Reverend Ruthledge

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I love it. I had the same thoughts about the camera work in that 1963 episode. Very moody and Twilight-Zoneish. And the blinds were a nice touch. What's really sad is that, while the writing may have been saved, all that great work by actors and directors is just gone. Never to be appreciated again since it first aired. And the acting and directing in shows like TGL was excellent evidenced by what little remains.

Pure speculation on my part but I would imagine it was a combination of having a character in a stable, happy marriage doesn't lend to much writing material for that character and the actor's choice to leave. Ed Bryce may have wanted to do other things or wasn't satisfied in his lack of storyline. Bill does come back next year played by a different actor which hints at Bryce working elsewhere or his dissatisfaction with lack of storyline. When Bryce does come back the next year, he gets thrown into a very juicy storyline so that was probably the bait they used to get him to come back. I think, on screen, the Paul/Robin pairing was less creepy because the actors weren't that far apart in age whereas Paul was an adult and Robin a child when another actress played Robin. There is mention of the age difference. In particular, with Bruce. However, it's kind of downplayed. In fact, Meta says, "Well, he's not as old as Alex".

-1/2/63-1/31/63. George wants Henry and Helene to be character witnesses for Paul but Henry refuses because he’s not sure Paul really didn’t murder Anne. A sympathetic Helene visits Paul in jail to try to convince him to stop being so self-incriminating just because he feels guilty for Anne’s death. She says Henry could be just as guilty for insisting that Anne buy the gun that ultimately killed her. Alex goes over to Bert’s to tell her that Doris shouldn’t be staying there. Bert tells him to mind his own business. Doris starts seeing a psychologist to help her recover her lost memory. Mike decides he wants to be a lawyer instead of an engineer. Alex warns Julie, from personal experience, not to force a marriage unless there is mutual love. Jane starts to work at the clinic to help Pete but the two don’t like each other. George arranges for Johnny to visit with Paul in jail in hopes that he will inspire Paul to fight. Henry is not happy about this. Jane blasts Mike for being insensitive to Julie which causes Mike to break up with her. After Johnny’s visit, George reminds Paul what it was like growing up with a father and how much worse it will be for Johnny if his father isn’t there for him because he killed his mother. This causes Paul to tell George the whole story and decide to plead Not Guilty. -2/1/63-2/28/63. Julie is furious at Jane and says she’s sick for letting her hatred for all men chase Mike away. Jane says Julie is sick for letting Mike have the milk for free, hoping he’ll eventually buy the cow. Robin takes Doris’ old job as a receptionist at the clinic. Paul’s trial for the murder of Anne gets underway. The DA makes an issue of Paul being illegitimate when Jane takes the stand. Alex tries to help out George by searching the bars looking for a bartender that might remember Doris from that night. He has no luck but learns of a bartender who worked that night but now lives in Las Vegas so Alex catches the next plane out to Vegas. The bartender remembers Doris coming in the night Anne was shot and talking about having a gun in her bag and that she was going to kill herself. Doris takes the stand and the DA accuses her of lying about her amnesia to protect Paul because she’s in love with him. The bartender that Alex brings back with him from Las Vegas remembers that Doris had on gloves the night she was in the bar, the reason why her fingerprints weren’t on the gun. They later find them in the lost and found. When George cross-examines Doris and brings up what they know about her visit to the bar, Doris’ memory comes back to her of the time she blocked out. She testifies that she had intended to kill herself with the gun but Paul grabbed it out of her purse, that she grabbed his wrist and that the gun accidentally went off and killed Anne. After Paul takes the stand and gives his testimony, the DA drops the charges and the judge rules that Anne’s death was accidental. A free Paul picks up Johnny and brings him back home. -3/1/63-3/29/63. Mike tells Robin that the problem with him and Julie is that she wants to be married and he doesn’t want anything to do with marriage. He wants to be free to live his own life. Meanwhile, Julie tells Jane she’s pregnant. Since she’s broken up with Mike and she knows he doesn’t love her and doesn’t want to marry her, Julie is desperate and wants Jane to help her get an abortion. Jane refuses and demands that she tell Mike about the baby. Doris is feeling responsible for Anne’s death. She tells George and Bert that if Paul would have let her kill herself, then Anne would still be alive today. Alex and Robin agree to an amicable divorce. Alex toasts to a new beginning and says, “If it can’t be ours, here’s to yours”. Robin toasts back, “And yours, Alex”. Alex tries to comfort Julie by saying that it’s better that Mike broke up with her because there’s no worse trap than being married to someone who doesn’t love you. This only makes Julie feel worse. Jane wants to move in to take care of Paul and Johnny but Paul wants her to have her own life. Bert is singing a different tune as she now hopes Mike and Robin will get together. Henry apologizes to Paul for not supporting him. Paul wants to move out of the house/clinic to get away from the memories and his guilt. Robin apologizes to Doris for the way she treated her. Bill comes home for a visit from Seattle and says his company is sending him to Lucerne for a year. Jane makes Julie call Mike and invite him over so she can tell him she’s pregnant. Mike wants Julie to give the baby up for adoption. -4/1/63-4/30/63. Doris moves out of the Bauers and Robin moves out of the Bannings. They move into apartments across from each other. Jane tells Bert that Julie is going to have Mike’s child. She also tells her that Mike wants the baby to be given up for adoption. Bert says that won’t happen to her grandchild. Bert tells Papa about the situation and Papa is outraged that Mike isn’t going to take responsibility and marry Julie. Pete is interested in dating Robin but she’s put off by him. Pete is trying to talk Paul out of moving away. Alex starts to get interested in Doris again. Robin asks Mike why he’s postponing law school. Mike says he wishes he could go back to sharing everything with her but they can’t go back to where they were three years ago. Robin asks, “Would we even want to, Mike?” Mike replies, “Right now, I’d give anything to go back, Robin”. Bert tells George about Mike and begs him to try to talk some sense into him. She fears her dominating nature as a mother led Mike to crave independence so much that it’s made him irresponsible. Pete accuses Paul of trying to run away from Anne’s ghost instead of facing his problems which angers Paul and causes him to throw Pete out of his home and back into the clinic. Julie tells Jane that she’s not going to give up the baby. She says she will tell Mike she did but keep it and move away with it. She wants Jane to come with her. George lays down the law with Mike and tells him he’s going to take responsibility as a man and marry Julie. Mike and Robin reminisce about the “good ol’ days” when they were growing up together and would play Sir Lancelot and damsel-in-distress. In a moment of foreshadowing, intentional or not, Robin says she read the story and learned that Lancelot was really in love with King Arthur’s wife and had an illegitimate child with Lily Maid of Astelot. Then he left her and went back to being a knight and being in love with King Arthur’s wife. Mike asks what happens to Lily and Robin says she kills herself. She says that she prefers the Lancelot that Mike was pretending to be when they were kids. -5/1/63-5/31/63. Mike tells Julie that he wants to marry her. Julie is relieved somewhat but still sad because she knows he doesn’t love her like she loves him. Mad at Jane for taking matters into her own hand, Mike makes her promise that she won’t tell Julie that his marriage proposal to Julie was coerced by Jane, Bert and George. He doesn’t want