My Three Sons
| My Three Sons | |
|---|---|
 My Three Sons opening titles | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring | Fred MacMurray William Frawley William Demarest Don Grady Stanley Livingston Barry Livingston Tim Considine Meredith MacRae Tina Cole Beverly Garland Dawn Lyn Ronne Troup Daniel, Joseph, and Michael Todd |
| Theme music composer | Frank De Vol |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 380 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Don Fedderson] |
| Producers | Peter Tewksbury (1960-61) George Tibbles (1961-62) Edmund L. Hartmann (1962-72) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production companies | Don Fedderson Productions (1960–1972) Gregg-Don, Inc. (1960–1965) MCA Television (1960–1965) CBS Productions (1965–1972) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC (1960–1965) CBS (1965–1972) |
| Picture format | Black-and-white (1960–65) Color (1965–72) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 29, 1960 – April 13, 1972 |
My Three Sons is an American sitcom. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on April 13, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of widower and aeronautical engineer Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray) as he raises his three sons.
The series originally featured William Frawley as the boys' live-in maternal grandfather, Bub O'Casey. William Demarest, playing Bub's brother, replaced Frawley in 1965 due to Frawley's health issues. In September 1965, eldest son Mike married and his character was written out of the show. To keep the emphasis on "three sons", a new son named Ernie was adopted. In the program's final years, Steven Douglas remarried and adopted his new wife's young daughter Dorothy ("Dodie").
The series was a cornerstone of the ABC and CBS lineups in the 1960s. With 380 episodes produced, it is second only to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (14 seasons, 1952 - 1966, 434 episodes) and tied with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (12 seasons) as television's longest-running live-action sitcom. Disney producer Bill Walsh often mused on whether the concept of the show was inspired by the movie The Shaggy Dog (1959 film), as in his view they shared "the same dog, the same kids, and Fred MacMurray".
