The New Leave It to Beaver

The New Leave It to Beaver is an American sitcom sequel to the original 1957–1963 sitcom Leave It to Beaver. The series began with the 1983 reunion television movie Still the Beaver that aired on CBS in March 1983.
The success of the television movie prompted the creation of a revival series, also titled Still the Beaver, that aired on the The Disney Channel from 1984 to 1985. In 1986, the series was picked up by WTBS, where it aired until June 1989.
The New Leave It to Beaver is an example of a television series revival sequel that revolves around the characters from the original series. Other examples of this include The New WKRP in Cincinnati, What's Happening Now!! and Fuller House, as well as the sequel to Dallas and the two sequel series to The Brady Bunch.

Synopsis

The series focuses on Wally Cleaver and his younger brother, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver as adults and with families of their own. The Beaver is divorced and living with his mother, the widowed June Cleaver, along with his two sons, Kip and Oliver. Wally Cleaver lives next door with his wife Mary Ellen, his daughter Kelly and later, his son Kevin. Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward Cleaver in the original series, had died in 1982, a year prior to the premiere of the telemovie. His character, Ward, died in 1977. The 1983 telemovie is dedicated in Beaumont's memory.
Other series regulars included Wally's old friend Eddie Haskell and his sons Freddie and Bomber, as well as "Lumpy" Rutherford and his daughter J.J., with Diane Brewster returning for four episodes to recreate her role as "Miss Canfield," Beaver's original grade schoolteacher. Some of Beaver's old friends, Larry Mondello, and Richard Rickover, return to the series.

Cast

Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver
Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver
Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver"
Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell
Frank Bank as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford
Kipp Marcus as Ward "Kip" Cleaver II
John Snee as Oliver "Olly" Cleaver
Kaleena Kiff as Kelly Cleaver
Eric Osmond as Freddie Haskell
Janice Kent as Mary Ellen Cleaver
Ellen Maxted as Gertrude "Gert" Haskell
Christian Osmond as Eddie "Bomber" Haskell Jr.
Giovanni Ribisi as Duffy Guthrie
Diane Brewster as Miss Canfield
Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello
Rich Correll as Richard Rickover
Troy Davidson as Kevin Cleaver
Episodes

''Still the Beaver''

Television movie / Pilot

Still the Beaver ; a two-hour CBS television movie, later repackaged into four 30-minute "pilot" episodes as part of The New Leave It to Beaver series on WTBS. These were referred to as "special episodes" in an added voice-over by Barbara Billingsley and were known as:

"Still the Beaver: Part I"
"Still the Beaver: Part II"
"Still the Beaver: Part III"
"Still the Beaver: Part IV"

The original airing of the film easily won its Saturday night timeslot, and ranked 19th out of 66 programs airing that week, bringing in an 18.9 rating and a 33 share.

Season 1: 1984–85

This season aired on The Disney Channel as Still the Beaver. The season was split into two halves, and could be considered as two separate seasons. Most of the episodes during the second half of the season, which begins with "Escape from the Salt Mines", aired during the summer and fall of 1985, which is technically within the span of the 1985-86 TV season. The episode "Dear Pen Pal II" was produced to be The Disney Channel's series finale and features only clips from Season One, but did not actually air until the third season on WTBS.

Title

Directed by

Written by

Original air date