My Three Sons ran from 1960 to 1972, airing on two different networks over the course of that run. It is an incredible streak, second only to The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet as television's longest running live-action family sitcom. The program aired on ABC from 1960 to 1965, and all of those episodes were produced in black and white. When the network would not commit to producing the show in color, the producers took it to CBS.
The end result of ABC’s decision to abandon a top-20 rated show rather than produce it in color would not be felt for a few years. But when My Three Sons went into syndication, the black and white era was largely forgotten. I had never seen any of these early seasons before their DVD release, and there are some big differences between the ABC and CBS years.
For one thing, there is an older brother named Mike, who attends a local college. For a young man living in a fraternity, Mike spends a lot of time at home, but occasionally is shown in the frat house. Actor Tim Considine left the show just before the move to CBS, and his character was written off as having gotten married. Like Chuck on Happy Days, Mike Douglas simply vanished afterward, never to been seen, or even spoken of, ever again.
The other major difference is the inclusion of William Frawley. The basic premise of My Three Sons is that Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) is a widower, doing his best to raise his boys. Fred Mertz... er... William Frawley, plays Steve’s father-in-law, a man with the unlikely name of Bub, who is helping Steve out. Frawley actually appeared in a few of the color episodes, but was written out due to health concerns. He was replaced with William Demarest as Uncle Charley.
This background is important, because these characters brought a completely different feel to the show than what a lot people might be familiar with. Season began in the fall of 1961, and there is a definite “Space-Age” vibe to it. The fact that Steve Douglas is an aeronautical engineer, which is treated as a pretty sexy job, is an interesting cultural marker. There are occasional references to World War II also, which at the time was far more recent history.
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