dweilermg-1
When hearing the Patty Duke Show theme song I may have been one of millions of young viewers who thought "What the heck are Ballet Roofs?" since we had no idea what Ballet Russes was. Similarly many of us also mis-heard lyrics of theme songs of other shows such as All In The Family (By The Wigglin' Millibalde was really Boy The Way Glenn Miller Played and Gee Are All Us Soured Grapes was really Gee Our Old LaSalle Ran Great) and The Flintstones (Though The Courtesy of WHAT?!?!?) ☺
kristen_skywalker
I love love love 60's shows. I didn't grow up on them sadly but I watch them all the time now. This is one of my favorites and I'm watching a few episodes every day. The values are so much better than TV now. One of the reasons I like this show is how the parents are portrayed. I've always had a problem with how TV portrays parents as embarrassing bumbling idiots(watch any cartoon). As a child I thought out was annoying and inaccurate. Now as a parent I feel this does a disservice to parents. With patty duke you see kids respecting their parents and vice versa. Plus there always seems to be a lesson to be learned. Sometimes a parent learns something and sometimes it's a kid. Party keeps me laughing, I want to throttle Richard, and Cathy makes me relax knowing someone with sense will keep it all together
bkoganbing
Fresh from winning her Oscar for The Miracle Worker in 1962, those in control of Patty Duke's career decided that a weekly television show about as far away from the serious drama of The Miracle Worker was the way to go. Thus was fashioned The Patty Duke Show set in Brooklyn Heights, an area I'm somewhat familiar with and which was not in any way captured by the show which never got closer to Brooklyn than ABC studios back lot. It was about two cousins who could have been identical twins.As we learned from that theme that still runs through my brain, Cathy Lane was a girl who enjoyed the minuet, Ballet Russe, and crepe Suzette, while Patty Lane suffered from the fact that a hot-dog made her lose control and of course enjoyed the latest teen music. Cathy was the cousin brought up in the United Kingdom where apparently she missed the revolution in music that was happening in Liverpool. She spoke with a proper posh English accent while Patty was your typical American teen, but hardly spoke Brooklynese.So Cathy was her living with her American relations in Brooklyn Heights which consisted of Patty, her younger brother Paul Linke and parents William Schallert and Jean Byron. The situations were no different than you would have found on any of the other comedies aimed at the teen audience.Of course the playing of twins is a challenge to any player and Patty Duke met the challenge. Patty was so wholesome in her image that one forgot she had won an Oscar for a challenging role. She had good reason to worry when this show ran its course whether her career like so many other teen idols would get back on track.I did and always have liked William Schallert who's had one of the longest careers going and in his eighties is still working. He was a great father figure and got to do it all again as the Gidget series was remade in the Eighties.The Patty Duke Show did no harm to its star's career and I'm sure the residuals are nice. One thing always bothered me thought. The local teen hangout was referred to as 'the shake shop'. I've not heard that term used in my generation, my parent's generation, nor in any succeeding generations ever. If anyone ever heard that term outside the Patty Duke Show, please document.One thing's certain, you won't find a 'shake shop' in Brooklyn Heights.
pcofhod
I was born in the middle of this show being in its heyday, but thanks to syndication, I got to see it and grow up with it as a child, and again as an adult on Nick At Nite. Patty Duke has always been among my favorite actresses, and the sheer simplicity of this show was a relief in and of itself. Surrounded today as we are by base violence and drug problems and other things, the simplicity of the Patty Duke Show is a welcome respite from all that. It wouldn't win any awards for compelling writing, possibly, but its a cherished and loved show from my younger days all the same and I hope TV Land resurrects this gem of a show as well.In contrast to today's world, where TV revolves around inane writing and situations, this show truly showcased the acting talent of the actors and actresses within it, especially the fabulous Anna Marie "Patty" Duke-Pearce. Though the vehicle itself was simplistic and even somewhat "childish" in nature at times, she used the talent she had to forge two very distinct and different personalities, so distinct and different that you actually catch yourself believing there ARE two cousins, instead of one actress in two parts. The stories were very situation and character driven, without the absurdity of some of the things that we see in modern TV today. They actually had a plot, even if it was over the top and hare brained at times.The true joy of the show was the subtle morals and family and personal values the show portrayed. Like good television of any era, and especially of that time period, lessons were brought to us by wonderful fictional characters that we could identify with, that we felt we knew, recognized and loved dearly. How many times have you watched the show and wished your parents were as understanding and easy to get along with as Martin and Natalie Lane were? That your parents showed you the sort of interest that they did their daughter, son and niece? Life today is much faster and much more hectic, and often we miss out on the simplistic idea of our parents taking time out as this particular set did.The entire show was one filled with good, solid values and a lot of pure, real fun, portrayed in a very realistic, but also very funny, way. We learned to laugh at ourselves and keep ourselves going from watching this show. We learned that while life is serious, we shouldn't be overly serious with it, and that just because we laughed at a situation or ourselves, it didn't subtract from the seriousness of it.In my personal opinion, you'll find very little TV today with similar merits, honestly. The casting and acting of the show was brilliant, and I think the writing was excellent, perfect for what it was intended to be: life lessons delivered in a contemporary and fun way. I think everyone should be exposed to this show, and ones of its caliber to relearn what real, honest, good and just plain fun really is. You'd probably find yourself surprised.