to hurt Julie anymore than she is. Mike then goes to blast Bert for interfering in his life again and getting George to do her dirty work. Jane tries to cheer up Julie as she prepares to elope with Mike. Jane tells Julie that she’s finally getting the family she always wanted. Julie asks which would be harder, being an unwed mother or an unloved wife. As Mike gets ready to leave on the elopement, he remembers the phrase he would repeat as a child playing Lancelot, “Death before dishonor”. As he leaves, he feels like he’s forgetting something, looks around, and then realizes it’s love. Alex offers Paul an endowment to stay and run his clinic. Mike and Julie cross the state line and are married by a Justice of the Peace. Paul tells Henry that he’s decided to stay where he is. Henry says he’s not going to let Johnny grow up in a place Anne died to get him out of. Alex enters and Henry accuses him of playing God by using his money to purchase Paul’s dedication when Paul should be more concerned with his son than his missionary stance. Alex gets riled up and says Henry is only interested in Johnny emerging as a Benedict instead of a Fletcher. He says Henry is arrogant and stupid and, listening to Henry just now, he sees there’s already one Benedict too many as it is. Henry warns that, now that he’s met Alex, Paul is making a huge mistake. Mike takes Julie to dinner at the Bauers and Bert and Papa welcome her into the family. Since Mike hasn’t gotten a wedding ring for Julie yet, Papa gives Mama Bauer’s wedding ring for Mike to give to Julie. Julie is moved. Robin drops by unexpectedly and it lends to an awkward moment. She later tells Papa that she knows Mike well enough to be able to tell that he’s not happy and not in love. Papa dodges her questions but Robin gets the epiphany that Mike and Julie had to get married. Henry and Helene move back to San Francisco but Helene stops by Paul’s to say goodbye and reassures him that, though she shares his grief over their daughter, she doesn’t share Henry’s resentment towards Paul. She says that Johnny needs a father who is fully alive in the professional calling that he feels and she hopes he can find another woman to love. Bert wants the newlyweds to come live with her. Julie is for it but Mike is dead set against it. Mike admits to Papa that he feels trapped that the rest of his life will be a life he didn’t want to live. Papa says that Mike shouldn’t be talking that way even to him. Yet, at the same time, even after commending him for finally taking responsibility, Papa can’t help but feel sorry for Mike. -6/3/63-6/28/63. George tells Doris his marriage proposal still stands but Doris is as afraid of marriage as she is of drinking. George suggests she might need to go away to learn the difference. Doris leaves town but not before a heartfelt goodbye with Paul. Mike and Julie move into the Bauer house with Bert, Papa and Ed. Bert is already fighting her urges to interfere as she thinks Julie is doting too much on Mike and being a doormat. Mike is having a hard time giving up his independence and it’s manifesting in his lack of desire to include her in his life. Johnny wants his Aunt Jane to live with them since she’s alone in her apartment now. Paul doesn’t like that Pete asked Jane out as he thinks he might hurt her. When George learns from Doris that she’s leaving, he goes to the airport to meet her and try to convince her to stay. Doris says she has to go to find out who she is and make sure she can stay that person. When her plane’s departure is announced, Doris turns to walk away as George calls her name. She stops but refuses to turn around. She says, “Don’t move, George. Stay right there. Goodbye” and walks to her plane. Alex comes back from the Virgin Islands after having gotten his divorce from Robin with the intention of asking Doris to remarry him. He is disappointed to learn that Doris has left and he angrily accuses George of encouraging her to leave. Alex demands to know where she went. George said her flight had seven stops–Phoenix, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Wichita, Kansas City, Chicago and New York–and he doesn’t know which place Doris got off the plane. Ed decides he wants to be a doctor. Julie announces to the Bauers that she’s pregnant and they all try to act surprised. She also tells George and Alex, who also try to act surprised. -7/1/63-7/31/63. Julie can’t understand the hatred and resentment Mike has for Jane while also fearing that she’s keeping Mike from living the life he wants to live. She doesn’t see the connection. Papa, Bert, Mike, Julie, Bruce, Meta, George, Pete and Jane attend the Bauer BBQ. Bert is missing Bill who is still in Europe. Robin is in Europe as well, visiting Mark and Ruth. When Meta mentions that she’s heard from Robin, Mike’s ears perk up. Julie notices this and her insecurity about Robin shows. When Mike says he wants to go for a walk alone and leaves, Julie sadly says to herself, “Independence Day”. Jane confides to Julie that she’s fallen in love with Pete. Julie warns her not to make a fool of herself with unrequited love like she has. Julie feels jealous every time she sees Mike looking at other girls. Mike admits to George that he never looked at other women until he was married. He is frustrated because he’s trying to love Julie but he can’t. Papa is going to visit Clyde and Trudy at their summer place on Long Island and wants Bert to go to Switzerland to see Bill so that Mike and Julie can have the house alone and hopefully grow closer together. Bert says Switzerland is too much money but she might go visit her mother’s sister in Phoenix. (I guess Elsie is dead by this point). Pete tells Paul he wants to leave because Jane has fallen in love with him and he’s not in love with him. Paul’s hunch that Pete was going to break Jane’s heart turns out to be right. Papa buys a plane ticket to Lucerne for Bert as a gift. George gets a letter from Doris. He learns she stopped in Chicago to visit friends but then learned there was a VA Hospital in Nashville that was hiring so she moved to Tennessee. Pete and Jane go to dinner where Jane thanks Pete for bringing her back to life after her heartbreak and starts to talk about their future. Pete reluctantly breaks the news to her that he doesn’t love her and doesn’t think he ever could. He apologizes for not realizing how deep things were going for her but Jane is hurt, embarrassed and angry. She breaks down later to Paul saying that nobody’s ever going to want her. The first guy broke her heart because he wanted to marry someone else but this rejection from Pete is worse because he just didn’t want her. -8/1/63-8/30/63. The only thing keeping Jane wanting to live is Paul and Johnny, Julie tries to comfort Jane but Jane is despondent thinking she is destined to only love, never be loved and she’ll always be alone. With Papa and Bert gone, Julie is happier than she ever has been, playing domestic life at the Bauer house alone with Mike, dreaming of the future and planning more kids. Mike feels trapped. Johnny gets sick and is diagnosed with rheumatic fever. Paul is devastated because Johnny could die from it and he is all he has now. Jane volunteers to be Johnny’s nurse as he will be bed-ridden for weeks, if not months. George sets up Mike at the clinic to oversee the construction of the expansion which puts him in close proximity to Robin who is working at the clinic which brings out all of Julie’s insecurities and jealousy. Johnny’s fever gets very high and he starts to hallucinate his mother. -9/2/63-9/30/63. While Papa, Bert and Julie are visiting at the Bannings, Julie sees Mike drop off Robin in his car. When she confronts Mike about it later, he said that Robin’s car broke down at work and he had to give her a lift home. Julie can’t believe it. Pete and Robin discuss which is worse, trying to love someone who loves you or loving someone who doesn’t love you. Both have had experience with the former and they both sympathize with Jane who keeps experiencing the latter. Jane envies Robin because men want her. Paul says she shouldn’t envy Robin and points out that Robin has failed twice in romance as well but her failures are bigger because they weren’t just unrequited love, they were marriage, which is a big commitment and, therefore, bigger failures. Pete wants to get serious with Robin but Robin just wants to be friends. Julie