The New Leave it to Beaver

[HaskellGirl]

Hi folks

I noticed a few people mentioning that they've never seen this series before. I was trying to remember as much as I can about what happened on this series, and I remembered a couple of things that people on this board might be interested in. I can't remember exactly, so if anyone else remembers better or wants to add to the list, feel free. Keep in mind that I don't have the best memory, and this was a LONG time ago.

The fate of June's pearls:
First of all, June says that Ward gave her those pearls. Wally's daughter Kelly, who was probably about 10 or 11 at the time, somehow gets a hold of them and is wearing them, but then realizes she needs to take them off. She's outside and tries to undo the clasp, and the string breaks. With the infamous Cleaver luck, they are fixing the road and a giant roller crushes and embedds the pearls. She tries to replace the necklace, but she can't afford to. I think in the end she purchases one pearl for June and promises to replace the necklace one pearl at a time.

The fate of Beaver's green baseball cap:
Beaver's youngest son Oliver wears his green baseball cap in the earlier seasons. Of course, when he's older, he's too big for it. Its not mentioned again until the last season when Oliver states that when he was younger, he lost the baseball cap and his dad (The Beav) didn't talk to him for a week.

How June and Ward met:
There was this lovely "flashback" episode where the Clever kids were looking through old photos in the attic. The only thing I really remember is a scene where June remembers back to her first meeting Ward. They were outside, and it might have been raining, I can't remember. Anyway, they bump into each other and there are immediate sparks. Ward asks June what her name is, and she says its a month. I think he guesses April and May before he gets to June. It was really a lovely episode, I wish I could see it again! At the end, I think they panned down the stairs at all the old photographs. That's another thing, the Cleaver's staircase, which on the original series has a set of nicely framed art, on the new series had family photographs lining the wall.

Miss Canfield:
Is Kelly Cleaver and J.J. Rutherford's (Lumpy's young daughter) elementary school teacher! Same actress I believe.

Here's a general overview:

Beaver works with Lumpy, just like Ward worked with Fred Rutherford. His son Kip is the oldest kid on the show. I was trying to figure it out, and Kip had to have been born when Beaver was still in college, or just out. At any rate, Beaver was somehwere in his early 20s. Kimberley is Beaver's ex-wife. Kip is the cute, older brother, with dark hair and dark eyes, but not in the same athletic way Wally was. Instead, music is Kip's main interest. He plays the keyboards and is an excellent singer and has his own band. Its interesting the way Kip and Beaver talk to each other, they seem to be more on the same level than Ward was with his boys. Oliver is Beaver's youngest son. He has curly red hair and brown eyes and braces. He gets in trouble a lot just like the Beaver did. He's good at martial arts, but not very good at school. They live with June, who's just as nice as ever, but isn't always in the kitchen anymore. She's a council-woman and eventually goes back to school.

Next door, Wally lives with his wife, Mary Ellen (Rogers). There's a different actress than on the original series, and this one's blonde, althugh there have been mentions that Mary Ellen dyes her hair. I can't remember any occupation for Mary Ellen, so she might have been a homemaker. Wally is a lawyer and still likes to excersize. On Still the Beaver, Wally had an impotency problem, but on the series he has a daughter Oliver's age named Kelly. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She's smarter than Oliver, and eventually starts dating his friend, Duffy, played by Giovonni Ribisi. When she was young, she had a crush on Freddie Haskell, and to make her dad like Duffy better, she danced with Bomber Haskell. Wally's youngest is a son named Kevin. At first, Kevin was a baby, then all the sudden they replaced the baby with a much older (but still little) kid. Wally owns an SUV, but also a vintage T-bird, which Kip eventually crashes.

Lumpy's married, but I don't remember seeing his wife. He has a daughter J.J., who's the same age as Oliver and Kelly. J.J. sometimes wears glasses and has really long light brown hair. J.J. refers to her father as "Clarence". I think she refers to her mom by her first name as well. Later on, J.J. isn't seen anymore, and I think that's because the actress got another series, that show "Our House" or whatever it was called with Shannon Doherty.

