I know this is considered a huge classic, but i'll be honest, i don't even like this ep. It's because it seems very contrived. I love the show on so many levels, but the thing i like best is that it is about the ordinary, everyday experiences of a kid. The soup ep, therefore, seems a little contrived. Ending up stuck in a billboard display probably wouldn't happen to too many kids. The ep is also mostly plot-driven where many of the others are character driven. I don't feel the need to watch this one more than once.

Anybody else feel this way?:rolleyes:

Well I thought it was okay but, I really wanted to see Wally party with his friends...

Chances are that you won't get a lot of support for your position. I made a post about the 2nd season ep, "Beaver Plays Hooky," that that was too contrived, even though I also said it was enjoyable. The only replies by others were about how much they "love" that ep and how much it made them laugh.

But I understand what you mean about it being a plot-driven contrivance. It is just like "Beaver Plays Hooky" in that way. But character does make up a lot of the plot elements in both eps... especially the series-long character flaw of Beaver in that he is so vulnerable to bad suggestions from his friends.

You're probably right, tdr. It was just a thought. The whole ep was a little out of the norm. I do agree with the hooky ep, now that you mention it. I just liked it when things were kept fairly simple. For some reason, I love lucy did stuff like that all the time, but that never bothered me. I guess they just had that as a consistant possibility -- that Lucy could end up in a bowl of soup and it would not be out of character.

That's how I kind of feel about "The Pipe" episode. It doesn't seem like a typical beaver situation. I just find it weird everytime I see Beaver and Larry smoking that pipe!

Actually Frani, I can see your point...

Funny thing about that episode...I grew up on LITB reruns in the late 60s and early 70s...and then didn't see the show on any network for years and years...but that episode was one of the few that really stood out in my mind when I was a kid...

I think the biggest problem with that episode was that, considering his age at the time, Beaver was really too old to fall for a gag like Whitey pulled on him...

If this plot could have been tried in the first or second season of the show, they might have been able to pull it off a little better...but I think Beaver was too old to realistically fall for a gag like that, even though it was the early 60s, and kids were more naive then.

I liked the episode, but one thing i noticed was that he was a lot taller than the sides of that bowl, realistically, he could've gotten out.

Tweety,
This episode contains images that really stick with you and that you don't see in any other episode. I think that's why it's one that, as you said, stood out in your mind.

At the same time, it's also typical in that it's about one of Beaver's so-called friends causing him to get into hot water again (no pun intended). I also think it contains a classic bit of Eddie Haskell: I love when Wally arrives on the scene, and Eddie excitedly says, "Hi, Wally! Some dumb kid fell in the soup!" Then, noticing Ward there, too, he quickly changes his tone and says "Good evening, Mr. Cleaver, there's a poor, unfortunate child trapped up there."

By the way, I don't think the episode would've worked in the first or second season because Beaver wouldn't have had the nerve to climb up there when he was that small. He also wouldn't have been tall enough to fall in the cup.

Later,
Art

Another thing about "In the Soup" is the absence of any attention when Beaver was actually climbing the billboard and Whitey was urging him on. Billboards are obviously and purposely put on or near roads with a lot of traffic, and that was supposedly around 5 to 6 p.m on Friday. But few people are to be seen then (maybe a few pedestrians; on the other side of the street, of course)-- but then, a short time later after it is dark, and Beaver is trying to stay hidden while Whitey gets his parents to help, quite a crowd is gathering.

But no matter about all that, I think all that would have happened under such circumstances is that, when Whitey said Beaver was "chicken" if he didn't climb the billboard, that even Beaver would have thought to say, "You're 'just as chicken' if you won't do it." But if Beaver didn't just give his "friends" the edge so often, the stories just would not have been existed [what kind of plot would it have been if they just went on to Whitey's house calling each other "chicken?"].