The New Butch

Professor Everett (Richard Long) has missed his son Butch's (Trent Lehman) basketball practice, after missing a string of other events with him. He apologizes to his son at dinner, but Butch is more upset over his new "ding-a-ling" coach. The middle son has developed a decidedly "hip" vocabulary and Nanny (Juliet Mills) feels it is a rebellion from the rejection he has been feeling. The groovy mindset stems from his interaction with a new kid Jay Haislip (Michael Barbera). The professor takes Nanny and the family on the University Faculty Picnic. He hopes it will turn Butch around. I felt the conflict was underdeveloped with a faint resolution.

Feeling neglected because his father has missed too many events with him, Butch turns to a new smart-aleck type friend with a sullen manner that is influencing Butch's behavior. Meanwhile, Prudence is learning to read, taught by magical fairies who live in her father's typewriter. A faculty picnic for the Professor's college brings the family together with Butch's hip new friend and brings the Professor back into sharing experiences with the family as they stumble through "father and son" three-legged races and the like.

We don't get a "Butch is back to normal" experience here, but we do get some understanding as to how his hip friend became sullen, and the Professor gets some understanding that Butch needs more attention than he's been giving him. This show did this sort of thing well - helping families cope with regular problems. Not overloaded with smart one-liners or stupid auxiliary characters - just full of fun Nanny magic and a family expanding their capability to love.