Eddie Haskell runs his own construction company and drives a red truck. His own house is pretty small, but he has this somewhat tacky, but cool retro living room with all kinds of memorabilia, and even some sorta barber chair he uses for a recliner. What's strange is that on the old show, Eddie Haskell was very very preppy, and always wore nice slacks and sweaters. Since he works in construction, he usually wears jeans, boots, workshirts, and a leather jacket, and his hair is darker than it was on the original series. He's married to Gert, who seems to be somewhat younger than Eddie. She's sweet and pretty with curly blond hair and blue eyes and dimples, and Eddie usually pushes her around. Sometimes she goes along with it, but other times she doesn't. Their eldest son is Frederick, who's in Kip's grade, although seems to be younger, just like Wally was younger than Eddie and Lumpy. He has honey-blond hair and blue eyes, and is very eloquent. Actually, half the time he talks too much. He's smart and an excellent guitar player in Kip's band, although he's not the best athlete. At first, his character was supposed to be like Eddie, but later on he was actually a very good person, and sometimes Kip would actually get Freddie in trouble instead of the typical "Haskell gets the Cleaver in trouble" routine we are used to. Bomber Haskell is in the same age-group as Oliver, Kelly, and J.J., although he seems to be a bit older. For most of the series, he's away at military school. Bomber's a trouble maker and is tougher than his brother. He has blondish-brown hair and blue eyes, and is sometimes scene wearing his military school outfit. In the last season, he moves back home. Personally, I never thought Bomber was a bad kid, he just needs some love.

Have I rambled enough? If anyone wants to add something, feel free. And if anyone has any of this series on tape and wants to copy it for me (I'll pay for it!) I'd really appreciate it! I love this show!

[HaskellGirl]

Oops, I forgot to mention that Beaver's oldest son is named Ward, but "Kip" is his nickname. "Bomber" is a nickname too, but I don't know what his real name is. Edward, maybe. Does anyone know?

They did some interesting things with their names. Beaver and Bomber sound similar. So do Wally and Ollie, and of course Eddie and Freddie.

[BBF]

Wow! Thanks so much for all of that great information HaskellGirl! I learned a lot about the new LITB from it! I really REALLY want to see the show! I wish SOMEBODY could show some reruns or something! It sounds so good. That's sad about June's pearls, but it was sweet what Kelly did to replace them. I did get to see what everyone looked like while the show was on though! I just happened to turn to gameshow network one night at like midnight or something and they were showing an episode of Family feud from 1983 where the cast of LITB was playing the cast of peticoat junction. They lost but it was really cool to see how they had all aged and stuff. It was Jerry Mathers, Ken Osmond, I think Frank Bank and Richard Deacon (fred) and of course Barbara Billingsley (who was I think 60 at the time) who didn't look a day over 40! She aged MUCH more gracefully than the other cast members!

[FOL85NatandMrsGRock]

they actually mention wally's impotency prob! HAHAHAAH!!! That's great! How did the mention of this come around? who woulda thought that they'd mention that in somethign related to Beaver!!! Please do explain, do you remember anythign about the movie??

The june's pearls and the how june and ward met makes me wanna cry! hehe

Toodles!

[HaskellGirl]

I know, isn't that impotency thing so funny? Not in itself, but that they mentioned it with Leave it to Beaver. I don't remember too much about the movie, except this one part where finally Wally's "in the mood", except the problem is they are in his parents bedroom. So you see Wally and Mary Ellen kissing and then fall to the bed and then they get up again and Wally says that he can't do it there because that's his parents bed. I don't remember what happens next, but I have a feeling they get over it and start kissing on the bed again.

Beaver's oldest son is different in the movie too. His name is Corey and he's played by Corey Feldman. I'm glad they changed the character. Kip (played by Kipp Marcus) is much cuter and more personable. I think Corey was pretty much in a bad mood the entire time of the movie, and maybe was a trouble-maker, because he wasn't adjusting to the divorce too well.

[HaskellGirl]

I just e-mailed Tvland at their website and mentioned how much I would love for them to show The New Leave it to Beaver. It probably won't do anything, but they do show 80s shows sometimes, so I thought what the heck.

