The Donna Reed Show (1958)
Revolves around typical family problems, such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children.
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Episode 1 - That's Show Business
Release Date: 1959-09-24Mary does a kind deed by encouraging a shy, insecure fellow student, Kenny, to appear in the school play. When she does, he ends up being paired with her in a dance number. But she regrets her good deed because she’s worried about how they’ll appear next to each other, as he’s shorter than her.
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Episode 2 - Sleep No More My Lady
Release Date: 1959-10-01Donna is too excited to sleep because Alex is giving a speech at a convention. While trying to sleep on the plane, Alex gives Donna a tranquilizer to help her sleep, which leads to an embarrassing chain of events.
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Episode 3 - A Penny Earned
Release Date: 1959-10-08Donna has trouble deciding whether or not buy a new dress.
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Episode 4 - A Friend Indeed
Release Date: 1959-10-15Jeff's 'friend' Doug keeps getting him into trouble at school, and Jeff silently takes the blame for him because he knows Doug's mother constantly picks on him and wonders why he can't be more like Jeff, who behaves like an innocent cherub at their house.
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Episode 5 - The First Child
Release Date: 1959-10-22Alex must contend with overly anxious new parents who constantly call him in a state of panic, thinking that there is something wrong with their baby.
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Episode 6 - Going Steady
Release Date: 1959-10-29Mary wants to meet a boy, so she talks Jeff into going to his kid sister's party.
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Episode 7 - The Neighborly Gesture
Release Date: 1959-11-05Alex is hurt that Jeff likes the new neighbor.
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Episode 8 - Nothing Like a Good Book
Release Date: 1959-11-12Donna mistakenly accepts an invitation to 'culture vulture' Lydia Langley's cocktail party, at which Lydia mentions that she also conducts a book discussion group. She goads Donna into joining it and then reporting on Tolstoy's "War and Peace" at her first meeting. Donna then attempts to immerse the whole family in culture.
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Episode 9 - Flowers For the Teacher
Release Date: 1959-11-19Jeff's class has a new teacher, Miss McGuinness. The boys in particular complain that she is too strict, so Donna meets with the new teacher to get matters settled.
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Episode 10 - All Mothers Worry
Release Date: 1959-11-26Jeff's friend, Phillip, has a problem. He wants to play football, but his mother is over-protective and won't let him.
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Episode 11 - Jeff Joins a Club
Release Date: 1959-12-03Jeff finds out the reason why he wasn't made a member of a club: He is friends with a boy no one else likes.
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Episode 12 - The Punishment
Release Date: 1959-12-10Dilemma in the Stone household: How to discipline the children without having Donna look like a villian by meting out the punishments, or having Donna look like a squealer when Alex does .
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Episode 13 - A Difference of Opinion
Release Date: 1959-12-17Donna gets cornered into accepting an invitation from a couple that neither she nor Alex really care for. Alex refuses to go, sparking an argument that they try to keep quiet from the children.
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Episode 14 - The Homecoming Dance
Release Date: 1959-12-24Alex and Donna chaperone Mary's date with a college man.
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Episode 15 - The Lucky Girl
Release Date: 1959-12-31Lately, all Donna has been hearing is how wonderful Alex is, and how lucky she is to be his wife. After a while, this gets Donna wondering if what people really mean is that Alex got the short end of the stick by marrying her.
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Episode 16 - The Broken Spirit
Release Date: 1960-01-07Jeff causes problems for everyone else in the house due to his selfishness and inconsideration for others. Because of this he gets a lecture, which he blows off. But then these same issues end up making him go overboard on being a model son when he fears the repercussions of hurting someone.
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Episode 17 - The Secret
Release Date: 1959-01-14Mary gets an engagement ring and a phone call from Matt, a freshman at UCLA, but doesn't tell anyone in the family about the ring or why Matt is calling. So what's going on? As Donna says, "Alex, our daughter has a secret."
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Episode 18 - The New Mother
Release Date: 1960-01-21Little David Barker is very excited. His father is getting married and he hopes this means he can leave military school and live in a real home, but things don't work out the way David thought they would.
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Episode 19 - Just a Housewife
Release Date: 1960-01-28Donna becomes offended by the way people seem to use the word ‘housewife’ condescendingly.
