Who do you prefer,Bub or uncle Charley? I quite liked them both.But if I had to choose,I would go with Bub.William Frawley was more familiar to me.(Plus doing the show was among the highlights of his life.)(Apparently he couldn't stand William Demearest.)
Bub. The show was better then, and the writing was better. And Bub was crotchety but ultimately a fun guy to be around. Uncle Charley was just a miserable old grouch.
I like Uncle Charley, and William Demerest who played him. I don't know what Charley's background was, but, I tend to think he may have been in the armed services from the way he talks. Calling women, "dames", and tomatoes".
I think there was a pushy, obnoxious woman that was making their lives miserable. Can't remember who played her, but I think she was only on the episode where Charlie showed up. Bub was supposed to have moved to Ireland. Charlie, who was still in the Merchant Marines, showed up for a visit, and they ended up begging him to stay. I too was too young to remember Bub except in re-runs. We watched this show religiously until it went off the air, and Charlie is the one I remember and prefer. Every time I see William Fraley, I just think Fred Mertz.
Fedocia Barnett, played memorably by Reta Shaw, was the housekeeper between Bub and Charley. They could have gotten a few more episodes out of her - she was funny, and she played off the kids really well.
Apparently there WAS something between William Frawley and William Demearest off screen. Frawley apparently couldn't stand Demearest for whatever reason.
Most definitely Bub! He had a much better personality than Uncle Charlie. In fact, I feel the introduction of Uncle Charley was the beginning of the downhill trends of the show. The "Mike, Robbie, Chip & Bub" years were superior.
Bub. Besides the fact that William Frawley was a familiar face that everyone already grew up watching, the character was really funny and seemed to really care about his grandsons. The Uncle Charley character always seemed very ill-tempered and not nearly as warm as Bub was.