Robbie is seen exiting an ambulance on a stretcher. We learn that he has broken a leg while kicking a field goal for his high school team in a one-sided loss. He was knocked out on the play and has no recollection of what happened.
His lasting injury is a broken leg. When the clan goes to visit, they learn his nurse is an attractive young female. The next day he is sent home, but that nurse, a French woman named Yvonne, has switched with a colleague so she can spend her whole day off taking care of the young man.
Everyone is wondering why she continues to come visit Robbie for a couple of hours each evening after work, talking with him, massaging his temples, and more. Bub is mocked by Steve for his theory that the nurse wants to date Steve. Then Sally comes up with the same theory. They both do this even though Yvonne hasn't spent more than the minimum time with Steve, and seems only interested in talking to and treating Robbie as he is limited to moving about the house on crutches.
Then comes a day when Yvonne phones the house asking to speak to Steve. When told he isn't home, she politely ends the call without leaving any message. She does this at least five times. With this new information, Steve is now convinced she is interested in him.
Because she is about five years older than Robbie, nobody considers that she wants to date him, but they happily conclude she wants to date a man who seems to be 25 years older than she is.
Robbie sets up a day when he invites half a dozen buddies over so they can see how pretty his nurse is. For his part, he has no idea why she spends so much time with him, but he is just enjoying it while he can. Yvonne wants Robbie to move about more, putting down his crutches and dance with her. She winds up dancing with all the guys, seemingly just to be polite to them all.
All she wanted to do by phoning Steve was explain to him why she has been paying so much attention to Robbie as she is now set to stop coming over. She was worried that he would be psychologically damaged by being on crutches for a while so she tried to talk to him to keep him from becoming depressed (my words, not hers).
The side plot is that Ernie bumps into a new girl who has a pony. He is seen walking away with her by Chip, who immediately declares that if Ernie is friends with a girl, he is no friend of his. He refuses to even talk to Ernie, literally picking up the phone when Ernie calls and saying, "I'm not home, and if you leave a message, I won't call you back." Finally Ernie comes over, tells Chip about the pony and now he wants to see if he can ride it too.
I simply could not accept any part of this show as being believable. Kids get broken arms and legs all the time. Normally, after just a day or two, they'd be back at school, on crutches for the simple fracture Robbie was said to have, and the only real change is he'd have people help him carry things. There is no psychological damage from an injury that they know will heal in a few weeks. He wasn't going to even be homebound for two months, nor confined to a bed.
What nurse is going to give up so many hours of her free time for this sort of mission?
Beyond that, it is inconceivable that she would take on this extra treatment of a teenager in 1964 without first explaining it to his father. Even though she was doing it-private nursing care at no charge-she would absolutely make sure his parent knew and approved of it all.
Even dumber was Chip's total "war" against Ernie just because he saw him walking beside a girl, one time, without knowing the reason. He is now said to be 12, so he certainly ought to be smart enough to ASK ERNIE why he's spending time with this girl, instead of just dropping him as a friend without ever talking to Ernie. He also would have no reason to refuse to spend time with Ernie just because his pal sometimes spends time with someone Chip doesn't want to.
With so little resemblance to real life and few things to cause even a chuckle, I just can't give this one more than a score of 2.
His lasting injury is a broken leg. When the clan goes to visit, they learn his nurse is an attractive young female. The next day he is sent home, but that nurse, a French woman named Yvonne, has switched with a colleague so she can spend her whole day off taking care of the young man.
Everyone is wondering why she continues to come visit Robbie for a couple of hours each evening after work, talking with him, massaging his temples, and more. Bub is mocked by Steve for his theory that the nurse wants to date Steve. Then Sally comes up with the same theory. They both do this even though Yvonne hasn't spent more than the minimum time with Steve, and seems only interested in talking to and treating Robbie as he is limited to moving about the house on crutches.
Then comes a day when Yvonne phones the house asking to speak to Steve. When told he isn't home, she politely ends the call without leaving any message. She does this at least five times. With this new information, Steve is now convinced she is interested in him.
Because she is about five years older than Robbie, nobody considers that she wants to date him, but they happily conclude she wants to date a man who seems to be 25 years older than she is.
Robbie sets up a day when he invites half a dozen buddies over so they can see how pretty his nurse is. For his part, he has no idea why she spends so much time with him, but he is just enjoying it while he can. Yvonne wants Robbie to move about more, putting down his crutches and dance with her. She winds up dancing with all the guys, seemingly just to be polite to them all.
All she wanted to do by phoning Steve was explain to him why she has been paying so much attention to Robbie as she is now set to stop coming over. She was worried that he would be psychologically damaged by being on crutches for a while so she tried to talk to him to keep him from becoming depressed (my words, not hers).
The side plot is that Ernie bumps into a new girl who has a pony. He is seen walking away with her by Chip, who immediately declares that if Ernie is friends with a girl, he is no friend of his. He refuses to even talk to Ernie, literally picking up the phone when Ernie calls and saying, "I'm not home, and if you leave a message, I won't call you back." Finally Ernie comes over, tells Chip about the pony and now he wants to see if he can ride it too.
I simply could not accept any part of this show as being believable. Kids get broken arms and legs all the time. Normally, after just a day or two, they'd be back at school, on crutches for the simple fracture Robbie was said to have, and the only real change is he'd have people help him carry things. There is no psychological damage from an injury that they know will heal in a few weeks. He wasn't going to even be homebound for two months, nor confined to a bed.
What nurse is going to give up so many hours of her free time for this sort of mission?
Beyond that, it is inconceivable that she would take on this extra treatment of a teenager in 1964 without first explaining it to his father. Even though she was doing it-private nursing care at no charge-she would absolutely make sure his parent knew and approved of it all.
Even dumber was Chip's total "war" against Ernie just because he saw him walking beside a girl, one time, without knowing the reason. He is now said to be 12, so he certainly ought to be smart enough to ASK ERNIE why he's spending time with this girl, instead of just dropping him as a friend without ever talking to Ernie. He also would have no reason to refuse to spend time with Ernie just because his pal sometimes spends time with someone Chip doesn't want to.
With so little resemblance to real life and few things to cause even a chuckle, I just can't give this one more than a score of 2.
