My Three Sons
Whatever Happened to Ernie?
TV Flash files “Whatever Happened to Ernie?” as a desk essential hour — My Three Sons (1960–1972) on ABC/CBS, season 12, episode 24, aired 1972-04-13, 25 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E24: listed hour 380 of 380 in the My Three Sons guide, last listed hour of season 12. It aired 1972-04-13 (25 min). The listed hour before it is “Barbara Lost” (S12E23). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “Whatever Happened to Ernie?”. Whatever Happened to Ernie? closes twelve seasons of roster shuffle: an honest tail for a house that kept replacing its furniture.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
This is the last and final episode of the series. In this episode: Steve's boss Bob Anderson and his wife share 'Where-did-we-go-wrong?' panic as they struggle to communicate with their son; Steve and Barbara are the counselors. The teenager is rude and disrespectful to his parents but his insolence doesn't bother them nearly as much as not knowing if he is taking drugs.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Whatever Happened to Ernie? sit in the My Three Sons guide?
S12E24 is listed hour 380 of 380 — last listed hour of season 12, season 12 episode 24.
When did My Three Sons S12E24 air?
Whatever Happened to Ernie? aired 1972-04-13 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…