overhears Mike tell Robin that everybody knows Julie was pregnant before she and Mike married and they were just pretending to be surprised when Julie told them all that she was pregnant after they had been married. She also hears him say he only married Julie because she was pregnant. A distraught Julie races off, gets in her car and, calling herself a fool, gets into a car wreck. Julie is brought into Cedars with a head injury and in a coma. Paul tells Mike that even if Julie dies, they might still be able to save the baby. Julie, still unconscious, goes into labor. -10/1/63-10/31/63. Papa, Bert and Meta wait for word about Julie. Bert is guilt-ridden because, though she now desperately wants the baby to survive, she was hoping at one time that the baby didn’t exist and that there had been a choice. Papa warns her not to say something she’ll regret saying. Bert says, “I’ve learned that when life happens, you have to accept it and not wish you could play God”. Mike becomes hysterical as the guilt for how he’s treated Julie finally hits him. George snaps him out of it. Julie, still in a coma, delivers a baby girl. Julie starts to gain consciousness and Paul tells the Bauers that having the baby saved Julie’s life because the loss of amniotic fluid in the birthing process relieved the fluid on Julie’s brain. A grateful and relieved Mike rushes in to see a now-conscious Julie but her first words to him are “Go away”. Paul tells Julie that she’s given birth and asks her if she wants to see the baby. He is shocked when Julie says no because she doesn’t have a baby. Bert goes to visit Julie and Julie throws her out too, saying, “You don’t want me anymore than I want you”. Julie blasts Jane when she comes to visit her for telling Bert she was pregnant and making her get Mike to marry her. Julie feels like a joke and a fool because everybody knew the truth that Julie got pregnant while still unmarried but they didn’t let on that they knew and let her think she was fooling everybody. She thinks also that Mike just married her because he had to and not because he wanted to. She is depressed and doesn’t want to have anything to do with anyone. Including Mike and her baby. She tells Jane that she wants to divorce Mike, give the baby up for adoption and that she just wants to die. She bitterly chastises herself, as well, for having been such a romantic dreamer that it caused her to fall into a trap. Chasing after her dreams so much that she chased after someone who doesn’t really love her and getting the family she thought she wanted has turned out to be a trap. Bert tells Bruce that Julie looked at her with such hatred in her eyes that it scared her. Jane lets Mike know that Julie overheard him and Robin talking and that Julie wants to die. Bert talks Papa into going to try to talk to Julie since she might respond to him. Julie says she’s the joke of the Bauer family and Papa reminds her that he wouldn’t have given her Mama Bauer’s wedding ring if he didn’t love her. Julie gives him back the ring. Mike tells Paul he’s worried what will happen to his baby girl now that Julie wants to give her up for adoption. Paul encourages him not to give up hope. Jane sees that Paul seems to be getting interested in Robin romantically. Robin wants to leave the clinic, working alongside Mike, because of the guilt of her part in what Julie overheard and for Julie’s benefit. Paul, having gotten attached to Robin, tries to talk her out of it. A territorial Jane tries to encourage Robin to go with her original decision and leave. -11/1/63-11/29/63. Julie plans on leaving for New York City just as soon as she gets released from the hospital. Mike tries to talk her into staying and into not putting their baby up for adoption. Julie says she has to give the baby away because she will always be a reminder of him. “So there’s no hope for us, Julie?” Mike asks. Julie replies, “No hope.” Although Julie doesn’t want to see her, Paul brings the baby in for Julie to see and puts her in her arms. He’s successful in bringing down Julie’s defensive wall. Although Julie has fallen in love with her baby, she still doesn’t want anything to do with Mike. Robin can tell that Johnny resents her presence and only wants to be with Paul and Jane. Jane suggests to Julie that she name the baby Little Julie because she looks so much like her. Julie says that she doesn’t want her baby to be like her because she wants the baby to be happy. She tells Jane of her unhappy childhood with a father, now-deceased, who divorced her mother when Julie was young and never gave her any attention and a mother who used Julie to try to get as much as she could from her father. She recounts that she spent most of her time alone, miserable and living in a world of make believe. Julie tells Mike she’ll live with him only for the sake of her baby. Mike says he loves Julie but Julie says she doesn’t think she’ll ever believe him again. Bert is disappointed that Mike wants to give up law school and drive a truck in order to afford a home for Julie and the baby. Julie names her daughter Hope. Paul and Robin establish that they are in love with each other. Robin assures Julie that there’s nothing between her and Mike anymore but Julie says she doesn’t care about anything but Hope at this point. Mike puts Mama Bauer’s ring back on Julie’s finger. -12/2/63-12/31/63. Jane starts to go into a panic when Pete makes her see that Paul and Robin are in love. Jane and Johnny cling to each other out of fear of losing the dependence they’ve developed on each other. Julie is back living at the Bauer home but now has a wall up around everybody. Bert tries to assure Julie that Mike loves her but Julie says he only loves Hope just like she only loves Hope. Bert says mutual love of a child isn’t enough to keep a marriage together and Julie states that it’s good enough for thousands of couples, why can’t it be enough for them? George tries to contact Julie’s mother in Chicago to tell her about Hope but the number is unlisted and Mike says Julie hasn’t had anything to do with her mother in years. When Mike tells him of his plans to go to work as a truck driver to support his family because he won’t have enough money to go to law school now with his new responsibilities, George implores him not to sacrifice his intellect and dreams for his family because they’ll never thank him for it and the day will come when he hates them. Johnny asks Jane to tell his dad not to let Robin stay with him if Paul and Jane aren’t there. Jane says she can’t tell Paul that—but he can. Paul gives Jane the news that he and Robin are in love and planning to get married. Jane asks how he could do that to Johnny. George convinces Julie that Mike going to law school would be better in the long-run if more difficult in the short-run. Julie thinks only of Hope when she decides it would be better for Mike to go to law school. George believes so much in Mike, he’s willing to financially support him through law school with a loan that Mike can pay back by coming to work for George after getting his degree. Johnny has a meltdown when Paul tells him he wants to marry Robin and he begs Paul not to. He says Jane is his new mommy and doesn’t understand why Paul would want a wife. Bruce is not happy to learn about Paul and Robin’s romance. He thinks this, as it was with Alex, is another neurotic search for the father she never had. Jane tells Robin that she’s afraid, after having lost his mother, that Johnny will look at Paul’s marriage to her as losing a father as well and she’s afraid of how it will affect Johnny for the rest of his life. Julie is willing to sacrifice her own home to live with the Bauers so that Mike can go to law school for the sake of Hope’s future. When Meta notices Robin losing the joy she’s had since she announced her relationship with Paul, Robin tells Meta that she can’t help remembering what it did to her when Mark remarried after Kathy died. She doesn’t want to put Johnny through the same thing she went through. Henry and Helene visit the Fletchers for New Year’s Eve on their way to a Pacific cruise and Henry can’t believe how isolated and dependent on Paul and Jane that Johnny has become. -12/25/63. Paul and George talk about Paul marrying Robin and how difficult it will be for Johnny. Mike tells Bert that he wants him, Julie and Hope to live with her while he goes through law school.

