Family Affair Season 1, Episode 23: The Mother Tongue

Buffy

The excellent family series begins when Bill Davis, a fantastic construction engineer, unexpectedly adopts Buffy, who along with Jody and Cissy, have lost their parents in an accident. Buffy comes first and at first, Bill doesn't like her and wants to send her back to Terre Haute. Buffy gets the feeling that Bill doesn't like her and runs off to hide in the basement. Bill tells her that he likes her and wants her to stay. In the end, when Bill gets ready to leave for a trip, Jody and Cissy come to be with Buffy.

30 min

Jody and Cissy

Cissy joins the family and Mr. French thinks that he is not wanted anymore. Mr. French changes his mind after Buffy puts her doll in his suitcase and decides to stay after all.

30 min

The Gift Horse

Buffy and Jody decide to give Bill a great gift- a horse!

The Matter of School

Bill decides to send Cissy to a private girls' school in Connecticut, and even though she would prefer to attend high school locally, she reluctantly agrees to go, thinking Bill wants to get her out of the way.

30 min

Marmalade

Mr. French is chosen for an ad for marmalade and is a huge promotion success, until he tastes the marmalade that he is hawking.

30 min

Room with a Viewpoint

Buffy doesn't like the new changes in her and Cissy's bedroom and refuses to ever step foot in it.

30 min

Mrs. Beasley, Where Are You?

Buffy's doll, Mrs. Beasley, gets knocked out of the apartment window by accident and Buffy goes up at arms about the whole thing. She fnds out that a little girl owns a doll that looks just like her lost Mrs. Beasley, and realizes that it is not her doll. Suddenly, the real Mrs. Beasley doll is found in a trash bin.

30 min

Who's Afraid of Nural Shpeni?

Mr. French gets Lebanese cooking lessons from a Middle Eastern restaurant owner named Nural Shpeni, and her family forces Mr. French to marry her, whether he wants to or not.

30 min

A Matter for Experts

Buffy and Jody have been spending a lot a time with each other at school, and it is a major concern for the vice principal and a child psychologist who states that Buffy and Jody need to make friends and join in with other children.

30 min

Beware the Other Woman

When an old flame steps back into Bill's life, the children think that he will get married and send them back to Indiana.

30 min

Take Two Aspirin

Bill gets a chance to work with a friend in Mexico on a job, but his trip is cut short when Mr. French comes down with the flu and difficultt in keeping touch with the family.

30 min

Love Me, Love Me Not

When Jody sees a friend getting spanked by his father, his father tells him that he punishes him out of love. So Jody takes it upon himself to earn a spanking from Uncle Bill to see if he loves him enough to enforce physical punishment.

30 min

The Thursday Man

Cissy learns a lesson in snooping when she is to do a paper on Mr. French and finds a shocking secret about him.

30 min

Think Deep

Cissy worships a teacher named Julian Hill and spouts his theories all through the household. Bill invites the teacher to dinner and Cissy sees that he is not the man that she worships so dearly when he goes off on Buffy and Jody for an innocent spill.

30 min

Hard Hat Jody

Jody's allusion about being a constuction worker leads him to ""gaining"" a job with a constuction worker who Bill is trying to get a job with.

30 min

That Was the Dinner That Wasn't

Cissy is disheartened because she will be left out of a mother-daughter event at school, and she doesn't tell Bill what is wrong with her.

30 min

All Around the Town

Bill and the whole family are seeing the Gaynors off on their cruise. Buffy and Jody think that Bill is having dinner with them, but when they find out the thuth, they are left on the dock by themselves. Mrs. Gaynor sees them and calls Bill, but Buffy and Jody run off in the city to find the owner of some money they found on the dock.

30 min

One for the Little Boy

Bill plans to do some serious bonding with Jody by taking him on a business trip, but Murphy's Law plagues the trip. But Jody states that just being with Bill is exciting enough.

30 min

Fancy Free

Buffy and Jody are placed in a fast-learning portion of their grade, but Bill is spending his time with a woman who is quite uncertain about what she wants. The twins get a friendly window-washer to help them with their work, but a call from the school to Bill makes him see that the children are more important than a hot date.

30 min

A Helping Hand

A lesson to be learned in this episode: Helping people is good, but it only goes but so far. The family learns this the hard way. Mr. French helps out a maid who is very bad with housekeeping by covering up her mistakes, and this charade goes on until she is hired by a guest who is throwing a party. Eventually, she gets fired and she gets on Mr. French. Bill does the same thing when he takes over the twins' school project, and he gets credit. Cissy tells them all about how important it is to get involved in the family because they had none when they were in Terre Haute.

30 min

Once in Love with Buffy

Aunt Fran's back and she wants the kids to come back with her. She believes that Bill will not be a suitable person for the kids. Of course, Fran thinks that this fact is confirmed when Buffy thinks that Bill doesn't want them there. When teh family gets ready to leave, Buffy sees the light and changes her mind.

30 min

Ballerina Buffy

Buffy gets chosen for a lead in a ballet, which is totally annoying for a mother whose little girl, Melissa, was passed over for a complete stranger. She has reason to suspect foul play when the casting director is Bill's old girlfriend Margo, but she knew nothing about Bill's children until after she had cast the roles. Then Margo tells Buffy that she will be a big success and travel all over the world. Buffy gets the idea that it means right away, so she botches up her role in the production so that she will not be separated from her new family.

30 min

Everybody Needs Somebody

Buffy and Jody play matchmaker for Mr. French, but he thinks that they do not want him around because he punished them so severely.

30 min

The Way It Was

Bill sends the kids away for a week-long trip at camp because they are driving him up the wall. He then starts to miss them when he goes back to his bachelor life.

30 min

All Nephews Are Created Equal

Mr. French gets a visit from his nephew David. French is shocked when David announces that he wants to become a dentist, but the final straw comes when he goes out with Cissy.

30 min

The Prize

The twins win a baby lamb in a cereal contest, which is not a good thing if your neighbors are trying to sleep.

30 min

What Did You Do in the West, Uncle?

Bill takes the twins to the rodeo where he meets his old friend Gabe, whom he invites to stay with them. The twins are mesmerized at the thought of meeting a real live cowboy, and Gabe takes them under his wing. Of course, Bill thinks that they like Gabe more than they like him. But the twins tell him that Bill will always come first in their lives.

30 min

The Award

Buffy and Jody want to make an award for Bill for being the best uncle, but they fall allergic to the clay they are making the award with. Bill thinks that the allergies are caused by irregular parenting, but the doctor states that they are allergic to modeling clay.

30 min

The Butler Method

Cissy has trouble finding a date for the Sadie Hawkins dance, and asks a boy who throws her a curve because of a broken leg. Thinking that he is lying, she feels miserable. Bill suggests that an actor friend of his who is visiting escort her to the dance, but Cissy turns him down. Then, Cissy sees that Virgil really does has a broken leg, and she is happy that he didn't lie to her.

30 min