I may be one of the few who enjoy LITB as it gets to the final season. I like the jazzy theme song variation and the way Beaver doesn't chop words apart when he speaks. (Though he's still capable at acting less than his age, for example when he gives June the silent treatment.) I especially like the scene during the last season closing credits, where Beaver pushes Wally off the curb and then Wally chases him into the house. I see it as a nice satirization of the earlier closing scenes where Wally is walking w/ his arm around Beaver's shoulder. In fact, it seems as though that's what Wally's trying to do when Beaver shoves him. The last season seemed to have a lot more contemporary references, such as tv shows like Ben Casey and McHale's Navy (both plugs for ABC shows, which ABC must have liked). One episode, Beaver on TV, had references to shows on other networks, and strangely enough Stephen Talbot (Gilbert) appeared once on the exact same show that he refers to. Maybe it was an attempt by the writers at an inside joke.

I too loved the last season the best, and felt that overall the show got better as it progressed. For me personally, this is quite a rare feeling for TV shows. I'd say about 95% of the time I enjoy earlier/1st seasons best, and see a downgrade as a show goes along. For instance, just a couple of references to this personal preference (and a bunch more could be cited) will be listed below (not that anyone cares, but I just feel like doing it).

I FELT THE FOLLOWING SHOWS' FIRST SEASON WAS ITS BEST:

Mary Tyler Moore
Lost in Space
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Beverly Hillbillies
Gilligan's Island
Bewitched
Gomer Pyle
The Lucy Show
M*A*S*H
The Brady Bunch
Happy Days

A number of other shows could be added to that list, and so for me to say Beaver got better as it went along really is a rarity. In fact, I can't think of one other show that I like where I could say the last season was my favorite. Perhaps one will come to me later, but for now Beaver owns that unique privilege in my book.

I also loved the snappy theme music, and would love to get a wav file of it (the ending credits too). If anyone knows where it can be located, let me know!

I loved the focus on the boys and more of Eddie and Lumpy in these later episodes as well. It just made for more fun, IMHO.

B&W "your post was excellent, jehobden!" fan

i couldn't agree with you more.
i think i said this on another post but i think the writing got so much better because they couldnt rely on beaver being such an adorable little boy anymore. he grew up and so did the show. other shows have failed in the past when their stars got older, but litb just got better. i think the fact that the people who created the show stayed with the show, and when they(connely and mosher) weren't writing the episode, they were at least supervising it, keeping it up to litb standards. theres just not a bad episodeof this show. and thats impressive considering the amount.

Originally posted by B&W fan


I also loved the snappy theme music, and would love to get a wav file of it (the ending credits too). If anyone knows where it can be located, let me know!

B&W "your post was excellent, jehobden!" fan

click on the leave it to beaver online link which is just below the links to the rest of the boards. After u click the link scroll down untill u see the theme song listing.

I enjoy all the episodes of LITB there is not a one that I dont like. I love the ones when they are younger a bit more, however I dont dislike the later seasons they all are first rate according to me!

Originally posted by BulletTrain


click on the leave it to beaver online link which is just below the links to the rest of the boards. After u click the link scroll down untill u see the theme song listing.

I probably didn't make myself clear enough the first time. I'm aware of the themes here at Sitcoms Online. But what I'm looking for is a wav file of the LAST SEASON's OPENING & one of the LAST SEASON's CLOSING. Those are not available anywhere that I've seen.

There is a video clip containing the last season's opening here at Sitcoms, which I have downloaded. But it isn't a wav file, and it doesn't contain the ending credits.

B&W "let me say it again with the rest of you - LITB really got better as the years went by" fan

I remember posting here, maybe a year ago or longer, my reasons for thinking seasons 2 thru 4 were the best ones, with #3 being the best. Basically it's just that in #1 the actors have to establish their roles and their relationships, and often in the beginning of a series they seem to be in quite a struggle to do that. Also, much of what Beaver says in the beginning is just repeating Wally. But by the 2nd season they had gotten more in sync, and therefore the character comedy was better. And so it remained until season #5 was forcing changes to be made, and then it appeared difficult for the writers to really let Beaver age, so he is still doing things like he was 8 or 9, when he was by then about 12... such as, he couldn't bear to give up his toy train to a little boy June promised he would give them to. And in both seasons 5 & 6, a little trouble with Beaver is often greatly overblown... such as, in "Beaver's Typewriter," he can't learn typing very fast, so he agrees to let Eddie type his homework for a dollar, then he thinks he has to cover up for his later non-typed work, and he says "bad stuff kept happenin' and happenin'," and he tells Ward "You've got a rat for a son"-- all this because he finds it difficult to learn to type very quickly.

However, I now think Wally aged better than Beaver in those last 2 seasons, in spite of apparently having an extra year of high school because that kept the show in its format. Wally goes through different jobs, plays varsity sports [unfortunately never shown], gets a driver's license, buys a car, attends social events... with Wally these normal activities progress better, and the show seems to end at just the right time, as Wally is making definite plans to attend 'State'... and, unfortunately, as the events of the 60's are beginning to unfold which change the ideal-- and what truth there actually was-- in the perfect middle class family like the Cleavers.

That's an excellent point about Wally's taking an extra year to get through HS. Wally took six years to go through five years of school, and he was a sophomore in season 3 (in the ep where Eddie and Lumpy try to cheat on their history test). He apparently repeated some year after that. Beaver may have seemed to be less sharp than Wally, but I think he got through seven grades in six years, so he must have been smarter. :) The award for taking the longest in school has to be Lumpy Rutherford, who was a HS junior in season 2 and apparently backed up a grade the next year and then finally was about to graduate at the end, but even then he was going to have to go to summer school.

I also liked the last season and second to last season very much. Some of the first season was a little too "cute" But in Seasons 5 and 6, you can see that Beaver was acting with a little more empathy and could identify more with real teenager problems instead of the "cute little kid" of season 1-3. Don't get me wrong, the first seasons are great, but Beaver was able to appropriately mature as he got older in real life.

I like the personality of the older Beaver and growing up in the late 60's-early 70's, I even wanted to meet Jerry Mathers as a kid! I thought he was pretty cool. The issues that he was dealing with in the later seasons were some of the things that I was dealing with. I found Jerry to be smarter and wiser than his years as an early '60's teen. I saw him, at that age, as being very sensitive to other people, emotional, and yes..gullable as well. This show is like a fine wine--it improves with age.


Jack