Family Affair

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Family Affair was a 1966-1971 Dom Com about three children (Buffy, Jody, and Cissy) who, having lost their parents, go to live with their uncle Bill Davis and his butler/manservant "Mister" French.

Now mostly remembered for creator-producer Don Fedderson - and Fedderson's boss, network CBS - insisting that the character of Buffy never reach puberty, even as her actress Anissa Jones progressed from playing with crayons to needing a bra.

Anissa hated Buffy's childish clothing and pigtails -- the moment she came home, down came the pigtails. She wrote a letter about these issues to Fedderson and company, but the response was, "Why did you write a letter when you see me everyday? Oh, and changing things is out of the question." The response to Anissa's request that the dialog be made less childish and more like what people her age actually said was sarcastic remarks about how she should take scripting classes at UCLA. Anissa Jones died of a drug overdose (perhaps deliberate) at age 18.

A revival of the series starring Gary Cole and Tim Curry aired on The WB during the 2002 season.

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This series provides examples of:

• Companion Cube (Mrs Beasley)
• Contractual Purity: Anissa Jones.
• Dom Com
• Ill Girl: Eve Plumb of future Brady Bunch fame plays one in the episode "Christmas Came a Little Early".
• Not Allowed to Grow Up (The whole sordid story is on the trope's analysis page.)
• Panty Shot: Buffy in a couple of episodes.
• Shout-Out: In the pilot of Bosom Buddies after Peter Scolari names Tom Hanks' character's alter ego 'Buffy', Hanks references "Jodie and Mr French".
• Suppressed Mammaries (Anissa Jones as Buffy)
• Written in Infirmity (Buffy's broken leg)