MovieChat Forums > The Donna Reed Show (1958) Discussion > Jeff's Gift

Jeff's Gift

posted 9 years ago by allen-phil
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Some of you may recall this episode, by name or season. I believe it was '63 or '64. I still can't think of it without tearing up.
Jeff acted fast when a car's brakes failed, saving the life of a little girl. Her mother happened to be 'the richest lady in town', and she offered him anything he wanted. What would a high-school teen want..how about a sportscar! Or, what, college tuition..a wardrobe..etc? He's starting to get on people's nerves as he broadcasts the possibilities.
So,..he goes by the hospital to visit the girl. She's got her own room, but he notices the halls are lined with gurneys--some with other children!--for lack of space, he's told. His gift becomes the hospital's: an entire new wing. Wow.
Please tell me: have you seen anything remotely like this on a TV comedy in the last few decades? Surely, important social issues as they enter teens' awarenesses have been administered by the fairly sugary medicine of situation comedy.
There should be a place to gather such examples of moral growth among teens. The only requirement: the show must have a laugh track.

[–] FlushingCaps 9 years ago

Very nice episode, I say after reading your description.

I will allow that the majority of teenagers in the early 60s would have focused more on themselves and not asked for what Jeff did. I will also opine that, while the majority of kids in the decades since might also have just thought of something for themselves, there are still a decent number today who would have asked the rich woman to do something equally generous for others.

But if a sitcom of today had a writer turn in a script where a teenager does such a thing, the producer would probably reject it because it seems "unbelievable."

If there's an exception to what I just said, it would probably be Last Man Standing, where in a couple of episodes they have had one or more of the teenage daughters do some really nice thing for others in a nice, and believable, way.