Fred MacMurray Felt Betrayed When CBS Canceled 'My Three Sons' in 1972

Fred MacMurray and the 'My Three Sons' cast (from l.): Don Grady, William Demarest, Stanley Livingston, Barry LivingstonPhoto byflickr.com

Fred MacMurray, who died in 1991, was not pleased when his hit CBS TV sitcom, My Three Sons was canceled by the network at the end of the 12th season. The show had premiered on ABC in 1960, but later switched to CBS by its final season in 1972.

A 13th year had been planned for the series, until CBS moved the show from its coveted spot on Thursday nights to late Monday nights at 10:00 PM. MacMurray was blindsided by the move, and remained bitter for years about the show's abrupt cancelation.

A Closer Look

At the end of the 1970–1971 season, My Three Sons was still a hit series in what was its 11th year. So much so, a spin-off series had been planned with Don Grady and Tina Cole. Grady played then-eldest son Robbie Douglas (after Tim Considine's initially-oldest brother character had left the show years before) and Cole played his wife Katie.

Grady and Cole were to star in a new show initially called Three of a Kind, then renamed Robbie—about Robbie, Katie, and their triplets relocating to San Francisco. A pilot for the sequel sitcom was filmed, but failed to win the greenlight for a weekly series.

The Honeymoon Was Over Before It Started

The pilot, titled, "After the Honeymoon," aired as the final entry for My Three Sons 1970-71 season, and was intended as the springboard for the new show.

In that adventure, guest stars Richard X. Slattery and Pat Carroll played landlords of the apartment block into which Robbie and Katie move.

The new series ultimately did not go weekly because Grady decided to leave the Sons franchise for a new full-time career as a composer.

For the series' 12th and what became its last year, CBS switched the show to Mondays nights at 10:00 PM.

That's when MacMurray feelings of betrayal intensified; he believed that both he and the show was mistreated after his years of dedication to the network.

When My Three Sons moved to Monday nights, it finished the season below the Top 30. In an effort to rescue My Three Sons, and to appease MacMurray, CBS returned the sitcom back to Thursdays at 8:30 PM, its former time period.

But it all too late. CBS made the decision to end the show.

Murray's Demise

A heavy smoker, Fred MacMurray was diagnosed with throat cancer in the late 1970s, and again in 1987. In December 1988, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side and affected his speech.

Though he made a near-full recovery, he had also been suffering from leukemia for over ten years.

On November 5, 1991, he then died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, CA.