RIP Don Grady, who you may remember as Robbie Douglas on...

Wikipedia fun facts:

And why did the series move from ABC to CBS in 1966?

Because ABC didn't want to commit to the expense of producing it in color.

And in a crossthread to the SCOTUS discussion . . .

Frawley left the show because Desilu declared him "too ill to work" and the producers could no longer find insurance for him.

 

I don't remember where I saw it (Entertainment Tonight? TV Land? E?), but there was a mini-doc on the show which said that McMurray was a big acquisition for the show, but he insisted on still doing movies, which they would have to schedule around when they came up.

This would result in episodes being filmed concurrently and a lot of scenes out of order. An actress who played one of the daughters-in-law said she would show up for a scene after coming out of wardrobe, then be told that it was the totally wrong outfit because they were filming a different episode.

 

MacMurray was indeed a major Hollywood star. Shaggy Dog, The Apartment, The Caine Mutiny (I think) come to mind.

Kinda off topic, but when I was in college MacMurray was on television as
an award presenter. I'm sitting in my dorm room experimenting with narcotics (for one of the first and few times). When he appeared on the little screen, I screamed, "He's 800 years old!" Was pretty stoned. Always thought he looked a little old to be Chip and Ernie's dad.

 

Well, Ernie was adopted.

Which is pretty off the wall: Two flesh and blood brothers playing brothers not related by blood.

And to last for 12 years despite never rating in the top 10 is pretty odd, too.

 

Double Indemnity was one of his big ones.

 

If I remember right, Ernie was Chip's friend, and when his family was moving away, he was adopted by the Douglas family.

And mpcincal was right about McMurray structuring the shooting days. His scenes would be filmed together so he could have time off to do movies. So they might film four or five breakfast scenes in a row one day and shoot the rest of the episode without him.

 

A guy at work was talking about this last night. He said McMurray was one of the richest actors in Hollywood, having bought tons of real estate. He said that McMurray would shoot all of his scenes for the whole season in about 2 weeks. The rest of the actors never saw him after that.
Pretty interesting stuff.

 

I assume by "too ill" they meant "too drunk," which he often was.

I saw Grady and the Livingston brothers at some kind of Nick at Nite event 20 years ago or so. Grady was the most chatty--he talked about how Frawley was STILL at war with Vivian Vance when Frawley was on "My Three Sons" and Vance was on "The Lucy Show." He'd goad the boys into playing tricks on Vance when she was shooting on a nearby stage.