Well, there was precedence for shows starting over when they started their TV version. One Man's Family, for example, continued the radio show as normal when the TV version started but the TV version started the storyline from the beginning. I don't know if that's what the writer was thinking, however.

Thank you for that, Paul.

Thank you so much for your great insights. I really appreciate the discussion! As far as Dick and Robin go, there is no discussion ever about him thinking he was her father. Just vague mentions of him knowing her all her life. I personally liked Joe. At least, in comparison to Dick. But I couldn't stand Dick at all. It didn't crush me when Joe left, however. Yes, Mike was always close to Bill and fighting with Bert. Ed, on the other hand, was always close to Bert and fighting with Bill. Amy Sinclair just disappears after Dick gets back with Marie. It was mentioned later that she had gotten her claws into some other wealthy professional and got married. Yes, Alex does get pretty neurotic. Which is what made him so interesting. Calm, cool, collected and arrogant on the outside, insecure on the inside. The main source of his neuroticism comes from his jealousy of Mike Bauer. Sorry, Alex investigating Bill gets dropped pretty quickly.

Thank you so much for your great insights. I really appreciate the discussion! As far as Dick and Robin go, there is no discussion ever about him thinking he was her father. Just vague mentions of him knowing her all her life. I personally liked Joe. At least, in comparison to Dick. But I couldn't stand Dick at all. It didn't crush me when Joe left, however. Yes, Mike was always close to Bill and fighting with Bert. Ed, on the other hand, was always close to Bert and fighting with Bill. Amy Sinclair just disappears after Dick gets back with Marie. It was mentioned later that she had gotten her claws into some other wealthy professional and got married. Yes, Alex does get pretty neurotic. Which is what made him so interesting. Calm, cool, collected and arrogant on the outside, insecure on the inside. The main source of his neuroticism comes from his jealousy of Mike Bauer. Sorry, Alex investigating Bill gets dropped pretty quickly.

It wasn't.

I agree that KL was the best primetime soap. I actually loved all the first seasons of all the primetime soaps. I thought they were the show at their purist before they became over-the-top. I definitely think the first seasons were the best for Dallas, Dynasty and Falcon Crest. I would say the same for Knots Landing because the first season was so good but there were so many subsequent seasons that were just as good if not better. The first season, however, gave off the most Bergman vibes.

Billy Ross was Cricket's son. I think he appeared in either the late 90s or the early 2000s.

Yes! Gillian Spencer was the last person to play Robin. Her stepson was Johnny Fletcher and she blamed him for her miscarriage because he always kept his room messy and she was cleaning it when she fell and miscarried.

Actually, Mike is only in Venezuela a few months. He was signed up to work there for 2 years but Bert's cancer scare brought him back home prematurely. By the end of 1961, he's back on the show, albeit a different actor playing the part. Thankfully. I was not a fan of Michael Allen's acting. Ed was still on the show at this point. He was just always off "playing football" or "doing homework". He would make occasional appearances in the episodes but wouldn't do much.

Thank you. I love that episode. So much is spoken without words. That's what good television soap opera should be.

Yeah. I found Alex a fascinating character. He could really see through people and called them out on it but yet he was so insecure about himself. Even though he came off as so self-assured, strong and intimidating. Robin was such a tragic character.

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I love it! Just curious what you think would be difficult about the Alex/Robin story. So, the use of the word "bitch" was added by me. In the script, Agnes would write Doris saying "That little..." and then write the stage direction "Doris stamps out her cigarette on the word she would say if we could". LOL. So, Agnes wanted to write "bitch" but couldn't because of the censors so she would just have Doris stamp out her cigarette instead of saying the word. Agnes did this a couple of times. Doris definitely would have said the word but it was the early 60s TV.

You're very welcome. I'm glad you're enjoying them. I think this was the year that started the redemptive road for Bert becoming a more sympathetic character. Although I don't think she reached the warm, fuzzy stage until after Bill died in 1969. But 1961, after the reckoning she got, was when she really became more multi-layered and likable.

