Ken and Frank on Internet Radio

[stevea]

On the Shout season 2 set they had an interesting interview of Ken Osmond and Frank Bank, from around 2008. Found out a few interesting things:

1. Rusty had a very demanding mother. She was demanding a dressing room for Rusty, the same size as Jerry's, and a chair on the set right next to his. They didn't say this, but my thought is these demands must have started late in season 3...we saw the result...abruptly, he was no longer on the show, and had only 2 brief appearances in season 4. They said (paraphrasing here), you didn't mess with Connelly and Mosher.

2. An "expert" fan (I think the posters here know more than he did) was asking them about Angela Valentine. You might as well have asked them for Einstein's formula. The interesting thing is, they said, if it was something in the Beaver orbit (like school), they didn't know anything about it.

3. Frank said the two most-known episodes are "In The Soup" (agree) and "Wally's Practical Joke" (not so sure, there). My second one probably would be "Beaver Won't Eat."

4. Ken insisted Eddie was basically a good guy. In the New LITB, a script said he was to steal (I think it was) his mother's social security check. He refused, and they changed it to being stolen by someone unknown.

5. The Derek character on Silver Spoons was modeled totally after Eddie. Ricky Schroder didn't like the attention he (Jason Bateman) was getting with this character, so...exit Jason. I have doubts about this...kid actors don't usually have that kind of power. (Evidently Spoons and New LITB were taped at the same studio.)

6. New LITB as of the time of this interview was tied up in legal limbo and wasn't shown in the U.S. (Nothing has changed.) Both said it was an excellent show...I for one would like to see it again. There are DVD sets floating around but the quality is terrible (I'm told).

7. Both said LITB writers put out excellent scripts...Frank actually had some scripts, which I guess were passed on to his heirs. If there was some current slang term being used, they were permitted to toss it into the dialog (thus, Beaver's overuse of "kook" for Betsy, maybe???)--otherwise, they were rigid on the scripts. The Gates/Bates thing came up, and Frank said he thought that whole thing was the result of typos (no mention of the 2 or 3 uses of Harrison).

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by stevea

On the Shout season 2 set they had an interesting interview of Ken Osmond and Frank Bank, from around 2008. Found out a few interesting things:

1. Rusty had a very demanding mother. She was demanding a dressing room for Rusty, the same size as Jerry's, and a chair on the set right next to his. They didn't say this, but my thought is these demands must have started late in season 3...we saw the result...abruptly, he was no longer on the show, and had only 2 brief appearances in season 4. They said (paraphrasing here), you didn't mess with Connelly and Mosher.

2. An "expert" fan (I think the posters here know more than he did) was asking them about Angela Valentine. You might as well have asked them for Einstein's formula. The interesting thing is, they said, if it was something in the Beaver orbit (like school), they didn't know anything about it.

3. Frank said the two most-known episodes are "In The Soup" (agree) and "Wally's Practical Joke" (not so sure, there). My second one probably would be "Beaver Won't Eat."

4. Ken insisted Eddie was basically a good guy. In the New LITB, a script said he was to steal (I think it was) his mother's social security check. He refused, and they changed it to being stolen by someone unknown.

5. The Derek character on Silver Spoons was modeled totally after Eddie. Ricky Schroder didn't like the attention he (Jason Bateman) was getting with this character, so...exit Jason. I have doubts about this...kid actors don't usually have that kind of power. (Evidently Spoons and New LITB were taped at the same studio.)

6. New LITB as of the time of this interview was tied up in legal limbo and wasn't shown in the U.S. (Nothing has changed.) Both said it was an excellent show...I for one would like to see it again. There are DVD sets floating around but the quality is terrible (I'm told).

7. Both said LITB writers put out excellent scripts...Frank actually had some scripts, which I guess were passed on to his heirs. If there was some current slang term being used, they were permitted to toss it into the dialog (thus, Beaver's overuse of "kook" for Betsy, maybe???)--otherwise, they were rigid on the scripts. The Gates/Bates thing came up, and Frank said he thought that whole thing was the result of typos (no mention of the 2 or 3 uses of Harrison).

I heard those rumors about Silver Spoons for years. I don't know if they were true but I'm sure Ricky had that power because he was the star. Gary Coleman got Dixie Carter axed from Diff'rent Strokes a few years later.

I wish the New LITB was shown. Didn't see many episodes the first time.

[MichaelMartinD]

Maybe Frank thought "Wally's Practical Joke" was one of the most famous episodes because he was in it, LOL. "In the Soup" is certainly the most famous episode, the second might be "Beaver Plays Hooky" or "The Pipe." At least those are two that seem to be the most frequently cited and reminisced about.

[MichaelMartinD]

Come to think of it, "Sweatshirt Monsters" is probably among the most famous episodes.