My Three Sons

- Season 7

(1966)

Steve (Fred MacMurray) attends a bachelor party for an older co-worker, expecting just a simple dinner. However, a girl dancer (Leslie Parrish) was hired, and the party is raided by the police. Steve helps the girl slip out the back and things get complicated after that.

When preparing for a business trip, Steve realizes he could drive and take the time to stop at the town where he grew up. He takes the whole family on a vacation with him. He walks down memory lane, and the boys enjoy the trip.

Steve gets a letter from a woman he had dated a long time ago and would like for them to get together. When they meet she remembers everything about Steve, but try as he might, Steve does not remember her at all.

Chip and Ernie's school holds a father and son competition in the school subjects. The sons easily beat the fathers with the subjects they have been learning. A rematch is held on a local television station.

Not quite familiar with the Italian language or customs, Robbie (Don Grady) finds himself engaged, after walking an Italian female (Judy Cannon) through a park.

Steve has a series of bad luck connected to driving, and it does not get any better when he has to renew his driver's license. Robbie gives him an old driving manual, and Steve fails the renewal.

Robbie (Don Grady) and another student (Linda Foster) make a film for their cinema class. They use the Douglas family as their subject, and film all the quirks and oddities that go on in the house.

For entertainment, the family decides to play music together. Everyone has an instrument to play - except for Ernie. Uncle Charley tries to teach Ernie to play the violin, but finds out Ernie has no talent for music.

Robbie tries to earn extra money by starting a birthday cake delivery service at his college, meanwhile the family forgets Steve's own birthday. The home business goes great until it gets overwhelmed with orders, and health authorities get involved. Spoiler alert: The episode ends with a colorful cake and pie tossing fight in the Douglas' kitchen.

Robbie isn't doing well in his chemistry class and hires a tutor recommended by his professor. The tutor turns out to be an attractive older woman (Susan Oliver), and Robbie thinks he's in love, but he's concerned about the age difference. Complications arise when Robbie discovers that his tutor is actually dating his father, Steve, who is concerned about dating a younger woman.

Chip (Stanley Livingston) goes on a date with a teen movie star (Sherry Alberoni) thanks to Ernie (Barry Livingston), who had requested a photo of her as a birthday present for Chip. The studio's publicity man (Tommy Noonan) arranges to send the actress, in person, to Bryant Park, but Chip becomes disenchanted by all the attention which she is getting.

While on a business trip, Steve and a co-worker recognize a singer performing in a small lounge and they remember when she was big. Steve invites her to Bryant Park to learn an updated sound. The band invites her onstage at their next gig.

Ernie learns that the person with the least experience at his father's company has been laid off - his father explains that it is unfortunate, but that is just how it goes sometimes. When Ernie discovers that he's allergic to Tramp, he decides to leave home and look for a new family to adopt him, because Tramp has been with the family longer than Ernie, so Ernie is low man on the totem pole.

Chip (Stanley Livingston) wants to take his girl friend (Terry Burnham), from school, to a party. She lives with her grandma (Jeanette Nolan), who is old-fashioned and doesn't think she should date until she's 16, so Chip gets some advice from Uncle Charley (William Demarest) that eventually works. But Chip finds that once he stirs up old memories in Grandma, it's not going to be easy to get out of the house.

No one believes Ernie when he says that he saw a flying saucer, so he returns to the site with his camera and takes photographs. After Steve gets them developed, he immediately takes the photos to the government where it is explained that Ernie saw a new top secret Air Force project that went awry, but Steve isn't allowed to tell Ernie any of the classified details.

A new family moves in next door to the Douglases - a widowed mother and her three children, plus "Aunt Maude". Robbie (Don Grady) and the daughter Peggy Snell (Jackie DeShannon) get along swimmingly, but the rest of the family members are at odds with their next-door-neighbor counterparts. Robbie is caught in a Romeo & Juliet romance, until he and Peggy set Shakespearean dialog into modern songs and play them for the families.