-1/3/61-1/31/61. Marie finally accepts Joe’s marriage proposal. Marie tells Bert the news but is disappointed Bert doesn’t give her her blessing. Bert intuits that Marie isn’t really in love with Joe but just wants to marry him to have the children she wants. Wanting to get away from everyone’s pity, Robin finds herself drawn to the art gallery and to Alex. Alex wants to paint her portrait. While having dinner with Joe and Marie, Phil faints. Robin tells Meta to quit smothering her. Both Bill and Papa try to get a worried Bert to accept the fact that Mike is a grown man now and not her little boy. At night school in NYC, Mike meets a fellow classmate, journalism major Frances Conway. Paul examines Phillip and he has a heart condition that needs operating on and recommends Dick to do the surgery, which Joe doesn’t like. Dick is upfront with Amy and tells her that, even though he enjoys her company, he doesn’t want to remarry after his divorce. -2/1/61-2/28/61. Bruce is concerned about Robin spending time with Alex because Alex is single and it could complicate matters more. Meta says Alex wouldn’t be interested in Robin because she’s younger than Alex and not as sophisticated. Bruce says Meta doesn’t know men very well. While painting Robin’s portrait, Alex talks about Mike because he wants to capture the pain in her eyes and because he says the more she talks about Mike, the quicker she’ll get over him. Alex tells Joe that he’s going to postpone the sale of the gallery until he finishes his portrait. Joe points out that Alex is being selfish by not thinking about him, Marie and Phil and Alex points out that everybody is selfish, he’s just honest about it and has the money to indulge it. Bill goes to see Paul for his annual physical and, after it’s over, Paul offers Bill a cigarette. Bert goes over to Meta’s to announce that Mike has mentioned to her that he has written to Robin but Robin hasn’t written to him and this shows that Robin doesn’t want to stay married. Meta boils over and tells Bert that she has a day of reckoning coming, that one day Mike will look at Bert with hatred in his eyes, and Meta can’t wait. Fran invites Mike over for dinner and they talk about Robin. When Marie asks about how Elsie treated Bert back in the day, Bert starts to see how she might now be acting like her mother used to but doesn’t allow herself to fully acknowledge the similarity. Bill implores Robin to write to Mike but Robin says she doesn’t want to talk to Mike anymore. Alex takes Robin out on a date and tells her she could have an exciting life ahead of her if she’d start making better decisions and, with his help, she might be able to do that. Alex meets with his lawyer, George Hayes, to continue arranging for “her” to be paid off. -3/1/61-3/31/61. Mike and Fran continue to spend time together but agree not to get seriously entangled. George goes to San Francisco to meet with Doris Crandall, the woman who he has been sending money to from Alex. She’s in a drunken mess and threatens to go to Los Angeles to see Alex even though George tells her Alex doesn’t want to see her. Bruce, feeling paternal towards Robin and not liking Alex, warns him not to hurt her. Dick grows affectionate toward Phillip as he cares for him. Phil becomes more than a patient when his health becomes even more important to Dick as he thinks about how much Marie cares for Phil and wants to adopt him. Dick wants to make sure he keeps Phil alive to make up for what he’s denied Marie. After the surgery, Dick delivers the news that Phil is ok and Marie suddenly sees how important Dick’s work is and feels selfish for complaining all those years about him working too much. She sees that a surgeon belongs more to his patients than to his wife. Alex has a svengali-like effect on Robin and he gets her to tear up a letter she received from Mike before reading it. Dick and Marie keep vigil at Phil’s bedside as he has trouble recovering from surgery. Papa tells Bert to quit trying to kill Mike’s marriage and Bert angrily defends herself by saying that Robin is doing that job herself by seeing an older man, Alex. The fight escalates and Papa yells at Bert to quit trying to run everything. Bill enters and attempts to break up the fight but it is too heated. Papa leaves without it being resolved. On a date, Robin says she’s happy she’s no longer a naive adolescent and Alex makes the bold statement that he would kill anybody that tried to take away what he’s found in Robin. Robin is strangely attracted to his boldness. With the divorce hearing coming up on April 10th, both Dick and Marie are having second thoughts. Doris shows up at the Bowden Art Gallery looking for Alex. -4/2/61-4/30/61. Dick expresses his regrets to Papa Bauer, Papa encourages him to go talk to Marie before it’s too late. Bert goes over to Meta’s to get the scoop from Robin and Robin lets her have it. She tells Bert she doesn’t have to worry anymore about Robin being a threat to her perfect family because she no longer wants Mike. After learning that Papa had told Bert about Robin tearing up Mike’s letter, an angry Robin lashes out at Papa and tells him to mind his own business. Dick and Marie learn that, though they thought the divorce would be final on April 10th, it’s actually an interlocutory decree that they’re getting, based on California law, and the divorce won’t be final for a year and neither of them can marry until then. On a date, Robin tells Alex about the trouble she’s had with Bert and Papa. Alex says he doesn’t like Bert and finds her “smug, petty, opinionated, completely provincial and utterly obnoxious”. When Robin notes that there are a lot of people who like Bert such as Marie Grant, Alex says, “Well, she’s a sentimental hausfrau type too. Although, I admit not as bad as Bertha Bauer". Doris is fighting alcoholism and some other sort of illness for which she’s in a lot of pain. Alex asks Robin to marry him. Robin apologizes to Papa but then gets into it with Bruce. She shocks Bruce and Meta by telling them she wants to get the annulment with Mike because Alex has proposed to her. Joe is upset when Marie tells him they can’t marry for a year but Marie is secretly relieved. Meta counsels Robin that Alex is bedazzling her but it doesn’t compare to the love she had with Mike. Robin says it could never work with Mike because it will always be a threesome with Karl. Alex mesmerizes Robin with the life he offers her and the chance to leave the old Robin Holden behind, convincing her to get her annulment from Mike. Robin goes over to the Bauers to ask Bert to call Mike and tell him to go ahead with the annulment because she’s going to marry Alex. She bitterly tells Bert that Alex is a man and Mike is just a boy, Bert’s boy that she finally has all to herself again. Doris goes to Paul for a refill of her medication to help with alcohol withdrawal but Paul won’t give her any without a physical which causes Doris to storm out. -5/1/61-5/31/61. Alex and Bill become enemies when Alex tells Bill to get Mike to give an annulment to Robin so he can marry her and Bill refuses. Alex gets George to investigate Bill’s background. When Papa and Meta try to find out if Robin really loves Alex like she did Mike, Robin replies, “No. Thank Heaven”. She declares she’s no longer a child with childish romantic fantasies and nobody will ever hurt her again. While Alex pressures Robin into ending her marriage to Mike, Mike tells Fran that he’s decided he wants to be with Robin and will return to Los Angeles after the semester is over. Dick admits and regrets his arrogance and selfishness to Marie and they both confess they still are in love with each other. Marie gathers enough courage to tell Joe that she can’t marry him because she wants to stay with Dick. Joe is furious, and says that she’ll be hurting Phil who is expecting them to be a family. He says she’s only going to be hurt worse than she was before and to not come crying to him when that happens. Joe sadly breaks the news to Phil that he and Marie won’t be married and they won’t be a family. With his dreams for the future crushed, Joe leaves for Oregon. Alex and Marie tear each other apart. Alex accuses Marie of being selfish and Marie accuses him of robbing the cradle and killing a young marriage. Dick admits that part of his past reluctance to adopt was because he feared the baby would take Marie’s attention off of him as a husband. He says he’s had a change of heart, has grown paternal feelings towards Phil while he was caring for him at the hospital, and tells Marie he’d like to adopt him. Doris, in the hospital for alcohol withdrawal, lets Paul know that she is Alex’s ex-wife and, even though he doesn’t want to have anything to do with her, he is all she has left in the world. Bert goes to Alex with the suggestion that he get Robin to go to NYC to see Mike about the annulment