With her film career fading, Donna Reed answered the television call. That black thing ringing in each episode's catchy theme song is what a "telephone" looked like in the 1950s - and, it must have been an upscale model. Producer husband Tony Owen and the ever elegant Ms. Reed assembled a terrific TV family: Donna Reed (as Donna Stone), Carl Betz (as Alex Stone), Shelley Fabares (as Mary Stone), and Paul Peterson (as Jeff Stone). They looked like a family even before the arrival of Paul's little sister (1963).
In the first aired episode, Donna tries to arrange a skiing weekend for the family, because she and the kids aren't seeing enough of father Alex. Donna can't understand why their obstetrician friend Jackie Kelk (as Burt "Bo" Boland) can get off, but not Alex. This one's okay, but the seventh episode's "Three-Part Mother" plays like a better series introduction.
**** Weekend Trip (9/24/58) Andrew McCullough ~ Donna Reed, Carl Betz, Jackie Kelk
