# Family Affair (1966)

> A bachelor civil engineer and his English valet unexpectedly raise three orphaned children in a Manhattan apartment.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/473

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 138
- Episode runtime: 20 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, family
- Created by: Don Fedderson, Edmund L. Hartmann
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Brian Keith, Sebastian Cabot, Kathy Garver, Anissa Jones, Johnny Whitaker, Carlos Romero, Kelly Corcoran, Ralph Manza
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059982/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, comforting, wholesome, gentle, hopeful

## Synopsis

Family Affair (1966-1971) is an American network sitcom created by Don Fedderson and Edmund L. Hartmann for CBS. Brian Keith plays Bill Davis, a well-to-do civil engineer and lifelong bachelor who, after his brother's death, must raise his orphaned children in a luxury Manhattan apartment. Sebastian Cabot plays Mr. Giles French, his impeccably proper English gentleman's gentleman, who finds his dignity tested by the responsibility of caring for 15-year-old Cissy, played by Kathy Garver, and the six-year-old twins Jody and Buffy, played by Johnny Whitaker and Anissa Jones. The engine of each episode is the daily friction of a bachelor household suddenly full of children: missed appointments, schoolyard crises, awkward dates and small domestic mishaps resolved with patience and a laugh. The show runs five seasons and 138 episodes in a single-camera-era half-hour format built on self-contained stories with warm, recurring family bonds. Set in 1960s Manhattan, it carries a gentle, cozy and sincerely hopeful register, with an emotional core in the found-family bond between uncle and children. Fans of My Three Sons, The Brady Bunch and Bachelor Father will find the same wholesome, comforting household comedy here.

## Shows like Family Affair

- [The Cosby Show (1984)](https://ember.film/tv/1657)
- [My Three Sons (1960)](https://ember.film/tv/1442)
- [My Favorite Martian (1963)](https://ember.film/tv/3694)
- [About a Boy (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/46029)
- [Dennis the Menace (1959)](https://ember.film/tv/9269)
- [Silver Spoons (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/1967)
- [Diff'rent Strokes (1978)](https://ember.film/tv/2290)
- [The Partridge Family (1970)](https://ember.film/tv/12984)
- [Nanny and the Professor (1970)](https://ember.film/tv/9063)
- [Eight Is Enough (1977)](https://ember.film/tv/4165)

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