instead of waiting for Mike to come back home. Alex says he’s already thought of that and he’s going with her to make sure Mike doesn’t talk her into staying married. Bert says he should because she knows how much Robin is in love with Alex. Alex shocks Bert by calling her out and says she’s full of it because she can see that Robin isn’t in love with Alex. But he doesn’t care because he intends to make Robin eventually fall in love with him. Too smart to be manipulated and getting the upper hand on Bert, he reads her for filth and says, because he knows what she’s doing, she will basically do whatever he says from now on or he will go to the Bauers and tell them about her machinations. Dick and Marie legally set aside their divorce and return to the adoption agency to see if they’d be able to adopt Phillip. Phil is thrilled when they give him the news. Bert is scared of Alex. -6/1/61-6/30/61. Robin prepares to go to NYC to talk over the annulment with Mike. When Bill learns that the domineering Alex is going with her, Bill decides he wants to go to NYC to be a support for Mike. This freaks Bert out as she is afraid of Alex and the emotional blackmail power he has over her. She’s afraid Bill will find out about what Bert was up to. It’s enough to make her ask Paul for some nerve pills. Bert warns Robin that it will be a mistake to marry Alex which just makes Robin wonder why Bert has suddenly switched her tune. She tells Bert that if she doesn’t care what Papa, Meta and Bruce think about the situation, she definitely doesn’t care what Bert thinks about it. Paul lets Alex know that Doris is his patient in the hospital, that he knows she is his ex-wife, and implores him to go visit her as she is sick and alone. Alex lies and says he’ll go see her and then jumps on an earlier plane to New York. Anne is tired of living in an apartment and has dreams of moving into a big house in the suburbs like the one she grew up in. When Paul learns that Anne has found a big estate as a potential home, he is adamantly opposed to living in such a big house. Dick and Marie officially adopt Phil and everybody at the Grant home is joyful when Phil moves in. Robin and Alex meet with Mike, although Mike wishes it would be just him and Robin. Mike tells her that he is over his guilt feelings about Karl and wants to stay married. Robin, egged on by Alex, says that she’s over Mike and wants the annulment so she can be with Alex. Mike is annoyed at Alex’s influence and seeming power over Robin. Paul shares his dream with Dick of becoming a family doctor and having his own clinic attached to his residence. Meanwhile, Henry says he wants to give Anne her dream home as a belated wedding gift. Fran goes over to see Robin to encourage her to try with Mike. Robin isn’t there but Alex and the two meet. Alex says that the only reason Fran wants to encourage Robin is because Fran is really in love with Mike and wants to get in Mike’s good graces so she can pursue him when it doesn’t work out with Mike and Robin. Fran is offended. Alex questions why she’s offended by the truth. Fran storms out. Anne, Helene and Henry are shocked when Paul announces he’s resigning as Chief of Staff. When Paul tells Anne about his dreams of having a home/clinic and that he doesn’t want Anne’s dream home, Anne is outraged. Defeated, Mike agrees to the annulment. Back in Los Angeles, Alex is visited by George who implores him to show mercy to Doris and go see her because he is the only thing in between her and the bottle or suicide. Anne, a volunteer at Cedars, helps out Doris who tells her what encouragement her doctor, Paul Fletcher, has been to her and is surprised to learn that Anne is his wife. -7/3/61-7/31/61. Meta suggests to Robin that she’s just marrying Alex to blot out the past with Mike and to reconsider it. She asks her, “Is a supposedly successful marriage without love better than a supposed failure where there was love? Which becomes success and which failure? I know that a marriage lived without love is neither a marriage nor a life and I don’t want you to have to learn this from personal experience.” Fran comforts Mike but Mike says only he and his mother are to blame for the death of his marriage. He’s so despondent, he didn’t go to his final exam and, therefore, won’t graduate. Alex lets Robin know that he was married before but that it was a miserable, traumatic experience. His mother ran off with another man when Alex was young and his father didn’t have much time for him because he reminded him of his ex-wife. Growing up alone, he was desperate for love and thought he could find it with Doris because she was available but he never loved her so it was a miserable marriage and Doris always had a drinking problem. Robin’s sympathy for Alex overtakes any doubts that Meta has put in her mind about rushing into marriage with Alex. Paul and Anne argue about Paul’s need to serve the down-and-out. He says that he feels an obligation because he, as an illegitimate child, always felt like an outsider. Anne doesn’t share his calling. Doris is released from the hospital and thanks Paul for his encouragement but Paul is concerned about the other thing that has given her encouragement to recover from drinking, her pipe dream that there’s a future for her and Alex. Bill and Bert fly to New York for Mike’s graduation and are stunned when he says that he’s not going to graduate right after he signs the annulment papers they brought with them to sign. He bitterly tells Bert that it wasn’t a wasted trip for her because she finally got what she’s always wanted. He viciously tears into Bert for brainwashing him against Robin, destroying the only thing he’s ever had that was his own. He regrets not fighting Bert and says that he, Bill and Ed are just patsies for a conniving wife and smothering mother. Bert says that she didn’t poison anything, Robin has been the poison. Poison for Kathy, for Mark, for Karl and now she’s poisoned Mike against her. Mike says Bert has robbed him of Robin, his identity and his manhood and he doesn’t have to live with it anymore. He leaves. Meta accuses Alex of trying to play on Robin’s sympathies with his stories of his miserable past marriage. Alex replies that Meta is starting to resemble her conniving, scheming, interfering sister-in-law. Doris’ hopes are dashed when Alex lets her know there is absolutely no hope for the two of them being together. When Papa learns the news about Mike not graduating and his emotional upset from meeting with Robin is the reason, he asks Robin if that makes her happy. Alex jumps to Robin’s defense and assures Papa that he and Robin are happy together. Papa responds angrily, “At least somebody’s happy”. Bert has been left devastated and tortured by her moment of truth, triggered by Mike’s words to her. Her conscience tells her that she should let Mike know that Robin isn’t really in love with Alex, but she is also consumed by fear for her son. Doris runs into Robin at Paul’s office. Robin doesn’t know Doris but Doris recognizes her from Alex’s portrait. Robin mentions that she’s getting married to Alex and Doris is shocked and then runs off to find the nearest bar. Marie goes by to visit Bert upon her return from NYC and learns that Bert didn’t tell Mike the truth about Robin not loving Alex so that Mike would sign the annulment papers. Marie is furious at Bert’s “motherly love” and says it’s really possessiveness and Mike is her slave, not her son. She exclaims Bert’s not fit to be a mother or even a woman. Doris finds out where Alex lives and goes over to put a sort of curse on him. She says at least she’ll wind up with a bottle in her hands but he’ll wind up with nothing in his. -8/1/61-8/31/61. A drunk Doris shows up at Paul’s while he’s away but Anne is home. Anne doesn’t like Doris and resents Paul’s need to try to help her. Doris calls her a phoney, a snob and a bitch. Anne tells her to leave before she calls the police, Doris leaves but not before telling Anne to drop dead. Mike makes up his final exam and graduates as he prepares to go back to Los Angeles. Bert, tortured by guilt and looking for help, goes to her minister, Reverend Stevens, and confesses the fact that she withheld the truth from Mike. Reverend Stevens doesn’t give her the absolution she was hoping for but firmly tells her she needs to tell Mike the truth as soon as she can so that Mike can try to make his marriage work out. “Don’t play God, Mrs. Bauer. Join Him.” Bert, crying, with a maturity she’s never had before, thanks the Reverend for saving her life and, more importantly, her son’s life. Learning the annulment is final, Alex pushes Robin to get married ASAP. While Dick encourages Paul to fulfill what he believes is his calling or he’ll be miserable living a life not of his choosing, Henry tells Anne to stand up to Paul because somebody of her breeding was not