They Should Have Written Katie and the Triplets Off when Don Grady Left

[horizonbeach11]

One of the worst things about the lackluster season 12 has got to be the way that Katie is always seen sitting around the house pining for Rob. We are told that Rob was forced to take a job in the jungles of Peru after he was laid off from the plant where his dad is such a big wig-no nepotism here, no sir-and has therefore left Katie and the boys behind for at least several months. They have moved back in with the Douglas clan because Katie is an orphan and has no family to lean on (not really but boy, doesn't it seem that way?)

Reason #1 why this story line is so awful: Rob was always portrayed as such a doting husband and family man and he is the son of the ultimate family man, Steve Douglas. It is completely out of character for Rob, who adores Katie and the boys, to decide to just pick up and move to another continent and have only very limited contact with them for an extended period of time. So he got laid off from THAT plant, in a city the size of LA there weren't others? In a state the size of California there weren't others? Of course there were, that's why he got a job in one of them up in San Francisco in the last episode of season 11 and took Katie and the boys up there to live. Of course, when season 12 opens, this never happened and there are no jobs for young engineers anywhere in the continental U.S. Does anyone else think that it would have made a lot more sense to have Rob, if Don Grady had to leave the show, move somewhere like Texas or Ohio for a job and take his family with him? Then they could have possibly been enticed to make a few cameo appearances and the focus of the show could have shifted more towards Chip and Polly or something.

Reason #2 why this story line was so awful: It turned perennially sunny and cheerful Katie into a depressed, insecure wife with the other members of the family constantly having to cheer her up and brought a bit of darkness to the previously happy show. This culminated in the absolutely horrible episode, "Lonesome Katie" which plays like a gloomy, low budget, 1970s soap opera. The wife of a guy who is working with Rob in Peru shows up with a toddler in tow and looks Katie up then proceeds to tell her all kinds of depressing things and ends by announcing that the forced separation (that Katie and Rob are also enduring) has caused her to decide to leave her husband and she wants Katie to deliver her Dear John letter to her husband via Rob. Seriously, can you imagine this being a M3S episode plot even a year or two earlier? It's so grim, so depressing...and there are virtually zero laughs in this episode except for a meager and failed attempt to make it seem cute that Dodie can't spell her best friend's name and doesn't know what a slumber party is. Naturally, after the visit from this angel of darkness, Katie, immediately and completely out of character, starts contemplating leaving Rob, something that the M3S viewers should have never had to digest. Why spoil a beautiful story when the show was almost over and they could have just had them ride off into the sunset happily together without casting this kind of shadow over their relationship? This wasn't "All in the Family" or "Maude", for crying out loud, leave the dark realities in life to Norman Lear. Of course Steve, doing what he does best, talks Katie out of doing the deed by using Dodie's disillusionment with her slumber party as an object lesson... and the Rob/Katie marriage remains intact, if a bit tarnished.

So in the end, my thing is, why even open this door? Wouldn't it have just made a lot more sense to write Katie off with Rob when Don left? Again, why not focus more on Chip and Polly, the show was essentially over anyway. Maybe they could have adopted a Vietnamese orphan or something. Or maybe Ernie could have even had a serious love interest since all the other boys got to. He was a senior in high school and didn't Chip marry Polly when he was 18?

[Svenfan1234]

Read this article and see if you think the fan theory of M3S makes sense: https://www.metv.com/lists/9-bonkers...assic-tv-shows

It might somewhat explain Rob's disappearance.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

Read this article and see if you think the fan theory of M3S makes sense: https://www.metv.com/lists/9-bonkers...assic-tv-shows

It might somewhat explain Rob's disappearance.

Ha ha, thanks for the laugh!

Maybe Steve was a serial killer at that, and that pleasant, unflappable exterior was just a ruse. The only thing that shoots a hole in this theory is that the screechy, three headed monster that was the triplets never disappeared.

[Svenfan1234]

Originally Posted by horizonbeach11

Ha ha, thanks for the laugh!

Maybe Steve was a serial killer at that, and that pleasant, unflappable exterior was just a ruse. The only thing that shoots a hole in this theory is that the screechy, three headed monster that was the triplets never disappeared.

Haha yeah. Maybe being an engineer was just a cover for his secret experiments...maybe he wanted Katie all to himself...lol.

[stevea]

Fun article. It would explain these disappearances!

The easy solution to Don Grady would have been to bring in another actor. If not, have Rob and his family move away (as you said). Then (if I were in charge) I'd have opened the 12th season with Polly pregnant, and not that Fergus mess. If they wanted to add a little drama, Chip and Polly could have some marital problems, also.

[Hazel Anyday]

I've commented before on this site some years back that during the last couple years of My 3 Sons it became more a Dramedy than a comedy. Esp. that last season, it was almost total soap opera. I think rather than get rid of Katie they should just have hired a new actor to play Rob, even though new actors doing the same part as original actors never turn out well, anybody know Darrin #2? Ugh. I think Peter Brown (from The Lawman series) would have made a good Robbie. Here's a picture (hope this works):

https://alchetron.com/Peter-Brown-(A...,-born-1949)#-

[Hazel Anyday]

Nope it didn't work, I've posted pictures before and it's always the same, sometimes it works other times it doesn't. So I just showed the site that has his picture, you'll see him there.

