Yes or no to Cissy and Greg being a couple?

[Tankeryanker]

Some episodes, they are just friends and other episodes, Cissy is all for marriage. I can't keep up.

Any idea if they were planning to let them get married before the show ended?

[biffbronson]

Not an easy question for me, although before we get into the men in the life of the adult Cissy Davis in particular, in a subsequent post, I think it will be instructive to first look at a few of her significant relationships or flings in comparison with those of the male young adults on My Three Sons, the sister series.

When Katie Miller's family meets Robbie Douglas on M3S, there is no questioning by Katie's relatives of his means of supporting her financially in a marriage, even though he is a college student whose work bussing tables at the sorority would hardly be sufficient in any way. Katie's grandmother goes as far as to admonish her not to let this "finest" boy be lost from their lives or be hurt. By contrast, when Bill Davis learns of Cissy's intentions toward marrying handsome Gregg Bartlett, immediately the issue of his working at a service station becomes central to whether he's an appropriate prospective groom. But in both cases, the regular series characters -- Robbie & Cissy -- are not under scrutiny as to whether they are suitable matches for their intendeds.

When Jean Pearson returns to Bryant Park, after an absence, with intentions of a re-initiating of her romantic involvement with Mike Douglas, she is devastated to find that he has become engaged to Sally Morrison. But in her careful handling of what she's learned, there is no resulting stress whatsoever for Mike. On Family Affair, while in Tahiti, Cissy is hurt to find that her new love interest Mike West has not told her of his existing firm relationship with an exotically lovely girl from the island. In both cases, regardless of series cast or guest, it is the woman who experiences trauma due to the failure of the male character to be upfront about his status. The male is not in any way damaged emotionally.

When Polly Williams wants to marry Chip Douglas on M3S, her father is extremely protective and by inference totally nixes any long-term prospect of Chip becoming a prospective groom. When Cissy becomes romantically involved with Emily Turner's son Jim, Emily becomes quite protective of her career-oriented son and more-or-less nixes the prospect of Cissy as his partner -- questioning her suitability, and very much hurting Cissy when she realizes it. Turning the tables on my first example, it's the series regulars who are rejected, and quite unfairly, as far as suitability.

These examples offer some comparing & contrasting of how these young adults' relationships are handled by the writers in the 2 series; in my next post, we will look at Cissy's love life in order to draw conclusions as to whether she was headed for marriage with Gregg, potentially in a never-materialized Season 6 of FA.

[biffbronson]

Let's have a visual reference.

Here are the handsome young men vying for the hand in marriage
of lovely young adult Catherine "Cissy" Davis:

Gregg Bartlett:


Karl Krug:


Steve Hunter:


Russ Brooks:


Jim Turner: