My Three Sons
The Return of Terrible Tom
TV Flash files “The Return of Terrible Tom” as hour 355 of 380 in the TV Flash guide — My Three Sons (1960–1972) on ABC/CBS, season 11, episode 23, aired 1971-03-13, 25 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S11E23: listed hour 355 of 380 in the My Three Sons guide, hour 23 of 24 in season 11. It aired 1971-03-13 (25 min). The listed hour before it is “Fit the Crime” (S11E22). Next is “After the Honeymoon” (S11E24).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Uncle Charley is elated when he gets word that his pugislistic shipmate and buddy is going to visit him in a few days. However, Charley is forced to concede that times and people do change when the tough-talking, bad mannered ex-sailor he once knew isn't so terrible anymore.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Return of Terrible Tom sit in the My Three Sons guide?
S11E23 is listed hour 355 of 380 — hour 23 of 24 in season 11, season 11 episode 23.
When did My Three Sons S11E23 air?
The Return of Terrible Tom aired 1971-03-13 and is listed at 25 minutes.
Where should I start?
MacMurray's Steve Douglas in an early ABC household hour is the calm contract. If you want the later CBS years, Uncle Charley (William Demarest) is the caretaker shift after Bub.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Widower Steve Douglas raised boys across twelve seasons while the household roster shifted in public. Fred MacMurray's unflappable dad — and the Hollywood legend of his block-shot schedule — made long-haul family sitcom into comfort infrastructure. Single-dad domestic engineering at industrial scale.
The household is the long form. *My Three Sons* (ABC then CBS, 1960–1972) ran twelve seasons of widower Steve Douglas raising boys while the roster shifted in public. Fred MacMurray's unflappable dad is the calm center of multi-cam domestic engineering. Production lore still notes MacMurray's efficient all-his-scenes-in-blocks shooting method — Hollywood efficiency as a shooting grammar, not as a scandal. William Frawley's Bub and later William Demarest's Uncle Charley anchored the house as Chip, Robbie, Mike,…
Filed against
- Fred MacMurray as Steve Douglas
Fred MacMurray raised boys across twelve seasons as Steve Douglas on My Three Sons — unflappable widower dad, a household roster that shifted in public, long-haul family sitcom as comfort infrastructure. Single-dad domestic engineering on…
- William Frawley as Bub O'Casey
William Frawley’s Fred Mertz is I Love Lucy’s landlord as a second marriage the country thought it owned — six seasons of live-audience architecture, Desilu timing, blocking every multi-cam still copies. On TV Flash he is the downstairs…
- William Demarest as Uncle Charley
William Demarest’s Jeb Gaine rode Tales of Wells Fargo as frontier-circuit muscle beside Dale Robertson’s soft-spoken company agent — top-ten western of the boom — then kept My Three Sons’ long-haul household as Uncle Charley while Fred…
- Tim Considine as Mike Douglas
Tim Considine eldest-sonned My Three Sons as Mike Douglas — widower dad, twelve seasons of household roster shifts in public, long-haul family sitcom as comfort infrastructure. Single-dad domestic engineering. TV Flash files him as 1960s…
- Don Grady as Robbie Douglas
Don Grady’s Robbie Douglas grew up in public on My Three Sons — widower Steve Douglas, Fred MacMurray’s unflappable dad, a twelve-season household roster that shifted on camera, block-shot schedule as Hollywood legend. Single-dad domestic…