[FOL85NatandMrsGRock]

Originally posted by HaskellGirl
I know, isn't that impotency thing so funny? Not in itself, but that they mentioned it with Leave it to Beaver. I don't remember too much about the movie, except this one part where finally Wally's "in the mood", except the problem is they are in his parents bedroom. So you see Wally and Mary Ellen kissing and then fall to the bed and then they get up again and Wally says that he can't do it there because that's his parents bed. I don't remember what happens next, but I have a feeling they get over it and start kissing on the bed again.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! holy cow! i so gotta get this movie!!! taht is some great stuff!! so does june know about his little "problem" i really wanna know more about this! cuz it's sooooo funny!!! please, tell all!! the whole, he can't in his parents bedroom, that's GREAT!!!!!!!!!

[BBF]

Originally posted by HaskellGirl
I just e-mailed Tvland at their website and mentioned how much I would love for them to show The New Leave it to Beaver. It probably won't do anything, but they do show 80s shows sometimes, so I thought what the heck.

You know, I am gonna do the same thing! Maybe if we could get all of the people here on the LITB board to email tvland, we may could make our voices heard!!!

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by BeaversBiggestFan


You know, I am gonna do the same thing! Maybe if we could get all of the people here on the LITB board to email tvland, we may could make our voices heard!!!

Good idea. I bet if we had everybody on the board to do this, maybe we can get them to play the New Beaver.

[FOL85NatandMrsGRock]

i still wanna know more about his hilarious impotency prob! does june know? is it found out during hte movie, or is it just brought up. that's kinda funny becuase he wouldn't have ward to talk to and ask quests about the prob, not that he would, but he doens't have anoher guy to compare to, and it must be kinda weird to think of your kids as having sex, i dunno, it'd be weird for me!

[BrandonS]

Okay, I just went to www.tvland.com and asked them to add "The New Leave it to Beaver" to their lineup. BTW, thanks for posting the summary.

Brandon

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by BrandonS
Okay, I just went to www.tvland.com and asked them to add "The New Leave it to Beaver" to their lineup. BTW, thanks for posting the summary.

Brandon

I just sent my email too.

[FOL85NatandMrsGRock]

Okay, i will be referring all of my New Leave it to Beaver questions with this board, becuase NOBODy even looks at the other board!

Anyways, i was looking at the episode titles (considering there really is no episode guide that anybody has completed) and some of the episodes sound interesting just by their subject, i remember there was a title about a party and then don't change too fast, junior prom, and things like that, does anybody remember anythign about htese episodes?? (sorry, i'm not very specific with the titles!)

Also, did the new leave it to beaver ever bring up contraversial type of things such as drugs, drinking, sex, and other things like that?? is the word sex FINALLY said within a Beaver episode (i'm not gonna count when beaver and ward both said sex in haircomb, at least it sounded like they said sex i think it was midlsex or somethign like that, it was a county) but i would like to know if anybody remembers anything about any type of episodes like that.

And, does June often help wally or beavers kids out with problems??? Can anybody give me the ages of the kids when the series first startes? i can take it from there about how old they were. As soon as i get my hands on some New Leave it to Beaver thigns (such as the tv movie and episdoes, and BELIVE me i'm tryign to make deals as hard as i can!!) i will definately answer anybodys questions, and answer my own in more depth, but for now, i just have this DIRE need to know about it all!! haha, i hope that they were somewhat like their old innocent show, but showing a more "todays" point of view with it too!!

If anybody can be of ANY help, PLEASE answer my quests!! :-P

Sarah :toodles:

[HaskellGirl]

Hey, Sarah, where did you find episode titles for The New Leave it to Beaver????

I'm wondering if the party episode is th episode where Kelly throws her first slumber party. This is what I remember about that episode. She invites all these little girls over,and they are doing girlie things like giving each other make-overs or bragging about boys, stuff like that. I think what happened is that one of her friends she invited brought her older, sophisticated cousin, who's going on and on, and therefore the interest is on her and not Kelly. I remember Mary Ellen saying they should step in, but Wally says no, remember the song "Its my party and I'll cry if I want to"? I also remember another part, and I THINK its this episode, where Mary Ellen is in the kitchen and Wally comes up behind her and kisses her on her neck. As a kid, I was pretty shocked by that, but thinking back, its pretty sweet. Anyway, meanwhile, over at the other Cleaver household, which is right next door, Oliver introduces a new friend to his grandma and dad, ("he's a kid" was the line he used). The boys go out hunting for frogs or something, and then they prank the party and let the frogs loose. I think Eddie might have been over at Wally's house fixing the sink or something, and might have urged Ollie and his friend on, but I'm not positive. Then there's chaos, the boys trying to catch the frogs, and the girls screaming and jumping everywhere, and right in the middle of the chaos, Kip walks in and says "What an awesome party!"