[horizonbeach11]

Peter Brown actually played Dodie's handsome second grade teacher, Mr. Turley, in the season 11 episode, "The Love God" and Dodie and all of her friends had huge crushes on him, lol. Not that M3S didn't recycle actors in other cases, but maybe it would have been a little too soon to recast him as Rob II, I don't know.

How about a young pre-Starsky Paul Michael Glaser? He did a guest spot on "The Waltons" around this time and he was absolutely hot.

[Hazel Anyday]

Oh, you're right, I forgot about that Peter Brown appearance, when you mention it I remember it well. Well, Dodie could just fake a little amnesia and call Peter Brown Uncle Rob.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by stevea

Fun article. It would explain these disappearances!

The easy solution to Don Grady would have been to bring in another actor. If not, have Rob and his family move away (as you said). Then (if I were in charge) I'd have opened the 12th season with Polly pregnant, and not that Fergus mess. If they wanted to add a little drama, Chip and Polly could have some marital problems, also.

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the Fergus episodes. I tried watching the first one recently but once I saw Fred MacMurray enter as Fergus with that dubbed accent, that was it. It's just too stupid. I will have to try again because now that I am getting reacquainted with the series I want to watch the seasons in their entirety, for better or for worse. So far season 12 has a lot more worse than better, and I have a feeling that the Fergus episodes won't change my opinion on that.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

Oh, you're right, I forgot about that Peter Brown appearance, when you mention it I remember it well. Well, Dodie could just fake a little amnesia and call Peter Brown Uncle Rob.

Yes, and her chubby little friend Margaret could follow him around and fawn over him like she did with Ernie when she was "in love" with him, lol.

Your comment about Margaret being the equivalent to Larry Mondello from LITB was hilarious and spot on, by the way.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by horizonbeach11

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the Fergus episodes. I tried watching the first one recently but once I saw Fred MacMurray enter as Fergus with that dubbed accent, that was it. It's just too stupid.

It's bad enough for one episode, but they extend the agony to four.

I haven't watched 12 in quite awhile, but IIRC Ernie really goes off the rails a few times. Doesn't he lose Dodie someplace? And I seem to remember both he and Dodie being grounded--maybe that same episode, maybe another one.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by stevea

It's bad enough for one episode, but they extend the agony to four.

I haven't watched 12 in quite awhile, but IIRC Ernie really goes off the rails a few times. Doesn't he lose Dodie someplace? And I seem to remember both he and Dodie being grounded--maybe that same episode, maybe another one.

I just tried again to watch the Fergus episodes while I was working out and I just can't do it. Honestly, I started watching the first one and the minute the "identical cousin" with the dubbed accent and exaggerated Scottish expressions (calling the triplets "barons", calling Dodie "Wee Lassie", telling Barbara that they have a "bonnie"house...bleh) showed up I just couldn't sit through the rest of it, especially when it was implied that Fergus and Uncle Charley wouldn't get along when they met, because who wants to watch Charley being rude and Fergus being rude back played for laughs? Not me. I made myself press on further into it this time but I just couldn't do it. I think I will have to skip the Fergus episodes for now. I guess I am a M3S wimp.

Ernie actually lost Dodie twice in season 11 but not in season 12 that I'm aware of. I think the episode that you're thinking of is "Fit the Crime" from season 11 where Ernie is left in charge and lets Dodie go to a friend's house and then when she doesn't come home for a long time and no one knows where to look for her because he doesn't remember which friend's house she went to, they both get grounded, setting up some family tension when his new mom Barbara is the one who lays down the punishment.

The other season 11 episode where Ernie loses Dodie is "Dodie Goes Downtown", where Ernie is supposed to be watching her and her friend but he is busy talking on the phone to some really groovy chick from his class so Dodie and her friend get on a bus and go all the way downtown and then have to figure out how to get back with no money.

[jamesanthony]

Originally Posted by horizonbeach11

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the Fergus episodes. I tried watching the first one recently but once I saw Fred MacMurray enter as Fergus with that dubbed accent, that was it. It's just too stupid. I will have to try again because now that I am getting reacquainted with the series I want to watch the seasons in their entirety, for better or for worse. So far season 12 has a lot more worse than better, and I have a feeling that the Fergus episodes won't change my opinion on that.

My thoughts on season 12:

The show's title really didn't fit at this point, with 4 females in the cast and only two sons who were barely seen (Ernie missed I think 6 episodes and Stan Livingston seemed to be getting bored with playing Chip- he's only in 7 episodes. If there'd been a season 13, would he also have left the show or been seen in only a couple of episodes?). In the Enthusiast, we don't see Ernie, we just hear some footsteps go down the front steps and a door slam and Steve and Barbara say that that is Ernie going out for the evening.

I noticed that Katie is in every episode along with Steve, Barbara and Charley. She missed episodes in seasons 10 and 11, so maybe having her in 100% of season 12 is a way of keeping the My Three Sons title viable?

