The Patty Duke Show – Season Three (1965 – 1966/Final Season/Shout! Factory DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B+ Episodes: A
Even the
acting might of two Patty Dukes was not enough to best her competition during
the 1965-66 television season. During
the program’s third season, The Patty
Duke Show aired opposite The
Virginian on NBC and newcomer Lost
In Space on CBS. The series also had a poor lead in with the floundering,
once hot Ozzie and Harriet. Despite Batman replacing Ozzie and Harriet in January of 1966, ABC had announced The Patty Duke Show’s cancellation the
following month. Another factor which possibly led to the show’s
departure was the event of full color programming for the 1966-67 season.
Filming the split screen scenes between Patty and Cathy would have been
expensive in color. The series 104 episodes were announced for
syndication in March of 1966.
Patty Duke
said of the final season in The
Washington Post (April 7, 1967), “The third year of the show was a drag. By that time I was married (to TV director
Harry Falk) so I had an outside life of my own. I wasn’t at all sorry to
see the series end.”
The final
year’s episodes have a sunnier look as the series was now being filmed in Los Angeles rather than New York. The series’ theme song was
re-recorded with a bouncier beat. The plots remain family friendly with
Patty babysitting a dog in Patty Leads A
Dog’s Life, William Schaller playing a dual role as kindly Uncle Jed in A Visit From Uncle Jed and Ross battling
against his big sister in Ross Runs Away -
But Not Far.
Audiences
are treated to Duke singing Funny Little
Butterflies, to promote her feature film Billie, in the episode Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow. The series took a dramatic turn in Do You Trust Your Daughter? when Martin
mistakenly thinks Patty broke curfew, this leads to a serious father-daughter trust
issue.
The
extras are a series of public service announcements the surviving cast members
taped to promote filing for social security online. The series’ 1999
reunion movie, Still Rockin’ In Brooklyn Heights – The Patty Duke Show is also
included. The movie, though predictable, is fun. The picture and sound on the episodes are as
good as the previous set and this special looks good too. As with the
series, viewers become totally engrossed in Duke’s performance in the film,
forgetting the fact this is one actress playing two distinct
personalities.
This DVD
collection is a delight for the entire family.
You can
read more about the previous seasons at these links:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9138/The+Patty+Duke+Show
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9542/The+Patty+Duke+Show+%E2%80%93
- Fred
Grandinetti
