MovieChat Forums > My Three Sons (1960) Discussion > Keep Mike as an exisiting character

Keep Mike as an exisiting character


I wonder why they never even had him VISIT the new house or give his triplet nephews a present, or meet his stepmother or his new sisters in law Katie and POlly? I guess it would have meant Steve had FOUR sons.

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I always heard Tim Considine wanted never to return to show, but I think they should have at least mentioned his character, especially when big things happened.

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I still wanted him to at least VISIT maybe when the triplets were born, when the family moved, and when Steve, Robbie and CHip got married.

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Tim Considine had a rocky departure from the show. He wanted to write and direct (he had written a few episodes before he left) more but producer Don Fedderson didn't want him to. I think both sides were irritated with each other at the time of departure.

Tim did return for the 1977 reunion, but it's a shame he didn't show up once in a while in the color episodes.

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I always wished that Mike had at least been mentioned occasionally. Like in Bonanza. Pernell Roberts left the show, and every once in a while Ben Cartwright mentioned receiving a letter from Adam. My Three Sons could have done the same with Mike.

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That's what I agree with.

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Mike was mentioned at least once or twice. I believe one time was in the episode where Steve visited his old girlfriend.

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One time they wrote a line from Steve to Robbie (after they found out Katie was pregnant) where Steve said "the first of you". I thought it was pretty poor that they couldn't just say "Mike". However, we're watching it in syndication and it was only four months ago that we saw Mike. Possibly they were considering that younger viewers (or new viewers) wouldn't know who they were talking about.

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When I was a kid I only ever saw the color episodes, so I had no idea about Mike.

At some point in the rerun cycle the very first color episode aired. The first scene of that episode is Mr. Douglas saying good bye to Mike. So Tim Considene is in at least one color episode, albeit for about 40 seconds.

It was very strange for them not to at least mention him when Robbie got married.

It's almost like they altered the continuity. The way on Make Room For Daddy Danny's second wife became his first wife, and the children her's as well.

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Such an enjoyable show. The complete non reference to Mike in later years was a massive error IMHO. The show should have just replaced Tim Considine (if he no longer wanted to appear) in order to reprise the role of Mike for occasional later (seasons 7-12) appearances. This Mike and his family angle could have added to the show.

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Good question. I had wondered that myself. It's one of those mysteries of television. He was never even MENTIONED. It's like he never existed.

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I think I remember them saying Dodie going to visit Mike and his wife.

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I had wondered that myself. It's one of those mysteries of television. He wad never even MENTIONED. It's like he never existed.

That happens on many shows, where the character is written-out of the series and never heard from or mentioned again.

MASH
did that with some of the early "side" characters, like
-Spearchucker
-Ugly John

on Law & Order, though there were transition episodes at the start of the next season with a successor (Ben Stone departing, Jack McCoy arriving), in some cases, two prominent characters in the early seasons suddenly disappeared:

-Asst. to the DA Paul Robinette. Suddenly, Jill Kincaid, the new DA asst., arrives with no explanation as to what happened to Paul (except for years later when he's in private practice).
-Capt. Cragen. Same as above.

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And lets not forget Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days

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