meant to be living in a house/clinic in the poor side of town and she would be miserable. Helene, however, encourages Anne to stand by her man. Dick and Marie read in the paper that Amy Sinclair married a bank executive. Mike says goodbye to Fran as he heads back to Los Angeles. He thanks her for all she did for him and says they’ll keep in touch, but Fran is dubious. Paul locates Doris, blind drunk, in a bar and goes to help her. Mike comes home and Bert bravely confesses to him that she knew Robin didn’t love Alex but withheld the information from him. Mike is enraged that Bert would withhold that from him and meanwhile push him to sign the annulment papers. He scornfully asks, “Now you hurt, Mom. Where does it hurt?” and she replies, “In my soul, Mike”. Armed with this new knowledge, Mike rushes over to Meta’s to tell Robin that he knows she doesn’t love Alex and that Mike wants Robin back. However, he misses Robin by minutes as she has gone off with Alex to get secretly married at Alex’s insistence. -9/1/61-9/29/61. Meta’s resentment towards Bert grows when Mike tells her what happened. Meta is appalled that Bert would try to play God. An evil God, at that. Alex and Robin are married and Robin wants to go to Cedars to check on Doris and break the news to her themselves because she feels bad for her. Alex puts the kibosh on that quickly and says they’re not to think about the past. Mike goes to Robin and tells her that he loves her and he knows now that she doesn’t love Alex. He says he’s there to stop her from marrying Alex, not knowing that the marriage has already taken place. Mike kisses her. Robin responds but then says they can’t because she’s married to Alex now. Mike is shocked and he warns Robin that she’s making a mistake and that she should leave Alex and be with him. Robin says she can’t keep on ruining people. Mike says, “I love you” and leaves. Robin says, “I love you too” after Mike has left. Papa and Bruce go over to give the news of Robin’s marriage to Bill and Bert. Bert is shattered with guilt and fears she’ll never see her son again. Bill hopes that Robin could get an annulment from Alex but Bruce says there’s no hope of that because Alex has her brainwashed. Anne wonders why Paul cares so much about Doris who she sees as a dislikable lost cause but Paul says he can’t just watch people suffer without trying to help them. Anne sees the new house/clinic and is appalled at how ghastly she thinks it is but she tries to be accepting for Paul’s sake. Mike takes an engineering job in South America to get away from Bert and Robin. Henry goes by to see the clinic/house and is incensed that Paul wants Anne and Johnny to live in such a poor neighborhood. He goes to Paul’s office to blast him and is appalled when Doris barges in and begs Paul to let her have a drink. He later tells Anne to leave Paul while she still can. Mike packs his suitcase and gives a cold goodbye to his mom. Bert sobs after she watches him walk out the door. -10/2/61-10/31/61. Papa and Bill say goodbye to Mike at the airport as he heads to Caracas. Meanwhile, on their honeymoon in Honolulu, Alex’s controlling nature begins to exhibit itself. Alex starts to experience pain which causes Robin to call a doctor. At Anne’s urging, Paul tries to get Doris to see a psychiatrist but Doris is resistant to his treatment and the psychiatrist suggests that Paul is better suited to help Doris since they already have such a good rapport. This infuriates Anne who wants Doris out of Paul’s life. Doris tries to apologize to Anne for the tongue-lashing she gave her but Anne only politely accepts it. When Doris volunteers to help them move into the new house, Anne coldly says they have no use for her, prompting Doris to take back the olive branch. Doris laments to George the unfairness of great men like Paul being saddled with bitches like Anne. Alex and Robin call their honeymoon short as Alex starts to have stomach pains and they fly back to Los Angeles where Alex’s insecurity and possessiveness of Robin begins to show even more. Alex has an ulcer. Doris tells Paul that he should have let her die because, now that she’s still alive, her main mission in life will be to destroy Alex and Robin’s marriage. Robin goes to see Doris at the hospital, trying to befriend her. Although Doris likes her well enough, her bitterness won’t let her change her plans. Paul tries to take back his suggestion that Marie befriend Doris but Marie can tell that right away that Dick put him up to it and she stands her ground. She wants to help a fellow human being who is suffering whether Dick likes it or not. Bert apologizes to Robin for interfering in Mike and Robin’s marriage and their lives. Now that it’s too late, Robin is infuriated at Bert’s admission that the marriage could have survived without her interference. Robin becomes hysterical, laughing and crying at the same time, and shouts, “Oh Bert, shut up! Just, please, shut up!” -11/1/61-11/30/61. Robin recovers enough to apologize for her outburst but when Bert asks if they could still have a relationship, Robin replies, “Don’t call me. I’ll call you”. When Meta invites Alex over to the Bannings for dinner, he lets his resentment be known towards Robin’s family because they’re a reminder of Mike. When Meta relays this to Papa, he retorts that nobody’s going to stop him from loving his granddaughter. Paul tells Anne that he wants to hire Doris as his receptionist so that she can be productive and help others. Anne throws a fit. She gets determined to prove to Paul that Doris is rotten to the core and not worth “saving”. Papa goes to visit Robin and she tells him that she, surprisingly, finds herself feeling sorry for Bert because she’s lost the one thing she was trying to hold on to the most–Michael. Alex is furious when he learns that Anne has been visiting Doris. Paul offers Doris the job as receptionist but Doris warns him that he might regret it because she’s Pandora’s box. Papa tells Bill that Bert is trying to mother Robin now that she feels she’s lost Mike and is lonely for him. Papa thinks Bert feels the need to mother others so she won’t have to look at herself and that’s what’s going on with Robin. Henry is disturbed to read in the newspaper of an armed robbery of a gas station on the same street Paul and Anne have moved to. He’s also appalled when Paul says Doris will be working for him and accuses Paul of putting his wife and grandson in danger. Paul finally snaps and tells Henry to either get off his back or get out of his life and let the Fletcher family live. Bill calls Paul over for a house call as Bert has a fever. Paul encourages Bert to not stress out anymore over her guilt in the Michael/Robin situation. Dick tells Marie that he got a job offer in Geneva. He also tells Robin that Alex’s ulcer is made worse by emotional upset, such as the jealousy he’s exhibiting, and, as hard as it is, Robin must pretend to love him. -12/1/61-12/29/61. Meta and Bert reconcile. Paul tells Bert that one of the tests they’ve run on her after her physical, her pap smear, has indicated abnormal cells. Bert gives the news to Bill but tells him not to worry because she’s not. This doesn’t stop the worrying. Alex’s jealousy towards Robin starts to go completely mental as Alex finds out Robin spent the afternoon with George. When she tells him George was helping her pick out a birthday present and presents it to him, Alex accuses her of just using the gift as an alibi and smashes it against the wall. Bill calls Mike in Caracas, tells him about Bert’s surgery, and asks him to come home before it takes place. Bill surprises Bert by bringing Mike to the Bannings, where the family is gathered for Christmas, after picking him up at the airport. Bert is thrilled but tries to get Mike out of there before Alex and Robin come over but she’s unsuccessful, leading to an awkward Christmas gathering. Since Bill and Bert aren’t letting anyone know about Bert’s upcoming surgery, Alex, of course, thinks that Robin got Mike back secretly. Alex’s insecurity and paranoia lead him to think Mike is back to claim Robin and that Bruce, as Alex’s doctor and Meta’s husband, is using Alex’s ulcer as an excuse to keep him from continuing his honeymoon with Robin. Bruce has recommended that Alex not go to the south of France with Robin that Alex has planned since the honeymoon in Hawaii got cut short for medical reasons. -12/25/61. Papa, Bill, Bert, Bruce, Meta, Dick and Marie gather at the Bannings to celebrate Christmas Day. Dick and Marie are planning on going to Europe and Bruce is going to take over as Alex’s doctor. Bill goes to the airport to pick up Mike who has been living in Venezuela. Bill and Mike talk about Bert’s potential upcoming operation for her ovarian cancer. Bill is hoping Mike and Bert can reconcile. Bill brings Mike back to Bruce and Meta’s to surprise Bert.

