My Three Sons 

Widower Steve Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and is later aided by the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.

Stars:

Fred MacMurray, Stanley Livingston, Don Grady

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Fred MacMurray	...	Steve Douglas / ... 380 episodes, 1960-1972
Stanley Livingston	...	Chip Douglas 380 episodes, 1960-1972
Don Grady	...	Robbie Douglas / ... 379 episodes, 1960-1972
Barry Livingston	...	Ernie Thompson Douglas / ... 237 episodes, 1963-1972
William Demarest	...	Uncle Charley O'Casey 215 episodes, 1965-1972
Tim Considine	...	Mike Douglas 185 episodes, 1960-1965
William Frawley	...	Michael Francis 'Bub' O'Casey 165 episodes, 1960-1965

Storyline

Widower Steven Douglas is left to bring up three boys all by himself with the aide of his housekeeper "Uncle Charlie". The series revolves around the trials and tribulations of life's experiences as a single parent family.

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Plot Keywords:

college | widower | uncle | single parent | laugh track | 

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Taglines:

Fred MacMurray learns boys will be boys as he tries to keep order in his household. In color. (season seven)

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Fred MacMurray Show

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Television Network,Don Fedderson Productions,Gregg-Don Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (369 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (1960-1965) Color (1965-1972)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

At Fred MacMurray's insistence, all episodes were filmed out of sequence during the show's entire run using a technique now known as the MacMurray method. MacMurray would do all of his scenes in 65 nonconsecutive days. The cast regulars got haircuts once a week in order to maintain continuity. Guest stars would have to return months later to complete an episode. All kitchen scenes would be done together, then all scenes in the upstairs hallway would be filmed together, etc. This fact was well concealed until Dawn Lyn joined the cast as Dodie. Her upper front teeth grew in irregularly during the entire 1969-70 season, from being barely visible in scenes with MacMurray to being plainly visible in scenes without him. William Frawley never felt comfortable with this method of filming, having grown accustomed to filming I Love Lucy in sequence during its entire run.

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Quotes

Robbie Douglas: Beanbrain!
Mike Douglas: Knothead!

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Connections

Referenced in The George Carlin Show: George Destroys a Way of Life (1994)

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Soundtracks

My Three Sons
Written and Performed by Frank De Vol (1960-1972)

User Reviews

Disney's Unofficial Show

When this show first came on, a lot of people called it a Disney show due to the fact that Fred MacMurray and Don Grady, who both appeared in Disney Films. This show was definitely the one of the first ones to deal with single parenthood, but it dealt with it in a humorous manner. This was also one of the few shows that survived a change in networks when it jumped from A.B.C. to rival C.B.S. in 1965. And that wasn't the only change. Like many other shows that year, it went from black and white to color. However, unlike many other shows, it managed to make the transition very easily and, ironically, it stayed on for an additional seven years on C.B.S. as opposed to the five that it was on A.B.C.. However, one thing that really changed when it went through all those changes was the fact that many people said that the A.B.C. episodes were more adventurous and were often very surreal. Hopefully, one of these days both eras of this show will be released and the fans of the show will be able to choose for themselves.