Scrabjan1
01-22-2019, 01:12 PM
I feel the 4th season of Beaver wasn’t one of the best. The writing was rather mediocre and the plots left much to be desired. The one with Jackie Waters and Beaver’s Tonsils were almost like the writers were on vacation. I did like Beaver’s Poster. The Jackie Waters episode wasn’t believable to me. Two boys would find something in common like sports, TV shows and hobbies. Kids can always find things to do. Play monopoly or Parcheesi. Get some comic books and talk about the movies you’ve seen. I’m sure going to Vampire Valley would be fun too. They initially liked each other so play games in your age group.
stevea
01-22-2019, 04:28 PM
If Beaver was short on comic books, he could always go see Lumpy (but call him Clarence).
I agree, and the writing in this season showed up several of the inconsistencies. Like the reference to Gilbert as Mr. Harrison first showed up in this season. I was also going to mention the reference to Mrs. Bronson as a sitter, but that may be season 5.
I don't consider any Beaver episode unwatchable, but Jackie Waters, Chuckie's Shoes, and the tonsils episode come close. (In that tonsils episode--IMO I don't care how much you build up the positives of getting an operation, no kid is gonna run upstairs crying if the doctor says, hey, you don't have to have them taken out. And what with these house calls? In the 60s doctors didn't make house calls! Gee, they even had a house-calling veterinarian for Stanley!)
MichaelMartinD
01-22-2019, 05:44 PM
I think Season Four was a cut above Season 5 (probably the weakest season overall). Season 4 had Beaver's House Guest and In the Soup, both classic episodes.
stevea
01-22-2019, 07:01 PM
You have a point--these 2 seasons are about a wash, but the classic episodes push season 4 ahead. I'd add Beaver Won't Eat as a classic episode. I think mostly everyone knows the Brussels Sprouts episode.
Scrabjan1
01-23-2019, 10:08 AM
I think I was right. Mother’s Helper and The Dramatic Club were both a couple of duds. That unwatchable scene when Wally drinks water in the kitchen just to visit with Margie was inane. June acted like an airhead throughout. Hey in Beaver’s Play if June was captain of her basketball team in boarding school why not tell Beaver when he wrote his composition about mothers. It would have been more interesting than being a dental nurse.
Did you notice in Mother’s Helper Margie is using a sponge mop and when Wally comes in you see the mop and it’s a string mop.
stevea
01-23-2019, 11:11 AM
Funny you should mention the Candy Moore episode. Once that came on, I thought (with my bad episodes mentioned), oops, forgot that one.
Yeah, the basketball thing is a bit more interesting than getting fired for not keeping the books straight.
A couple of more thoughts on the Jackie Waters episode:
One funny set of lines:
Wally: Is he the one with the teeth?
Beaver: Most o' my friends got teeth.
Also, with all those different theaters Ward was mentioning (none of which were mentioned in the earlier Pinocchio episode), I was thinking, along with pet stores and drug stores, Mayfield sure has a lot of theaters.
Scrabjan1
01-23-2019, 07:32 PM
I think this time they mentioned the Orpheum where Wayward Girls Come to Town. I missed the theater where Vampire Valley was playing. They also had Globe, Valencia, Mayfield Theater, Olympic and Madison in Boxoffice Attraction.
stevea
01-23-2019, 08:06 PM
I also remember one called the Bose-Arts. Maybe that was where Kong-Gorilla was. Beaver says Ward would have really liked that one. It had more blood than any pitcher he'd ever seen.