"My Three Sons" Leading Out of "All in the Family" During Season 12: Consequences?

[James28]

(A continuation of "All in the Family" and "My Three Sons" – Original Plan for Fall of 1971")

Several months ago, I discovered on the November 8, 1971 issue of Broadcasting Magazine some decide before the end of November 1971, MTS ended up on Thursdays instead, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show proved to be a far better choice on that slot than MTS would have been.

But what if CBS went ahead with putting My Three Sons after All in the Family following the mid-season cancellation of Funny Face (a freshman sitcom starring Sandy Duncan that suspended production when Ms. Duncan was diagnosed with a brain tumor behind her left eye)? What would the long-term consequences have been? If there had been a ratings recovery for MTS during that twelvth year, how many more seasons would it have run? That, in turn, would have meant some of the younger and fresher shows on CBS getting held back, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Maude, and Good Times.

[biffbronson]

I'm bumping this up for James28. As a M3S fan I don't believe I can give an unbiased opinion on what the consequences of scheduling regarding the show would have meant to the CBS network, so I'll leave that for others' speculation.

[James28]

To BiffBronson: Regarding this thread, I want to ask why not just a two-part series finale at the end of My Three Sons's twelfth season instead of a whole season 13?

[biffbronson]

I'll address this, as although the persistence apparently will not stop, I want to give a personal perspective to stem the tide. My Three Sons (the CBS seasons) and Family Affair (also CBS) have long been my favorite sitcoms, going back to the decade of the '70s. To a lesser extent also Nanny and the Professor (ABC). From the time the 1st color episode rerun burst onto the syndication scene in the mid-to-late '70s I have been fascinated by M3S. There are several color eps I've watched many times, and even now continue to do so.

In his book on sitcoms, Rick Mitz showed a full-page photo from the ABC b & w seasons which was also pretty fascinating, as I'd never seen any of those episodes. There was only a snippet or two of ABC stock footage in CBS color episodes, like when Steve talks to very young Chip about being married someday. When Mitz called the series a "front runner" as opposed to an "also ran," I was pleased to see his respect for it.

So we come to the subject of cancellation of the series. Yes it had become a very long-running series. But generally I don't believe in the "less is more" philosophy some have. I am not the best critic of script quality and I don't profess to be. But I know what I like and to this day I continue to find plenty to like about the later M3S, regardless of whether the last couple of seasons "hold up" overall. I am also a fan to a somewhat lesser extent of All In the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H*, and The Bob Newhart Show, CBS's new wave of shows. My recent DVD purchases have included Newhart's series for example. But I don't care to pit M3S against what was considered more modern or appealing to upscale urban viewers, I just don't care about stuff that amounted to decisions based on advertisers' drives for maximum profits. I used to watch the 4 CBS series I've just mentioned in first-run primetime. They were with me from a very young age. I remember very well when TMTMS had its special final episode, I was watching, and of course later M*A*S*H* likewise.

I so wish Beverly Garland and Tina Cole could have had more seasons of M3S. They were in their prime and I find it disheartening that their roles ended when they did. They continued acting but for the most part in just guest or lesser recurring roles. I also wish Dawn Lyn growing into a young adult could have been documented through more M3S. As Bewitched had proven by surviving Dick York's exit, a sitcom can survive the loss of a major cast member, which led me to speculate on how M3S could have best continued without Don Grady.

I come to this site for info and enjoyment. I like exploring M3S and in the process noticing details I'd overlooked. I have enough grief in my personal life, I'm dealing with a stupid error by the Indiana tax bureau right now. I don't want to come here and debate whether my favorite sitcom had become a "tired-assed" series. I like it for what it was, including seasons 11 & 12 for sure. The special ending like the one TMTMS enjoyed never happened for Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Family Affair, M3S, The Beverly Hillbillies, and other older series. It just generally was not done. Those older shows were unceremoniously dumped, despite what they had done for their network. Doris Day's series was prolonged by a switch from rural to urban. Who knows what adjustments could have come to M3S if it had continued. Marijuana is mentioned in what proved to be the final M3S episode, who knows if there would've been significant modernization. CBS did what they thought was in their best interests, no question, but any idea of my congratulating them or somehow applauding their actions is neither necessary nor worthy of my speculation regarding their successes back then.

So I've rambled on here greatly, but the bottom line is M3S is a lot more to me than what some believe became just a mundane, boring, "tired," or dated sitcom that CBS needed to axe in 1972 after moving it to a horrendous family-unfriendly time slot and killing its former perennial Top 20 ratings status in a very competitive, 3-network '70s environment.

[stevea]

I'm not an expert on the moving-the-pawns game that networks play, but what if some of the newer shows like MTM and Bob Newhart had been scheduled on Thursdays? Could that have propelled CBS into having blockbuster Thursdays, and have affected NBC's later success with Thursdays in the 1980s? Who knows?

Every fall in the late 1960s, head writer George Tibbles came up with outstanding arcs to open every season, starting with M3S's forced studio move for the 1967 season. Tibbles turned this into a move to California for the Douglases, and a quick wedding for Rob. Each season starting with 8, through the end of the series, Tibbles drove the scripts with major-change arcs. After the season 8 changes, future-season major changes involve Katie's pregnancy culminating in the birth of triplets for season 9, Steve's marriage to Barbara in season 10, which introduced Beverly Garland to the show (and her 5 year old daughter Dodie, played by Dawn Lyn), and Chip's elopement with Polly for season 11, introducing Ronne Troup playing Polly. Season 12's arc introduced Steve's cousin Fergus from Scotland, and another wedding, for him. A little drama for this season involved Don Grady's exit from the show, and probably some angst on how to handle it.

