Mr. French Was So Portly On Family Affair. He Was Such A BEAR

I always loved the opening of the show the music with the colorful kaleidoscope shapes. There was always something so depressing about "Family Affair" that the cheery Frank DeVol music couldn't hide. R1- I agree. There was an underlying sadness to the whole show. My favorite part of the show when I was a kid

I always loved the opening of the show the music with the colorful kaleidoscope shapes.

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by Anonymousreply 44August 27, 2022 1:49 AM

There was always something so depressing about "Family Affair" that the cheery Frank DeVol music couldn't hide.

by Anonymousreply 1August 21, 2022 6:46 PM

R1- I agree. There was an underlying sadness to the whole show. My favorite part of the show when I was a kid and would watch the repeats on Channel 11 WPIX in the 1970's was the opening.

by Anonymousreply 2August 21, 2022 6:54 PM

Both Buffy and Uncle Bill ultimately took their own lives.

by Anonymousreply 3August 21, 2022 6:55 PM

R3- I know. Buffy offed herself WAY back in 1976. She was only 18 years old.

by Anonymousreply 4August 21, 2022 7:05 PM

Mr. French and the kids out on the patio.

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by Anonymousreply 5August 21, 2022 8:27 PM

Mr French looked really fat to me as a small child. Today he looks slightly overweight.

by Anonymousreply 6August 21, 2022 8:48 PM

Buffy (Anissa Jones) didn't intend to die. She got caught up in hard drugs and accidentally overdosed.

by Anonymousreply 7August 21, 2022 10:06 PM

R7 is correct. Her brother also overdosed and died when he was 24.

by Anonymousreply 8August 21, 2022 10:09 PM

This thread took a sad turn

by Anonymousreply 9August 21, 2022 10:11 PM

I always hated Family Affair when I was little. It would be the final show in the syndicated afternoon/early evening lineup on one of the local channels in my town and that meant I had to go to bed.

by Anonymousreply 10August 21, 2022 10:15 PM

It was such a strange show.

It pushed tons of 60s frau buttons: the fabulous apartment with the penthouse views, the super-serious children who were always immaculately dressed and who rarely smiled or misbehaved, the ideal teenage big sister in Sissy, Mr. French's fussy Britishness and his insistence on calling Jodie "Master Jodie"...

It was never, ever funny. It was just sentimental.

by Anonymousreply 12August 21, 2022 11:10 PM

It was on for 5 years and people loved it. As did I.

by Anonymousreply 13August 21, 2022 11:17 PM

I recall an especially morose episode where one of Buffy’s friends is dying of leukemia. Hilarity ensued!

by Anonymousreply 14August 22, 2022 1:01 AM

And the dying friend was played by Eve "Jan Brady" Plumb!

I didn't much like Family Affair when I was a kid, but I kind of do as an adult, precisely because it's sad and morose even though it's a freaking kiddie sitcom. It's just so profoundly odd that I have to respect it. The younger kids were always making friends with children who were dying, or so poor that their mother fed them sugar sandwiches, or latchkey kids whose single mother left then alone all night while she tripped the light fantastic with a series of "uncles." And hey, remember the multi-part episode in which the twins were lost in Europe? Like completely lost, wandering around alone and sleeping in haystacks. What other sitcom has done that?

Also, Unca Bill didn't know how to pronounce Terre Haute (he said hut rather than hote), and everybody copied his pronunciation, which is always good for a laugh.

by Anonymousreply 15August 22, 2022 1:12 AM

Unlike The Brady Bunch, the kids were haunted by the loss of their parents in almost every episode. I don't think BB even mentioned the deceased parents. In one, Jody is obsessed with his teacher June Lockhart. Sissy sees her and immediately notes that she's a ringer for her mom.

Episodes of both shows dealt with bullying. The Brady parents go to see the bullys parents and are laughed at. Sissy tries to talk to the bully's mom and gets much the same reactions. The interesting twist is that when Uncle Bill confronts the father, he tries to fight Bill but Bill kicks his ass and the bullying stopped.

The jewels and kaleidoscope were based on Auntie Mame's title sequence. Orphans coming to NY to live with a worldly relative.

by Anonymousreply 16August 22, 2022 1:52 AM

[quote] And hey, remember the multi-part episode in which the twins were lost in Europe? Like completely lost, wandering around alone and sleeping in haystacks. What other sitcom has done that?

You have to give them a lot of credit for being daring with that story arc. Not many shows at the time would have had the balls to show Jodie peddling his ass on the streets of Marseilles so he and Buffy could eat each day.

by Anonymousreply 17August 22, 2022 1:57 AM

It's just a kitchen, just a dirty ol' kitchen!

by Anonymousreply 18August 22, 2022 2:12 AM

Mrs. Beasley scared the shit out of me as a kid. Anissa Jones also hated having to lug the doll around for promotional events.