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Episode 20 - The Free Soul
Release Date: 1960-02-04Alex's Uncle Dan takes a break from traveling all over the world. Jeff likes the idea of going to Alaska, Saudi Arabia, Malaya, Australia, and doing whatever he wants, just like Uncle Dan. Jeff decides to join him. Will Donna and Alex allow him to go? Would you believe, yes?
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Episode 21 - The First Quarrel
Release Date: 1960-02-11 -
Episode 22 - A Place to Go
Release Date: 1960-02-18Jeff and his friends get into trouble when they are discovered using an abandoned house as a hang-out. This prompts Donna and the other mothers to create a nice meeting place for the children.
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Episode 23 - A Night to Howl
Release Date: 1960-02-25 -
Episode 24 - The Editorial
Release Date: 1960-03-03 -
Episode 25 - The Gentle Dew
Release Date: 1960-03-10Alex lays down the law when Jeff and Mary slack off on their responsibilities at home and their schoolwork. Now Alex is furious when it appears that Mary didn't come home from a bowling date with Roger on time.
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Episode 26 - The Fatal Leap
Release Date: 1960-03-17Alex's wild room-mate from college is getting married, and Alex is invited to the bachelor party. Donna doesn't like this idea at all.
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Episode 27 - The Perfect Pitch
Release Date: 1960-03-24Donna makes Jeff take trumpet lessons when she discovers he has perfect pitch. Jeff would rather be on the track team.
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Episode 28 - Pickles for Charity
Release Date: 1960-04-07While Alex was the ""belle of the ball"" with his fantastic dancing at the Woman's Medical Auxiliary Dance, the dance cost more to produce than the income from ticket sales provided. Each member agrees to contribute $27 using her skills in moneymaking to make up the budget shortfall. Donna will sell 54 jars of her famous pickle recipe at fifty cents per jar and donate the money to the Auxiliary. Will Donna's plan work?
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Episode 29 - Mary's Growing Pain
Release Date: 1960-04-14 -
Episode 30 - Alex Runs the House
Release Date: 1960-04-21Donna is away and Alex has to manage the house and children.
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Episode 31 - The Career Woman
Release Date: 1960-04-28Donna's old school mate, who has been a single career woman all these years, is now engaged to a doctor. She visits Donna to see what life is really like for a doctor's wife.
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Episode 32 - Jeff, the Financial Genius
Release Date: 1960-05-05Jeff starts swapping possessions to pay off a debt. Zack: Mike Montgomery. Mrs. Pruitt: Marjorie Winters. Alvin: Mike Peters. Sprague: Percy Helton. Paul Petersen.
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Episode 33 - Mary's Crusade
Release Date: 1960-05-12Mary vows not to go to the school dance unless Ellen has a date for the dance. Ellen is rather plain so Mary goes to work to transform Ellen into a glamorous young lady.
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Episode 34 - The First Time We Met
Release Date: 1960-05-19Donna and Alex have different stories about how they first met. Also Donna plays matchmaker to a new doctor in town and a pretty nurse at the hospital.
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Episode 35 - The Gossip
Release Date: 1960-05-26Donna tells Emily, the town gossip, that Kay Watson is having a baby. Then Donna learns from Alex that Kay is keeping it a secret so that she can stay working longer. Donna is crushed, knowing that she may have let Kay's secret out.
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Episode 36 - Love's Sweet Awakening
Release Date: 1960-06-02Sixteen- year-old Petie is home from military school and visiting the Stone family. Petie and Mary have been friends for years, but seeing how beautiful Mary has become, he would now like to be more than just friends. As Alex puts it, ""springtime has come to Petie!"" How can Petie catch Mary's eye?
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Episode 37 - The Wedding Present
Release Date: 1960-06-10Aunt Lettie is coming to visit, so Donna and Alex try to find the wedding present she gave them so she would be certain to see it. It would help if they could just remember what it was! And by the way, Alex, can Donna buy a $250 Porcelain Dresden figurine?
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Episode 38 - Cool Cat
Release Date: 1960-06-18Jeff wants to keep a cat that followed him home, so can Harry the Cat stay? The Stone family will decide by using the democratic process.