Customer Reviews

Family Affair: Season Four

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Despite a general lack of inventiveness, Season #4 for Don Fedderson & Company's "Family Affair" overcomes the usual fourth year fatigue with predictably good performances by Anissa Jones and Johnnie Whitaker as Buffy and Jody Davis, and several good plots for Kathy Garver's Cissy and Sebastian Cabot's French. Brian Keith, his toupee darkened to a cinnamon-brown, is only half-present, though his repartee with the kids is still terrifically warm. Episode 7 finds Buffy nursing a broken leg (for a script apparently whipped up on the spot when Jones broke her leg in real-life). Episode 5 has Jody being wrongly accused of breaking a school window and getting suspended (not Jody!!). Episode 4 has Cissy (temporarily) leaving home. Number 2 sees a visit from Uncle Bill's pal (Dana Andrews) who spent five years in prison! Number 19 has Buffy and Jody coming into a surprise inheritance of $54.00 (which they take to the local toy store--stocked with a heap of now-collectable goodies). And 25 & 26 have the Davises vacationing in Tahiti, where Cissy falls in love with married man Michael Blodgett. Many wonderful memories and laughs in this sensitive, lightly funny '60's gem! Thanks to the website "Apartment 27A" for the episode list, which they count as 26 episodes for the season.

1. No Uncle is an Island
2. The Wings of An Angel
3. Uncle Prince Charming
4. Cissy's Apartment
5. The Jody Affair
6. With This Ring
7. What's Funny About a Broken Leg?
8. The Birthday Boy
9. The Stowaway
10. Number One Boy
11. A Tale of Two Travels
12. Maudie
13. Goodbye, Harold
14. The Girl Graduate
15. Grandpa, Sir
16. Marooned
17. Mr. Osaki's Tree
18. The Language of Love
19. The Inheritance
20. There Goes New York
21. Wouldn't It Be Loverly?
22. The Boys Against the Girls
23. The Old Cowhand
24. Angle in the Family
25. Family in Paradise Part I
26. Family in Paradise Part II
*Bonus Features

"Family Affair"--like so much of 1960s pop culture--calls us to consider our world not as it is but as it could be. And ultimately that means reconsidering on some level our own potential as well.

That said, it's becoming faddy with reviewers of old TV shows to find fault with their moral base. Some even claim that these shows' idealism is psychologically threatening to children who will be frustrated by their parents' inferiority to perfectionistic paragons like "Uncle Bill" Davis and Mr. French (or June Cleaver or Carol Brady or Cliff Huxtable...). But the real threat in the household is more likely parents who don't communicate with their children about life--and who probably haven't followed a piece of down-to-earth advice from "Family Affair" -- "When you're wrong, admit that you're wrong, and you'll be all right." A parental apology now and then can help point the kids' moral compass (and their expectations of others and themselves) in the right direction even more effectively than a rerun of "Family Affair." And anyway, assuming these idealistic '60s sitcoms are so terrible for kids, the alternative is--what?--"Desperate Housewives"?

But I digress.

If you liked the first three seasons of "Family Affair," you'll enjoy this one, too. The twins continue to deal with their own growing pains and the cultural contrasts presented by a world that doesn't always jive with the ideals Uncle Bill and Mr. French provide (for example, they encounter another one of those kids who gets away with murder in "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"). And Cissy plows through teenage growing pains of her own (which include the attentions of a charming young man that she quickly falls for--until she learns he's married).

If you're in the mood for some uplifting, heart-warming nostalgia from the 1960s, "Family Affair" is a good bet, in part because it did rather poorly in syndication and wasn't run continuously for the last few decades. (I can usually predict the plot of an episode of "The Brady Bunch" in the first minute or two). I don't really remember most of the plots from "Family Affair" and so there's a certain amount of "newness" about it that you might enjoy, too. It's almost like having a "new" '60s sitcom.

Plus, we finally get an interview with Johnny Whitaker ("Jody"), the alumnus who has done the most to milk his association with the show through public appearances and who has been conspicuously absent from special features in the last three seasonal installments.

My only criticism is that MPI Home Video seems able to find only one color photo of the cast, which it continues to run on the cover of each release. Not a big deal, but odd.