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by Anonymousreply 19August 22, 2022 2:25 AM

R19- Mrs. Beasley was rather PLAIN.

by Anonymousreply 20August 22, 2022 3:21 AM

But did Jody ever figure out how to smuggle franks & beans to a hungry pal in a flashlight R16?

Huh?!?

Didn’t think so.

by Anonymousreply 21August 22, 2022 3:58 AM

Poor Anissa Jones . Her life was so sad and tragic . She never had a childhood

by Anonymousreply 22August 22, 2022 4:31 AM

They should re-edit it so French and Bill are a couple.

by Anonymousreply 23August 22, 2022 4:34 AM

"Oh, shit, we forgot to do a credit sequence."

"You know what would be FABULOUS? I'll put a bunch of RHINESTONES on a turntable and we can shoot it through a KALEIDOSCOPE!"

" ... Uh, OK. Hey, somebody call Frank DeVol and see if he has some music lying around."

by Anonymousreply 24August 22, 2022 4:40 AM

The FULL Family Affair theme song

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by Anonymousreply 25August 22, 2022 4:44 AM

It's not a garden, r1, it's a kitchen. A dirty...ol'... kitchen.

by Anonymousreply 26August 22, 2022 4:56 AM

R19, I was terrified of the Mrs. Beasley doll when I was three or four years old. My older cousin had the doll and whenever I was at her house she'd chase me around the house with it as I ran screaming. I have no idea why it frightened me so much, but it did.

by Anonymousreply 27August 22, 2022 7:39 AM

I'd never heard of him before, but when I was a kid I thought Sebastian Cabot was the most sophisticated-sounding name ever.

by Anonymousreply 28August 22, 2022 8:15 AM

[quote]I was terrified of the Mrs. Beasley doll when I was three or four years old.

Didn't she figure into a "Twilight Zone" episode many years ago? "I'm Mrs. Beasley, and I'm going to KILL you!"

by Anonymousreply 29August 22, 2022 8:19 AM

Hated the show from a young age and remember the scandalous "death by drugs" of that Buffy chick.

Fast forward to the early 80's when I'm tooling around town in my ancient VW bug listening to my college's radio station and this song comes on. I died. It was camp, sarcasm, punk, and irony all strung together. I was most likely stoned, too. I remember that whatever beverage I was drinking sprayed through my nose and onto the windshield such that I had to pull over and clean it up and stop giggling and pull myself together.

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by Anonymousreply 30August 22, 2022 9:14 AM

Blimey, I haven't seen this show since I was a tiny gayling in the 60s. I remember the kiddies.

by Anonymousreply 31August 22, 2022 9:33 AM

r29 "My name is Talky Tina....."

Sebastian Cabot played in a TZ episode. He was a devil to Larry Blyden's arrogant schmuck.

by Anonymousreply 32August 22, 2022 1:59 PM

I feel old seeing an unidentified Kathy Garver (“Cissy”) in a commercial for old people with hearing issues. Not too long ago, she was an imposter on TTTT. I recognized her immediately. None of the celebrities did.

by Anonymousreply 33August 25, 2022 8:19 PM

Jodie was adorable.

"Uncle Bill" was pronounce "Unco Bee-yō."

by Anonymousreply 35August 25, 2022 8:41 PM

If OP wants to see a naked Mr. French, find the "Poor Farmer" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.

He's getting a massage wearing only a yellow towel.

by Anonymousreply 36August 25, 2022 8:44 PM

He lived in this modest home in my neighborhood of Rancho Park. His daughter lived in it after he died and just sold it.

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by Anonymousreply 37August 25, 2022 9:00 PM

Both Sebastian Cabot and Brian Keith are buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

by Anonymousreply 38August 25, 2022 9:02 PM

Anissa needs to be remembered. She was a good soul .

by Anonymousreply 39August 26, 2022 4:46 AM

Sebastian Cabot nip slip from the aforementioned Beverly Hillbillies episode.

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by Anonymousreply 40August 26, 2022 8:37 PM

r40 Thanks for the pic. That masseur ain't half-bad either.

by Anonymousreply 41August 26, 2022 9:23 PM

Uncle Bill sitting in the bathtub shaving while Mr. French watched always struck me as odd

by Anonymousreply 42August 26, 2022 9:52 PM

He never just watched. Often he would read to him.

by Anonymousreply 43August 26, 2022 11:56 PM

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