My Three Sons

My Three Sons is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seven seasons, which were filmed in color. My Three Sons chronicles the life of widower and aeronautical engineer Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray) as he raises his three sons. The series originally featured William Frawley (who had first co-starred with Fred MacMurray 25 years earlier in the film Car 99) as the boys' maternal grandfather and live-in housekeeper, William Michael Francis "Bub" O'Casey. In 1965, "Uncle Charley" (William Demarest), playing Bub's brother, replaced Frawley because of the latter's declining health. In September 1965 (when the show moved from ABC to CBS and began filming in color), eldest son Mike (Tim Considine) married fiancée Sally Ann Morrison (Meredith MacRae), and his character was written out of the show. To keep the emphasis on "three sons", original youngest son Chip's (Stanley Livingston) friend Ernie (Barry Livingston, Stanley's real-life brother) was adopted. In the program's later years, Steven Douglas married Barbara Harper (Beverly Garland) and adopted her young daughter Dorothy Anne ("Dodie") (Dawn Lyn). The series was a cornerstone of the ABC and CBS lineups in the 1960s. Disney producer Bill Walsh often mused on whether the concept of the show was inspired by the film The Shaggy Dog, as in his view they shared "the same dog, the same kids, and Fred MacMurray". A Lawrence Welk cover version of the theme song reached #12 in Canada, April 24, 1961.