for something as soon as he got home. My favorite was the Crumby Buttons...Yechhh! ;)

One of my favorite Ritchie lines: "How come I got a sissy name like Rosebud!"

:lol: Lolac

I defintely go with "cute" too. I've always really liked Ritchie and, like mentioned above, have always felt he seemed much more like a real kid than most other sitcoms kids.

It's a proven fact that most 60's sitcoms were required to have at least one annoying child. IMHO, the Richie character was about as likeable as Donald Rumsfeld.

I always considered it peculiar how Richie seemed to spend a lot of his time in the kitchen cabinet during the first season or two. It didn't take them very long to eliminate that bit of strange behavior though did it?

I always thought it was cute when he'd hide in the kitchen cabinet. Didn't he usually do it when he thought he was in trouble or something? I guess I never realized how many people really don't like Ritchie! There's almost as much Ritchie bashing as there is for Carrie on Little House On The Prairie on some boards I've visited for that show. Personally, my favorite tv show kid is Tabitha from Bewitched, although I do really like "the beav" on Leave It To Beaver and Opie from The Andy Griffith Show!

I agree with the first comment. He was very whiny and more annoying than usual in the duck episode which is why I'm here...too see if anybody else thought that he was an annoying character as well. In that episode he really aggravated and irritated me a lot. On other episodes, I can usually look past him being a bratty, loud and obnoxious (among other thing) little boy because I love the show overall so much. I do try to keep in mind that he IS a little boy though.

Do you think Ritchie Petrie is a cute kid or an annoying little brat. I usually like him, but on the episode where Rob brings home the baby ducks, Ritchie is very whiney.
Ritchie is both, IMO, and that's not a bad thing. When they were casting the part the producers wanted someone with zero acting experience, just a real-life kid. The writers then wrote the character accordingly, striving for realism, and most kids in real life alternate between cute and annoying because that's how kids are.

Annoying with a capital A.

I thought he was a funny character the majority of the time. There were a few times though that his voice became whiney and got under my skin.

Sadly, MTM admitted that she spent MORE time with the performer playing her character's son named Ritchie than she did with her own son Richie! At least Mr. Matthews got to have warm memories about working with her. :crying:

He was a bit of both but IMO more cute.

Richie had one of the funniest lines of the series. He was terrified of Buddy Sorrell's german shepherd that was brought over to his house to stay. So they took the dog out and put it in the car out in the driveway and later Richie looks through the window and screams, "There's a wolf driving our car!"

Yeah, that whiny stuff got old real fast.

One of his best moments was the drummer boy on the Christmas episode.

As he grew up he became less annoying...less whining, I guess.

He was a bit of both but IMO more cute.

This. He's both. And I give a little slack to the older shows where kids are concerned.

Here's a pic of Larry Mathews aka "Ritchie Petrie" as he looks today.

Great line about the wolf--I agree. Richie's whining and overall dimness were annoying for a kid who supposedly came from such quick and clever parents. The child actor did have some occasional well-delivered moments--for example, when Laura is going ballistic in "The Night the Roof Fell In" and he throws up his hands in boredom and exasperation.

To be fair, the kid in the pilot episode was even more off-putting and weird.

I loved the show but couldn't stand Richie he was like fingernails on the chalk board.

I loved the show but couldn't stand Richie he was like fingernails on the chalk board.

I have to agree with this assessment. Laura and Rob having a child along with Millie and Jerry and their children gave the show a more realistic feel, but Richie was more of a prop than anything else. He seemed to exist in most cases as a conduit to tell a story rather than a fully realized character.

Love TDVDS, but that kid has always annoyed me. It's his screechy voice.