Someone said they didn't like the episode where Katie was contemplating divorce, but I think it's one of the best ones this season in a way because it deals with a subject that was modern and realistic given her situation, although comparing marriage to a slumber party is kind of stupid. Good idea maybe poorly executed.

The best ones this year IMHO for various reasons:

Lonesome Katie
Barbara Lost (the title makes no sense though)
Whatever Happened to Ernie- This one actually isn't that good, but it's notable for acknowledging that teens do take drugs sometimes. I am a bit distracted by the actor playing Steve's boss and Irene Hervey being so old though, they look more like that boy's grandparents than his parents. Maybe the boy was adopted?
Proxy Parents- one of only 4 episodes to have all the players in it, including the triplets
Happy Birthday Anyway- another one with all the players which makes it a good watch, although Barbara getting upset when she finds out that the secretary picked out the negligee but NOT being upset before that isn't logical to me.
Peanuts- nice to see Ernie be the focus of a storyline, and get taken advantage of so shamelessly by that girl

As I type this list, I'm thinking that there are things wrong with all of these episodes.

The weakest/worst:

The Fergus 4 parter (basically someone looked over the color seasons and noticed that the lowest rated season up to then was season 7, which began with just another episode rather than some game changer in the narrative. Since Chip and Polly were broke college students, it would be illogical to have Polly announce that she was pregnant. Steve and Barbara having a baby would have been redundant. Uncle Charley marrying his girlfriend was a bad idea because that woman wasn't that interesting and she either would have moved in, or he would've moved out which would've changed the show's chemistry too much, and of course Ernie was too young to get married). SO what do they do to have a mutli-episode story arc leading up to big event? Drag out a once-seen Fred MacMurray lookalike character and marry him off. About the most notable things about these eps is getting to see the episode titles on screen at the end and seeing how Anne Francis looked in 1971.

The one where Polly gets a makeover- I really like Polly, but this episode is poorly constructed and at least the version that I saw of it was edited so poorly that it was hard to follow. Plus it has at least 2 drawn out scenes in it that add absolutely nothing to the plot (the triplets bugging Katie and Ernie at the beginning and Barbara losing her earring).

Katie's Career- Katie keeps singing that one song over and over and over and over

Going Bananas- so boring I've had to fast forward through each time I try to watch it.

The various Three for episodes- where the triplets wreck havoc of one sort of another are all rather repetitive- same situation dressed in different clothing. I only like Proxy Parents because it shows Chip and Polly in a relatively reasonable scenario for them.
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As for William Demarest being almost 80, he had a lot of energy left. In one episode (I think it was Barbara Lost- not sure) he slips on something that the triplets left on the floor and falls flat on his back. In the one where everyone takes turns taking Katie to the same restaurant, he is quite spry when dancing the Charleston with her.

Bottom line, I like this series and am glad that it got to 12 seasons. To date only 2 other live action sitcoms can make that claim. But this season is evidence that it was time to close up shop.

[PracTz]

I mean, regardless of Mr. Grady's decision to bolt M3S for possible musical stardom (but winding up working steadily as a composer), I think it was a kind gesture on the producers' parts to not insist that Katie be written out along with Rob since Miss Cole was/is a very talented performer who never seemed to cause any trouble.

Yes, I agree that having Katie and the triplets crowd into Casa Douglas while Robbie was in Peru for an indefinite period of time was somewhat a bummer plot twist. Perhaps, it might have worked better had he been sent to Vietnam for a tour of duty and THAT had been the motivation.

And, you're right that Katie DID have relatives of her own besides her in-laws to help out. Her widowed mother and grandmother both lived to see her married and have the triplets (and the maternal grandmother lived in the LA area) and there was no mention of either of them dying. There was even a time when, before Robbie amscrayed, it was mentioned that they had dropped off the triplets at 'Katie's folks' so perhaps Mrs. Miller herself may have moved from Katie's hometown of St. Louis to LA and actually remarried but this would be the only possible mention of a stepfather.

So, I think what may have worked best had they wanted to keep Miss Cole working for them steadily may have been to have had Katie (and the triplets) join Robbie offscreen THEN to have Katie's hithero, unmentioned evil, estranged twin (Sadie?) show up to cause comedic trouble for the Douglases. I mean, if Steve could have an 'identical' cousin Fergus (who was far more boring than Steve) show up and Robbie can have an evil, doppelganger with no known common ancestors cause trouble in an episode, why would it have been a stretch for Katie to have had an evil twin? Shoot, Miss Cole played TWO one-shot girlfriends of Robbie in Bryant Park before Katie magically appeared in North Hollywood to become the whirlwind Mrs. Robbie Douglas! And, would the show have really hurt had the 'aww' and 'uh-oh' triplets not been around the last year if their parents weren't there?

BTW, I think it's possible that the 'Lonesome Katie' episode may have been a warning shot to Mr. Grady that if he didn't try to return for a possible 13th season, they'd have Katie divorce but STILL be part of the family.

P.S. It's interesting that I've never heard of Miss Cole say one negative word about Mr. Grady despite her being in that position the last season and she seemed to be rather upset at the death of her former costar (and onetime flame).