Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

People are voting emotionally.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I have seen a few episodes recently. The show is predictable and not particularly funny! If you want a funny 60s show, watch the Dick Van Dyke show or Leave It To Beaver. Patty Duke is a fine actress but in her show she has without doubt the WORST British accent I have ever heard on a movie or television screen. Just appalling that a dialect coach did not work with her a bit more. Of course we now have the backstory that Duke was exploited, and was suffering from bipolar disorder to boot, while making the show. I commend Duke for having to perform double duty under these circumstances.In the episode recalling Cathy arriving for the first time, she is supposed to be coming from Scotland, is that supposed to be a Scottish accent? Good grief, that would be an even worse slaughter of accents. Even assuming she is English, but arriving from Scotland, you don't get any sense of that part of the world being her former lifestyle in her vocabulary or habits, let alone the accent. I just couldn't get past this major flaw. Apologies to the late Miss Duke, a fine actress.

I only stumbled across this classic 1960s sitcom about two months ago, having been vaguely aware of its existence beforehand and only knowing Patty Duke - who I couldn't have picked out of a line-up - as being Sean Astin's mum. After watching the insanely catchy opening credits, I decided to watch an episode of the series for two main reasons: (a) I've always been a big fan of the wonderful character actor William Schallert, who is probably best known for playing Nilz Baris in the classic "Star Trek" episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and who still occasionally acts at nearly 91 and (b) there was an adorable Old English Sheepdog. Having previously owned one, I'm extremely partial to the breed! I wasn't expecting much, if I'm honest, but I found it to be an utterly charming and very funny series from the get go and began watching it from the beginning. Well, the dog disappeared without explanation about halfway through the first season but otherwise no complaints from me! The series' premise may be a bit far-fetched but, considering the 1960s produced sitcoms featuring witches, genies and talking horses, it's pretty damn realistic, comparatively speaking. It concerns 16-year-old Cathy Lane (Patty Duke), the daughter of a globetrotting foreign correspondent, going to live with her uncle Martin (William Schallert) and aunt Natalie (Jean Byron) in Brooklyn Heights. Martin and Natalie have a daughter named Patty who is the same age as Cathy and just happens to look absolutely identical to her. The "explanation" for this is that Cathy and Patty's fathers are identical twins, which is quite funny as Patty Duke doesn't resemble William Schallert (who plays Cathy's father Kenneth in a few episodes) even slightly! While the premise is certainly gimmicky, the cousins' resemblance is used as a plot device far less than you might think. It's mostly an excuse for Patty Duke to play two completely different characters, the constantly scheming and slightly crazy Patty and the quiet, polite and demure Cathy, which she does to perfection. I sometimes forget that they are played by the same person. She won an Oscar at the age of 16 and it's easy to see why. Rounding out the main cast are Paul O'Keefe as Patty's wisecracking little brother Ross and Eddie Applegate as Richard Harrison, her gormless but good-natured half-puppy, half-ape of a boyfriend.Most episodes focus on Patty's dating life or feature her jumping into a new project or scheme with a huge amount of (i.e. too much) enthusiasm, realising that she's gotten in over her head and being rescued by either Cathy or her parents. Cathy often acts as Patty's conscience and puts her back on the right track. The best thing about Patty is that, rather unusually for sitcoms of the era, she was a multi-faceted character who could at turns be kind, manipulative, sweet, egotistical, vulnerable and a fire storm. Cathy is a bit more one note at times but that's okay as she was designed as a foil for Patty anyway. William Schallert and the late Jean Byron are both extremely good as Patty's kind, patient, loving and often extremely understanding parents as they make Martin and Natalie seem like real people. They have fast become one of favourite TV fathers and mothers.The humour is the series is gentle, generally producing a steady stream of chuckles and the occasional belly laugh in this fan, with many of the funniest lines being delivered (perfectly) by Paul O'Keefe, who was only 12 when the series started, almost all of which are at Patty's expense. It's a shame that he never got another big role (and only a few small ones) after the series ended. From what I can tell, the series is an accurate if idealised depiction of middle class 1960s America with Patty being a typical American teenager of the era, albeit one who faces more farcical situations and less serious problems than her real life counterparts. Overall, the Lanes feel like a real family, which isn't often the case with sitcom families of the era.One thing that I found refreshing about the series is that quite a few of the extras, particularly in the school scenes, are African-Americans, which again wasn't common in late 1950s and early 1960s sitcoms. Apparently, only one single solitary black person appears in "Leave It to Beaver", which ran for 234 episodes. However, none of them are in Patty and Cathy's circle of friends and in the first two seasons only two black people - one of them being Sammy Davis, Jr. - have any dialogue. Still, it was a baby step in the right direction.I'm curious to see how well and how fondly remembered the series is by people who watched it while it was originally on from 1963 to 1966. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, I can't recommend it highly enough. The acting, particularly from Patty Duke and William Schallert, and comic writing are both top notch. As an Irish person born in 1987, I'm proof that you don't need to be an American baby boomer to enjoy the series!

