Following Patty Duke's Academy Award-winning performance in "The Miracle Worker", producer Sidney Sheldon looked to star the 15-year-old in a television show. He invited her to spend a week with his family and began observing how she had two distinct personalities (later diagnosed as bipolar disorder). From this, he began writing the basis for the sitcom.
Patty Lane (Patty Duke) is a typical American teenager living in the New York City suburb of Brooklyn Heights. Her caring father, "Poppo", Martin Lane (William Schallert) is the managing editor of the New York Daily Chronicle where his identical twin bother Kenneth is a foreign correspondent. Kenneth's daughter Cathy (also Duke) has moved to the United States from Scotland to live with Patty and her family. This includes Patty's mother Natalie (Jean Byron) and her pesty younger brother Ross (Paul O'Keefe). Cathy looks identical to Patty, but the resemblances end there, as Cathy is a cultured, studious young lady. Episodes center around Patty and Cathy's misadventures, often involving Patty's boyfriend Richard Harrison (Eddie Applegate). The classic sitcom ran for three seasons from 1963-66.
Reflecting on the series after reviewing each episode, "The Patty Duke Show" spent three seasons trying to settle into a particular style, but was carried by the talents of Patty Duke and William Schallert. In fact, the best episode of the series may be the sole dramatic offering, "Do You Trust Your Daughter?", where the two channeled an emotional side yet shown. With few exceptions, Natalie's character served as a straight man of sorts. Ross grew to become an accomplice or nemesis in schemes. Richard was perhaps too goofy and air-headed, but was the only type who could put up with such bad treatment from Patty, and it created some comedy. The cast carved out their own identities to draw the viewer in to buying into them. Most impressively was Patty Duke's tremendous job convincing viewers that Patty and Cathy are two different people. You really buy into the separate characters.
Halfway through the first season the comedy picked up with some light life lessons on gained perspectives. In that time the series ran five episodes that were clearly taken from "I Love Lucy" scripts- "The Million Dollar Idea"="The Tycoons" AND "This Little Patty Went to Market", "Sales Resistance"="The Con Artist", "Charm School"="The Perfect Teenager", and "Pioneer Woman"="Patty, the Pioneer". The plot of "The Friendship Bit" near the end of Season One was taken from The Dick Van Dyke Show, "Gesundheit, Darling" (1962). In it, Patty is confronted as having two personalities, which again, did happen latter in Duke's life.
There's definitely an emphasis for more comedy in the third and final season. The series evolved from chronicling teenage troubles to moral-driven lessons, and finally more of the typical sitcom format that still encompasses the two former. While the series does have some funny moments and episodes, on the whole it is more whimsical in nature. It's a fun teenager show with some nice life lessons throughout.
Patty Lane (Patty Duke) is a typical American teenager living in the New York City suburb of Brooklyn Heights. Her caring father, "Poppo", Martin Lane (William Schallert) is the managing editor of the New York Daily Chronicle where his identical twin bother Kenneth is a foreign correspondent. Kenneth's daughter Cathy (also Duke) has moved to the United States from Scotland to live with Patty and her family. This includes Patty's mother Natalie (Jean Byron) and her pesty younger brother Ross (Paul O'Keefe). Cathy looks identical to Patty, but the resemblances end there, as Cathy is a cultured, studious young lady. Episodes center around Patty and Cathy's misadventures, often involving Patty's boyfriend Richard Harrison (Eddie Applegate). The classic sitcom ran for three seasons from 1963-66.
Reflecting on the series after reviewing each episode, "The Patty Duke Show" spent three seasons trying to settle into a particular style, but was carried by the talents of Patty Duke and William Schallert. In fact, the best episode of the series may be the sole dramatic offering, "Do You Trust Your Daughter?", where the two channeled an emotional side yet shown. With few exceptions, Natalie's character served as a straight man of sorts. Ross grew to become an accomplice or nemesis in schemes. Richard was perhaps too goofy and air-headed, but was the only type who could put up with such bad treatment from Patty, and it created some comedy. The cast carved out their own identities to draw the viewer in to buying into them. Most impressively was Patty Duke's tremendous job convincing viewers that Patty and Cathy are two different people. You really buy into the separate characters.
Halfway through the first season the comedy picked up with some light life lessons on gained perspectives. In that time the series ran five episodes that were clearly taken from "I Love Lucy" scripts- "The Million Dollar Idea"="The Tycoons" AND "This Little Patty Went to Market", "Sales Resistance"="The Con Artist", "Charm School"="The Perfect Teenager", and "Pioneer Woman"="Patty, the Pioneer". The plot of "The Friendship Bit" near the end of Season One was taken from The Dick Van Dyke Show, "Gesundheit, Darling" (1962). In it, Patty is confronted as having two personalities, which again, did happen latter in Duke's life.
There's definitely an emphasis for more comedy in the third and final season. The series evolved from chronicling teenage troubles to moral-driven lessons, and finally more of the typical sitcom format that still encompasses the two former. While the series does have some funny moments and episodes, on the whole it is more whimsical in nature. It's a fun teenager show with some nice life lessons throughout.