Thank you!

An Evangelical that doesn't talk much about their faith? Isn't that an oxymoron? 😂

Wait. What? So Phillip killed Ross?

Not only do I not count them, I refuse to accept their existence.

One of the biggest mysteries in GL history is why they never brought Hope back. Especially after Alan-Michael came on the show. Not bringing Mike back was another mystery but Hope's absence was even more of a mystery. They just really seemed to hate the Bauers post-1983. I'm actually shocked that they kept Ed and Rick on the show for as long as they did.

Thank you for your insight! That's one of the reasons why I post my synopses. To try to generate discussion on the golden years of the show. Yeah, the argument between Paul and Bert was great. I always loved it when someone put Bert in her place! It was very out of the blue as it started as a friendly visit but Paul never held back when something bothered him. He was very outspoken. That's why he was one of my favorite characters. Bert sure didn't like him though. Even when they were on friendly terms, they never really liked or understood each other. They kind of tolerated each other. In my opinion, ANYTHING with Dick was dreary. I absolutely hated that character. I'll be glad to see him go. He was such a wuss with his mother and totally selfish. A perfect example of his selfishness, which is why I included it in my synopsis, was when he was talking to Marie about getting back together and he said, if they did get back together, he would want her quitting her job and being a stay-at-home housewife. Not uncommon for that time period, but considering the fact that Marie wanted to adopt a child because she was so bored since Dick was always at his work and she was always alone, with the fact he didn't want to adopt a child so she got a job to occupy her time...well, it's just a good example of how selfish he was. His name suited him well. Knowing how this plays out, SPOILER ALERT, I don't know how in the world Marie breaks her engagement to Joe and goes back to Dick. I can't imagine how that plays out. Joe was really good to/for Marie and Dick was just horrible. Those episodes are much better when you watch them knowing the context. For example, Robin and Bert give each other a lot of looks with nothing and the looks have so much more meaning when you know what was going on between the two at the time. You realize why Bert is being so cold and fake and why Robin is giving her the F.U. looks. EDIT: Sorry, my last paragraph is referencing the episode that's out there from January, 1961. Not the two that you posted. But any of the episodes are more enjoyable when you know the whole context.

Thank you, vetsoapfan.

You're all welcome. I'm glad you're enjoying them. 1960 was a really good year. In particular, the second half of the year. I think Agnes really hit her stride then.