The Cousin Oliver Syndrome: Did These TV Shows Really Need to Add Another Kid After the Original Youngest "Aged Out?"

Mar 18, 2023 · 53m 18s

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It has often been called the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" -- television shows about families where producers and writers felt the overwhelming need to add another little kid to the family...

It has often been called the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" -- television shows about families where producers and writers felt the overwhelming need to add another little kid to the family after the original youngest became, well, too old. While I kind of liked Cousin Oliver, he wasn't the first: remember the neighbor kid on the Partridge Family? Dodie on My Three Sons (and, technically, Ernie)? Soon, the practice became insufferable and the go-to strategy for lazy sit-come writers. We saw new little kids on Dif'rent Strokes, What's Happening, The Cosby Show as well as Married, With Children and new babies on Growing Pains, The Family Ties and even Modern Family. It didn't stop with sitcoms, cartoons did it too: Were you all not annoyed by Scrappy Doo? With me to rant about all of this are the good guys from Retro 80s podcast Dancing With Ourselves. Join us for the fun, tell us what you think - what did we miss?
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Author	Chris Cordani
Organization	Chris Cordani
Website	-
Tags	#2010s #60s #70s #80s #90s #addakid #cartoons #childstars #classicsitcoms #classictv #cousinoliversyndrome #retro #retrotv #scrappydoo #sitcoms #television #tv #tvkids #tvshows #why