It's about time "Family Affair" was released on DVD, and it's way past time for Brian Keith to be getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That happens next June and details can be found by searching the 'net for "Star for Brian". There's even an auction page on that site with items donated by Brian's widow Victoria and Kathy Garver! "Family Affair" fans, rally 'round! Show your loyalty by buying these DVDs and supporting the STAR group!

Have all the DVDs out on this series and am very pleased with all of them. 26 episodes plus bonus features:

Disc 1:
No Uncle is an Island
The Wings of an Angel
Uncle Prince Charming
Cissy's Apartment
The Jody Affair
With this Ring

Disc 2:
What's Funny About a Broken Leg
The Birthday Boy
The Stowaway
Number One Boy
A Tale of Two Travels
Maudie

Disc 3:
Goodbye Harold
The Girl Graduate
Grandpa, Sir
Marooned
Mr. Osaki's Tree
The Language of Love

Disc 4:
The Inheritance
There Goes New York
Wouldn't It Be Loverly
The Boys Against the Girls
The Old Cowhand
Angel in the Family

Disc 5:
Family in Paradise Part 1
Family in Paradise Part 2
Bonus Features.

The bonus features are "Child Stars" which is a discussion with child stars: Kathy Garver, Pamelyn Ferdin, Jerry Mather(Leave it to Beaver, who appeared as Cissy's date on an episode of Family Affair), Veronica Cartwright, Kym Karath, and Family Affair producer John Stephens. The other bonus feature is "A Conversation with Johnny Whitaker - Part 1". Overall, I was happy with the DVD with one exception, it did not include an episode list(that also happened with my season one DVD set) and I had to go online to print a copy of the season 4 episodes. Other than that a great release. Now bring on season 5!

Great Series, tons of good family fun! Just an note on Amazon's listing of Season 4's star Tim Curry... Tim (Rocky Horror Picture Show/Home Alone 2) Curry was Mr. French in the shortlived 2002 remake which also starred Gary (Brady Bunch movies / TV's Midnight Caller)Cole; which has not been released on DVD at this time. Other than that, I own the Family Affair series which I never missed as I kid & still enjoy watching today!

This is one of the best old shows of all time i hope they continue to relise the rest of the seasons. i recomend it highley

I get really irritated when people use this review site to make unfavorable comments on t.v.shows. I thought this site was for reviewing the DVD product and its quality, not for giving a rather rudely put opinion of the show itself. I have to say it; if you don't like the show in the first place, DON'T BUY IT ON DVD, and then proceed to to try to ruin it for everyone else.

i was so pleased with the package. thanks so much for speedy delivery. this was wonderful childhood memory of mine and i will cherish it. i had a ms. beasly doll that took me on adventures like buffy and i did enjoy the fond memories.

Family Affair is wholesome entertainment which in itself is a rarity these days. Season 4, like the prior 3 seasons, delivers a good message and helps us remember the values of a few decades ago. I would recommend this series for anyone looking for a "feel-good" program, a few laughs, and a program which delivers a moral message.

Family Affair, Season 4, is just as wonderful as the previous three seasons! I haven't yet watched every episode, but I have very much enjoyed the
ones I have watched. Buffy and Jody are just as adorable as ever (although, a little taller). Cissy has grown into her prettiness and has become more
sage and sophisticated. Uncle Bill is still the (mostly) patient "father figure".....you can really feel the love he has for the children. In a recent
interview with Johnny Whitaker (who played Jody), he indicated that Brian Keith (Uncle Bill) had a deep affection for him and the girls in the cast in real life, too, not just as he played his "uncle" role. Mr. French shows his human and vulnerable side more often in episodes of Seasons 3 and 4. It
makes his character more endearing. In my personal opinion, Family Affair was one of (if not THE) best shows on television in the 1960's and early 1970's.
Let's face, folks, they (the television industry) just don't make shows like this anymore, sad to say. Family Affair had it all: Decency, humor,
intelligent - and compassionate - resolutions to problems, a real sense of family bonding, kindness, and adorable child actors, to boot! What more could
one ask for in a show? Oh, yes, there were the "romantic" episodes when Uncle Bill comes somewhat close to finding "Ms. Right!" Good, clean entertainment
for everyone! I highly recommend Family Affair, Season 4 (and the other seasons, as well).