Robbie and Steve nearly forget that trout season starts on Saturday which means it's time for their annual fishing trip together. One problem: Robbie hates fishing, but is apprehensive about telling his dad, who loves it. Meanwhile, new family member Ernie is all to eager to go along, but Steve tells him his chance will come some time in the future, after Chip - who also hates fishing - gets his chance. Ernie learns that he is considered a true Douglas family member because he can wait his turn.

Uncle Charlie bans TV for one week. Robbie and a cynical girl create a college television show.

Ernie's friends brag about the athletic abilities of their fathers, and agree to compare sports trophies that their fathers have won. To Ernie's dismay, the only trophy he can find is for debating. The kids then decide that all the fathers will compete in a 2-mile cross country race on Saturday. Steve would rather compete in bridge or playing the saxophone, but agrees to race. It turns out that all the fathers are now out of shape, and Ernie understands when Steve lets another man win the race since his son needs the boost in self esteem more than Ernie.

Uncle Charley buys a lot in a new real estate development that looks and sounds better on paper than in actuality.

Robbie has aspirations of becoming a bullfighter. He starts out by confronting a killer bull with no knowledge about the sport whatsoever. Then, after a few lessons, he tries out his skills on a farmer's pet bull, who is tame, completely harmless and disinterested.

Anticipation is high as Robbie (Don Grady) prepares to ask exchange student Denise (Marianna Hill), who he's fallen in love with, to marry him. Unfortunately, Robbie discovers that his best friend Tom (Craig Shreeve) popped the question the night before, and she accepted.

Chip's (Stanley Livingston) class has a school dance with an olden day theme. The students are to ask one of their parents to attend with them. Since Chip does not have a mother to take, he takes his father (Fred MacMurray), who is matched with Chip's date's (Susan Gordon) mother (Mary LaRoche).

Steve (Fred MacMurray) is dating Natalie (Coleen Gray), who has a teenage daughter, Melinda (Morgan Brittany). Chip (Stanley Livingston) does not like Melinda, as she seems pushy. He pretends to get along with her, so that his father has an easier time when dating her mother.

Charley (William Demarest) goes to Ernie's class and tells tales of his days of being a seaman. He exaggerates a bit, and the teacher (Jan Clayton) falls in love with the romance of the story. She quits her job and asks Charley to marry her and travel to Pango-Pango.

Ernie's new schoolmate Lazlo is a gypsy whose family lives in a camp outside town. Ernie invites them to stay with the Douglases so they move their tent to the Douglases' front yard.

To Ernie's dismay, Steve refuses to help him with his school science project. All the other kids have their parents help them and create better projects, but Ernie is the only one who ends up learning anything.

When Ernie tags along on their dates, the Douglas men have trouble telling him that he is not wanted and try to avoid him whenever they go out again.

When Ernie invites a vagabond that he befriended in the park to the house for dinner, Steve decides to not pass judgment and give Ernie the chance to realize that the guy (Eddie Foy Jr.) is nothing more than a freeloader.

To Steve's (Fred MacMurray) dismay, Robbie (Don Grady) quits school since he has been making money hand-over-fist by working for a friend's (Steve Franken) real estate company. Robbie gets a real education when a torrential rain storm reveals that the home he is showing has hidden flaws.

Uncle Charley (William Demarest) gets reacquainted with an old merchant marine shipmate (James Gregory), who invites Charley along on a sea voyage. Charley wants to go, but realizes the Douglas family needs him. The family sees that Charley wants to go, so they pretend that they are fully capable of taking care of themselves.

Steve's (Fred MacMurray) company sends him on a business trip to Hawaii and includes the entire family for an all-expenses-paid vacation. Charley (William Demarest) reminisces about his merchant marine days, and the girl he left behind in Honolulu. Charley has forgotten that she has aged quite a bit since he last saw her, and, after they meet, he does all he can to avoid her. Meanwhile, Robbie (Don Grady) runs into a girl (Susan Seaforth Hayes) he knew back home.