The Patty Duke Show: The Complete First Season

The classic theme song says it all: They're identical cousins, “one pair of matching bookends, different as night and day.” Written primarily by Sidney Sheldon and directed by William Asher (a veteran of the Beach Party film franchise and Bewitched), The Patty Duke Show premiered in 1963 as a tailor-made star vehicle for Duke, who had won the Academy Award for her performance as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker the previous year. Although perhaps incorrectly remembered as a trading-places sitcom, this 36-episode first season is more an odd-couple comedy, with Duke playing both Patty, a typical suburban American teen whose main interests are boys and the telephone, and her more sophisticated Scotland-born cousin, Cathy, who learns about such “swinging American customs” as slumber parties. As the season unfolds, each girl changes a bit under the influence of the other. The great William Schallert costars as Patty's father, Martin, a sage voice of reason whom TV Guide ranked among TV's top 40 dads; and Paul O'Keefe is Ross, the quintessential bratty younger brother. All appear in a half-hour series retrospective included as a bonus feature. Beyond the spunky charms of its star, there is much to dig about The Patty Duke Show, including the vintage '60s teen lingo (“Bounce it or we'll be late for prison” translates to “Hurry up or we'll be late for school”). Baby boomers will find this irresistible, but today's teens might also relate to Patty, whose shenanigans invariably backfire (“When I goof, it's a beaut”). Recommended. (D. Liebenson)