I'm not sure what Don't Change Too Fast is, but maybe if I knew what season, I could guess. I remember a prom episode though. It was Kip and Freddie's prom, and they were trying to get dates. I think Kip could have gotten a date with some nice girl, but he was trying to get some specific girl. I remember this one scene in the cafeteria where Freddie is walking to a table, and he has to lift his tray high over a head of a couple that's making-out in order to get by. Random, but just something I remembered. Anyway, I'm not sure if Freddie keeps getting shot down or he's too shy to ask, but he's not having much luck. He goes to his dad for advice, and Eddie tells him to pay someone to go with him. So somehow Kip manages to get a date with a girl that he really wants to go with and had just broken up with her boyfriend, and Freddie bribes a popular girl named Tess, with a hundred or two hundred bucks to go with him. Then the girl comes over to his house to show him her dress and talks about shoes and a limo and everything, and expects Freddie to pay for it. He says he can't afford to and she says, "No dress, no Tess." He just can't do it, so she leaves. Meanwhile, Kip's date cancels, because she made up with her old boyfriend. So the two boys are completely dateless. I think Beaver was a chaperone at the prom, and he had a date, so he was the only one going. Kip and Freddie are hanging out at Kip's house, singing the blues about the prom. Literally, since Kip's a singer and Freddie plays the guitar. They talk about how much better it is that they didn't go and how much fun they have together. Then the doorbell rings, and its Kip's date. She says that she broke up with her boyfriend again, and now he can take her. He's about to accept when she says "Hi Freddie" and he turns around and there's Freddie standing behind him all sad. So Kip turns back to her and tells her no, that he'd rather spend time with his friend, and stuff like that. She says "Freddie?" and he says "Okay" and goes with her to the prom. So Kip is left standing there all by himself. I can't remember what else happened, but I think Beaver came home and said that during the prom, that girl went back with her boyfriend again. I don't think Kip was too mad at Freddie.

I can't remember if sex was discussed. I think it was definately referred to though, even though it wasn't said it so many words. There was one episode in the last season where Kelly wants to go out with this older boy. Freddie warns her that the guy is bad news, (and I think he might have said he had gotten a girl pregnant, but I'm not sure), and steps in and tellls Wally not to let her go. Wally forbids her, but she sneaks out and goes out with him anyway. This guy tells her that they are out of gas or something and tries to make out with her. They dont' say it so many words, but its about date-rape. Luckily, Freddie anticipated what was going to happen and had followed them and threatens the guy, then takes Kelly home. In another episode, and I'm not actually sure if this was the New leave it to Beaver, or some other show, I think Kip jokes (and its really just a joke) that Beaver is going to be a grandfather. I think it was just to get his attention or something, but like I said, i'm not positive if it was this show or some other series. I don't remember any drugs and the only drinking I remember is a a reference to Wally's wedding where Eddie apparently got drunk.

June does help sometimes, especially Kip and Oliver who live with her. She definately lets Beaver have control over his kids though. I'm not exactly sure what everyone's ages are at the beginning, except I THINK Kip was 14, Freddie was 13, Bomber was 10, and Kelly, Oliver, and J.J. were about 9. I might be off by a year or two. What I definately know are that Kip and Oliver are 5 years apart. Kelly's a tiny girl, so she looks much younger than Oliver, but I think that's just because the actress is little. I heard the actress was really about 11 when the show started.

[DarleneIllyria]

Here's a link about the New Beaver. It has links and some of the episode guide. The episode guide is incomplete for now, but at least we know what the first 8 episodes are about!


http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet...t/showid-5966/