Who knows what Tibbles would have come up with for a 13th season? Having AITF as its lead in certainly could have driven better ratings, as could have a 1970s-appropriate arc to open the season.

I have been a fan of M3S since I started watching in in syndication in the 1990s. I particularly like the California years, and narrowing it down even more, really like the Beverly Garland seasons--I would have liked even more of them. Season 13 could have explored more scripts for young Dodie, and following Ernie into college. Possibly some scripts with what he encounters in college, which would be a focus change new to the show.

I continue my interest in the shoddy way Paramount has handled the show on home video. Not much I can do about it other than complain. The last half of season 11 and all of season 12 have never been officially syndicated, so the original show masters have never even been remastered to videotape, as seasons 6 thru the first half of season 11 were. All I can do about that is hope that somehow this will change in the future.

[stevea]

Another note about the Fergus arc which opened season 12: the Fergus character was introduced briefly around season 4, but at that time he was not a dead ringer for Steve Douglas.

[paul.austin]

Teenage Dodie has potential =that's *if* Fedderson don't do his unforced error of late seasons Buffy Davis on her.

[James28]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I'll address this, as although the persistence apparently will not stop, I want to give a personal perspective to stem the tide. My Three Sons (the CBS seasons) and Family Affair (also CBS) have long been my favorite sitcoms, going back to the decade of the '70s. To a lesser extent also Nanny and the Professor (ABC). From the time the 1st color episode rerun burst onto the syndication scene in the mid-to-late '70s I have been fascinated by M3S. There are several color eps I've watched many times, and even now continue to do so.

In his book on sitcoms, Rick Mitz showed a full-page photo from the ABC b & w seasons which was also pretty fascinating, as I'd never seen any of those episodes. There was only a snippet or two of ABC stock footage in CBS color episodes, like when Steve talks to very young Chip about being married someday. When Mitz called the series a "front runner" as opposed to an "also ran," I was pleased to see his respect for it.

So we come to the subject of cancellation of the series. Yes it had become a very long-running series. But generally I don't believe in the "less is more" philosophy some have. I am not the best critic of script quality and I don't profess to be. But I know what I like and to this day I continue to find plenty to like about the later M3S, regardless of whether the last couple of seasons "hold up" overall. I am also a fan to a somewhat lesser extent of All In the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H*, and The Bob Newhart Show, CBS's new wave of shows. My recent DVD purchases have included Newhart's series for example. But I don't care to pit M3S against what was considered more modern or appealing to upscale urban viewers, I just don't care about stuff that amounted to decisions based on advertisers' drives for maximum profits. I used to watch the 4 CBS series I've just mentioned in first-run primetime. They were with me from a very young age. I remember very well when TMTMS had its special final episode, I was watching, and of course later M*A*S*H* likewise.

I so wish Beverly Garland and Tina Cole could have had more seasons of M3S. They were in their prime and I find it disheartening that their roles ended when they did. They continued acting but for the most part in just guest or lesser recurring roles. I also wish Dawn Lyn growing into a young adult could have been documented through more M3S. As Bewitched had proven by surviving Dick York's exit, a sitcom can survive the loss of a major cast member, which led me to speculate on how M3S could have best continued without Don Grady.

I come to this site for info and enjoyment. I like exploring M3S and in the process noticing details I'd overlooked. I have enough grief in my personal life, I'm dealing with a stupid error by the Indiana tax bureau right now. I don't want to come here and debate whether my favorite sitcom had become a "tired-assed" series. I like it for what it was, including seasons 11 & 12 for sure. The special ending like the one TMTMS enjoyed never happened for Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Family Affair, M3S, The Beverly Hillbillies, and other older series. It just generally was not done. Those older shows were unceremoniously dumped, despite what they had done for their network. Doris Day's series was prolonged by a switch from rural to urban. Who knows what adjustments could have come to M3S if it had continued. Marijuana is mentioned in what proved to be the final M3S episode, who knows if there would've been significant modernization. CBS did what they thought was in their best interests, no question, but any idea of my congratulating them or somehow applauding their actions is neither necessary nor worthy of my speculation regarding their successes back then.

So I've rambled on here greatly, but the bottom line is M3S is a lot more to me than what some believe became just a mundane, boring, "tired," or dated sitcom that CBS needed to axe in 1972 after moving it to a horrendous family-unfriendly time slot and killing its former perennial Top 20 ratings status in a very competitive, 3-network '70s environment.

A nice three-Olympiad run for My Three Sons already looks fine enough; a 13th-season renewal would have meant a commitment for one more Olympiad. Just think: A 1975 episode of My Three Sons? MTS being scheduled after AitF during year 12 as a last-ditch effort to save MTS would deadlock CBS into keeping MTS around for those next four years, and CBS's new wave of post-Rural Purge shows will get held back because of it. What about the compatibility between them AitF and MTS? Would there have been any viewership drop-off between them? What would've happened with MTS in the ensuing years if CBS had renewed it anyway? And why couldn't MTS have gone to first-run syndication if it wanted to continue its run so badly? I already know how limited space on a broadcast network's primetime schedule is.

Personally, I would've much rather have had a two-part series finale of My Three Sons produced at the end of its season 12 after "Whatever Happened to Ernie?".

[paul.austin]

Again, teenage Dodie has potential. So would have teenage Buffy. You just have to inject Fedderson with Demoral in a permanent way and earlier to let M3S and FA survive - and more, importantly free Anissa and Dawn from Don's baffling and creepy actions.