Fresh from winning her Oscar for The Miracle Worker in 1962, those in control of Patty Duke's career decided that a weekly television show about as far away from the serious drama of The Miracle Worker was the way to go. Thus was fashioned The Patty Duke Show set in Brooklyn Heights, an area I'm somewhat familiar with and which was not in any way captured by the show which never got closer to Brooklyn than ABC studios back lot. It was about two cousins who could have been identical twins.As we learned from that theme that still runs through my brain, Cathy Lane was a girl who enjoyed the minuet, Ballet Russe, and crepe Suzette, while Patty Lane suffered from the fact that a hot-dog made her lose control and of course enjoyed the latest teen music. Cathy was the cousin brought up in the United Kingdom where apparently she missed the revolution in music that was happening in Liverpool. She spoke with a proper posh English accent while Patty was your typical American teen, but hardly spoke Brooklynese.So Cathy was her living with her American relations in Brooklyn Heights which consisted of Patty, her younger brother Paul Linke and parents William Schallert and Jean Byron. The situations were no different than you would have found on any of the other comedies aimed at the teen audience.Of course the playing of twins is a challenge to any player and Patty Duke met the challenge. Patty was so wholesome in her image that one forgot she had won an Oscar for a challenging role. She had good reason to worry when this show ran its course whether her career like so many other teen idols would get back on track.I did and always have liked William Schallert who's had one of the longest careers going and in his eighties is still working. He was a great father figure and got to do it all again as the Gidget series was remade in the Eighties.The Patty Duke Show did no harm to its star's career and I'm sure the residuals are nice. One thing always bothered me thought. The local teen hangout was referred to as 'the shake shop'. I've not heard that term used in my generation, my parent's generation, nor in any succeeding generations ever. If anyone ever heard that term outside the Patty Duke Show, please document.One thing's certain, you won't find a 'shake shop' in Brooklyn Heights.

Teenage actress Patty Duke,fresh from her riveting motion picture triumph in the 1962 film "The Miracle Worker",co-starring Anne Bancroft for which Duke won an Academy Award for her brilliant performance was ready to make the jump from feature films to starring in her own weekly television series. Patty Duke plays a dual role in this light-hearted family comedy titled "The Patty Duke Show",which was on ABC-TV from September 18,1963 until the final episode of the series on April 27,1966 with repeated episodes airing until August 31,1966. In all,a total of 105 episodes were produced all in classic black and white and produced through Miss Duke's own production company(the youngest person ever to be an executive producer in charge of production)Chersaw Productions in association with United Artists Television. The show ran for three seasons on the air in prime-time and it survived the network's transformation years as some of the programs that were in black and white were about to make the jump to color in the show's final season. However,this series was still in black and white in its final season and never got the chance to make the change to color,and it was there that ABC pulled the plug on the series in the spring of 1966 after four seasons. Under the creation of Sidney Sheldon and William Asher(who also served as executive producers of this series),this was a show that was patterned after the classic 1961 Disney film "The Parent Trap" starring Hayley Mills(who also played dual roles in the film)and here on "The Patty Duke Show",Miss Duke plays dual characters. As Patty Lane she was a perky,bubble-gum chewing loudmouth teenager who digs Paul Anka tunes,worships The Beatles,dances to the latest teen-oriented musical tunes,and has "slumber parties",with her girlfriends.As Cathy Lane,she was Patty's intellectual Scottish cousin,newly arrived from overseas to live with the Lanes,complete with bagpipes and burr. The girls confused everybody in their middle-class Brooklyn Heights,New York neighborhood by mischievously switching personalities at critical moments. Since they were exact look-alikes,no one could tell them apart. The rest of the family consisted of the father figure Martin Lane(William Schallert),who was Patty's harried father, a newspaper editor for the New York Times;Natalie Lane(Jean Byron),the mother was the stay-at-home housewife who basically kept the kids at bay while daddy was away at work or whatever he was implied to doing. The 12-year old Ross Lane(Paul O'Keefe)was the younger brother,who was constantly at war with the girls and basically got blamed for everything that he didn't do but in just about every episode the girls get away with their mischief while poor Ross gets severely punished for something he didn't do,but was forgiven for it. Richard Harrison(Eddie Applegate)was Patty's boyfriend who was a part-time Western Union messenger(she liked men in uniform). If that is not all,Patty also had a rival who was always after the affections of Richard too,the underhanded Sue Ellen(Kitty Sullivan). The show itself was hilarious to boot with Patty coming up with one hair-brained scheme after another and of course always got in some kind of trouble with Cathy or Dad for help her out of a tight situation.The show was so good that several guest stars made appearances. One episode I do recall had two of the hottest British musical acts of their day which was the hit recording duo of Chad and Jeremy. The others featured Bobby Vinton,teen heartthrobs Fabian and Frankie Avalon and not to mention appearances by Sammy Davis,Jr. really help the show's popularity among the teenage audience too. In filming some of the episodes for the show however was difficult since having one actress play two parts did present many problems during production especially when both girls were in the same scene. The young woman who served as Patty/Cathy's double,and was seen from the back as one girl while Patty Duke faced the camera as the other was Rita McLaughlin,who was the exact look-a-like complex of Miss Duke herself. In perspective, "The Patty Duke Show",brought out some of the things that teens in the 1960's faced especially when dealing with football games,parties,and other things of interest and this show handled that very well. However,a reunion of the original cast came back in 1999 for ABC however in a two hour television movie based on the hit series from the 1960's with Patty Duke again in the dual roles that made her a household name.