DKosty123
There are several reasons this series worked well, even though it is evident in a lot of episodes that ABC did not invest much money in the production. The First reason is the now late Patty Duke. In this show she gets to play both sides of being a teenager, wild and crazy, and prim and proper. As in real life Duke had a split personality disorder of sorts, she makes this work to her advantage here.The supporting cast is another strength here. William Schallert and others really helped bring this over. The show has a feel much like the original Disney Film - The Parent Trap- because it has a strong mother and father and 2 teenage girls who are really related, though not twins like the Disney movies, and they get into all kinds of trouble.The teaming of Sidney Sheldon and William Asher (Bewitched meets I Dream of Jeannie) is a part of the success here too. While the writing is sometimes lacking, the direction and production are as good as any 1960's sitcom. It really did not hurt that Duke had won an Oscar before this got going as well. The late William Schallert's Martin Lane character never hurt this show either. Somehow, if Patty and Cathy got into something too deep he would come along and fix things.
stancym-1
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.
bkoganbing
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.
roghache
I grew up on this really cute series as a teenager myself, and only wish today's adolescents had more programs of its quality and sense of genuine fun. The Patty Duke Show is shades of Hayley Mills's Parent Trap. In fact, every young girl's heroines back then were Patty Duke, Hayley Mills, and Sally Field (star of Gidget & The Flying Nun). The teen magazines were full of this trio of stars.The series portrays the story of two identical cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane. Cathy, the daughter of a globe trotting journalist, comes to live with her aunt & uncle, Martin & Natalie Lane. They have a daughter, Patty, who's the same age as Cathy and the absolute spitting image. However, aside from looks, these two teenage girls are completely opposite in personality, taste, and life experiences.Patty Duke charmingly captures the dual roles of the cousins and manages to make the viewer think that there are actually two different teenagers here. There are some great special effects for that era when the 'two of a kind' cousins appear together on screen. Whether realistic or not, the show had a great story idea with a variation on the identical twins with contrasting personalities theme. Making them cousins with totally different childhood experiences, the screenwriters could make this pair of lookalikes seem really diverse.In fact, their personality and culture clash forms the basis of the series. Since Patty and Cathy are such polar opposites, they have trouble understanding each other. The urbane, sophisticated Cathy is a quiet and serious young lady, who has been living in Scotland with her father and has traveled abroad in Europe. Patty is a typical peppy, outgoing, and very social American teenager living in Brooklyn Heights. Cathy is studious and scholastically excellent, while Patty receives average grades and is more concerned with fashions, fads, friends, fun, and sleepovers than with schoolwork. Cathy's taste in music runs to classical ('the minuet and ballet Russe') while Patty likes to bop around to the rock & roll music of that era. Even their taste in food...well, Cathy prefers gourmet cuisine such as the elegant Crepes Suzette, while Patty chooses hot dogs, ice cream, and junk food. However, although jealousy and conflict arise (always humorously conveyed of course), it's much like a sibling relationship. Underneath it all, the cousins really do care about one other and sometimes even conspire together to pull off pranks or get themselves out of scrapes. (Typically Patty gets into the scrape and Cathy must help her out of it!) Also, the cousins are not actually that different in some important ways. Patty desires popularity and Cathy at least some sense of acceptance. And of course both young ladies are interested in BOYS. Patty would accurately be described as boy crazy, while Cathy conveys her interest a bit more subtly. The girls don't always go for the same type, but in one episode, the pair are actually rivals for the attentions of the new boy next door. I note among the episode list that once there's even a double date, have forgotten the details, but would predict some sort of switcheroo or mix up. Patty's father, Martin Lane, is managing editor of a fictitious New York newspaper, the New York Chronicle, for which Cathy's father (Martin's brother) works as a foreign correspondent. The two brothers are identical twins, presumably explaining their daughters' close physical resemblance. Cathy's father wants her to complete high school in the States before returning to Scotland.The father in this series really stands out in my mind these many years later. William Shallert is absolutely wonderful in the role of Patty's father, Martin Lane, the classic kind & caring American dad who's often at his wit's end over his teenage daughter's antics. This actor also plays Cathy's father in a few of the episodes. I don't remember the mother, Natalie Lane, but that isn't to say the actress wasn't competent. It's been quite a few decades!Overall, it was wonderful programming that the teenagers of that era could relate to. No sex and drugs on screen back in the Good Old Days. However, many of the classic teen story lines are featured, including parties, dating, school football stars, teachers, baby sitting, kid brothers, and peer rivalry. Patty spars with her own younger brother, Ross, and must also cope with an annoying school rival, Sue Ellen. Probably most young viewers preferred the extroverted chatterbox, Patty, but personally, being shy and bookish myself in those days, I identified more with the introverted, academic Cathy. The Patty Duke Show was very popular among all my own school friends and quite deservedly so. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find it in re runs, but suspect that even some of today's teens might still get a kick out of it.
