MovieChat Forums > The Donna Reed Show (1958) Discussion > Episode Just a Housewife Why Food Served...

Episode Just a Housewife Why Food Served Cold?


In the episode Donna takes food straight out of the refrigerator and they appear to eat it. Some of it looked like food you'd serve warm or hot. Why would the writers and directors do this? Did they think the audience would not care?

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If it was, in fact, food that isn't eaten cold I don't know. Could be a case of wanting eating in the scene and fear of spoilage on the set.

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Thanks. I guess back then there wasn't much concern over people noticing a lot of detail in a show.

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Just looked at the episode and it's hard to make things out due to the resolution but it could be a cold dinner. The main dish, and easiest to see, looks like some kind of thinly sliced meat, maybe ham, which can be served cold. Another dish looks like mashed potatoes but it could be potato salad, coleslaw or some other cold side. Contents of the third is hidden in a bowl but the daughter seems to take a flat, round object from it so perhaps it's some kind of cold croquette, but it's very hard to make out.

You'd think a TV show with a domestic setting would want to portray an accurate dinner scene and have no problem accomplishing it so it's hard to believe they'd have Reed pull a hot dinner out of the fridge. It did look like mashed potatoes though. :)

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I agree with you. Likely it was food to be served cold.

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see above

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