History Series / MyThreeSons

* CompanionCube: Dodie's puppet doll, Myrtle,[[note]]most likely [[FollowTheLeader following the lead]] of Series/FamilyAffair with Buffy and her doll[[/note]] although it was used less as the series went on and Dodie aged.

%% * DomCom

DomCom starring Creator/FredMacMurray as Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half of ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Also in the cast were Creator/WilliamFrawley and later William Demarest. The show aired on Creator/{{ABC|US}} (1960–65) and then Creator/{{CBS}} (1965–72), for a total of 378 episodes over 12 seasons.

DomCom about Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower, raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Starred Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/WilliamFrawley and William Demarest. The show aired on Creator/{{ABC|US}} (1960–65) and then Creator/{{CBS}} (1965–72), a total of 378 episodes over 12 seasons.

DomCom about Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower, raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Starred Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/WilliamFrawley and William Demarest. The show lasted from 1960 to 1972, a total of 378 episodes in 12 seasons.

* TeensAreShort: Mike, Robbie and eventually Chip and Ernie, are considerably shorter than their father through their teens and (with Mike and Robbie) even into their twenties. Could be explained by their taking after their mother's family; Mike, Robbie and Chip are about the height of Grandpa Bub.

* LoveObstructiveParents: Steve mentions in ''The Elopement'' that his father-in-law, Bub, fought him every step of the way when he wanted to marry his first wife. The show's premise and their interactions throughout the series suggest they got over it.

* OverprotectiveDad: Steve mentions in ''The Elopement'' that his father-in-law, Bub, fought him every step of the way when he wanted to marry his first wife. The show's premise and their interactions throughout the series suggest they got over it.

DomCom about Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower, raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Starred Creator/FredMacMurray and William Demarest. The show lasted from 1960 to 1972, a total of 378 episodes in 12 seasons.

** "Kate" for Katherine Douglas, Robbie's wife.

** AND the exception. Barbara, Steve's second-wife, is Barbara. Never Barb, or Barbie!

* PantyShot: in particular, it's "I see Paris, I see France, I see Dodie's underpants!"

* FaintInShock: Miss Pitts faints when she sees [[NotWhatItLooksLike what appears to be]] Chip beating his grandfather's dead body. (ItMakesSenseInContext.))

* {{Fainting}}: Miss Pitts does this after [[NotWhatItLooksLike mistakenly]] believing [[ItMakesSenseInContext Chip beat his grandfather's dead body]].

* AbsenteeActor: Sort of. Fred [=MacMurray=]'s contract allowed him to shoot ''all'' his scenes for the season in a short time frame, allowing him much more time off than would normally be available to a series star. This meant that an episode was almost never completed all at once, and the other actors regularly found themselves shooting scenes that belonged to episodes for which [=MacMurray=]'s contribution had been done weeks or even months before. The staff had to be very meticulous about things like wardrobe, props, makeup, etc. to preserve continuity, making sure that, for example, haircuts didn't vary much over the course of a season so that scenes shot weeks or months apart would match in the finished product.

** Mike Douglas, played by Tim Considine, who left after the first color episode of the 1965-1966 season when he grew tired of the role. He was married to his girlfriend, Sue Ann (played by Meredith [=MacRae=]), and the two moved out east... never to return. The resultant void was filled by Ernie (Chip's orphaned friend, played by Stanley Livingston's real-life brother, Barry).

* OldSchoolChivalry. Moments of this occur throughout the series, like when Bub tells Robbie tuck his shirt in after a lady enters their house in ''Chip Off the Old Block'', or when Mike offers to drive a girl home rather than let her walk in ''Brotherly Love''.

* OverprotectiveDad: Steve mentions in ''The Elopement'', that his father-in-law, Bub, fought him every step of the way when he wanted to marry his first wife. The show's premise and their interactions throughout the series suggest they got over it.

* ParanormalEpisode: In the episode "Coincidence." After wishing that he'd have had three girls instead of boys, Steve gives a ride to a mysterious hitchhiker visible only to himself. In a unknown neighborhood on the other side of town, Steve's car breaks down and he seeks help at a house with a widow, her mother-in-law and her three daughters - the distaff counterparts of his family, down to being the same age with similar names.

** Mike Douglas, played by Tim Considine, who left after the first color episode of the 1965-1966 season when he grew tired of the role. He was married to his girlfriend, Sue Ann (played by Meredith [=MacRae=]), and the two moved out east ... never to return. His role was replaced by Ernie (Chip's orphaned friend, played by Stanley Livingston's real-life brother, Barry).
** Robbie Douglas, the middle son played by Don Grady, who left the show in 1971. Robbie, who followed his father into engineering, was sent to an extended construction project in Peru.

-->'''Robbie:''' I'm just thinking about how much I love you.....and my three sons.

DomCom about Steven Douglas, a wise, kindly widower, raising his three sons by himself; kind of like half ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. Starred Creator/FredMacMurray and William [=Demarest=]. The show lasted from 1960 to 1972, a total of 378 episodes in 12 seasons.

* MissingMom: Steve's first wife had died at some point before the series began, leaving him a widower with three sons. At some later point, Steve hires his father-in-law (his first wife's father), Michael "Bub" O'Casey (William Frawley), to help manage the household. The first wife's uncle, Charles ("Uncle Charlie") O'Casey, Bub's brother, takes over in 1965.

** "Bub" for William O'Casey

** Chip's original best friend "Sudsy" for Hubert Pfeiffer.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: The entire plot of ''The Little Ragpicker''. Miss Pitts, a neighbor, thinks the Douglas men are criminally dangerous, because of a few out-of-context moments.

** Chips original best friend "Sudsy" for Hubert Pfeiffer.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Bud and Steve play with this dynamic, especially in the episode "Brotherly Love." The former thinks his grandsons should solve their problems with fisticuffs, while the latter thinks they should resolve it with diplomacy. However, Bud is the homemaker and Steve is the breadwinner.