What Happened on the Final Episode of ‘The Donna Reed Show’?

Gabrielle Moss February 5, 6:08 pm

THE DONNA REED SHOW, (from left): Paul Petersen, Shelley Fabares, Donna Reed, Carl Betz, (1961), 1958-66. — Everett Collection

For eight seasons, The Donna Reed Show let us peek at the daily triumphs and foibles of the Stones, an average American family. In fact, what you might remember most about the show is the steadiness of the Stone family — but do you remember how it ended?

The classic American family sitcom

DONNA REED SHOW, Shelley Fabares, Paul Petersen, Donna Reed, Carl Betz, 1958-1966.

Gene Trindl/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection

Starring Academy Award-winner Donna Reed as homemaker Donna Stone, The Donna Reed Show has a complex legacy today — some herald it for being warm, funny, and the first family sitcom to focus on the mother as the main character, while for others, the show’s name summons up thoughts of impossible standards for women and an overly simplified view of the ’50s. But no matter what you feel about the show, it’s impossible to deny that its 1958-66 run played a crucial role in the development of the classic American sitcom (though the show frequently suffered from poor ratings when it was on).

Over the course of the series, a few things changed — the Stones gained a pair of wildly popular wacky neighbors, played by Bob Crane and Ann McCrea; daughter Mary, played by Shelley Fabares, left to attend college in season five (in reality, Fabares wanted to pursue a film career), and was replaced by Trisha, a runaway orphan whom the Stones take in. But overall, the TV family lived a charmingly quiet kind of life.

So why did things end? Reed actually wanted the show to stop after season five; she felt that the premise of the show had been exhausted, and that pulling the plug with Fabares’ departure would provide a neat ending for the show. Reed was also just exhausted herself — each season except the last consisted of well over 30 episodes, and she wanted to spend more time with her family.

However, producers offered her more money to stay, and the show continued for three more seasons, before ending on March 19, 1966.

What happened in the final episode of The Donna Reed Show?

In the show’s series finale, an episode called “By-Line— Jeff Stone,” young Jeff (played by Paul Petersen) has written a song with his best friend Smitty. But how will they get anyone in the music industry to pay attention to them?

The Donna Reed Show had hosted a number of guest stars through the years, running the gamut from Buster Keaton to James Darren to Jay North, in a Dennis the Menace crossover episode. The finale continued this theme with guest star Lesley Gore, who three years prior had had a string of hits including “It’s My Party” and “You Don’t Own Me.”

When Jeff and Smitty attend a Lesley Gore concert, they learn that Gore will play a second concert in town later in the week. Getting Lesley to sing their song seems like the quickest way to the top of the charts — but how will they get it to her?

In real life, when a pop star comes to town, she probably won’t give any local teens their big break. But on the sweet, idealized world of The Donna Reed Show, Jeff and Smitty’s gambit works — in a way. At first, Jeff finagles an assignment with the local paper to interview Gore. But after distorting Gore’s words in the article, the singer demands a retraction. A chastened Jeff writes one — and Gore is so moved by it, she calls Donna to get her hands on Jeff’s song, “We Know We’re In Love, “so she can surprise him by singing it at her second concert.

But the joy doesn’t end there — after the show, Gore promises to record the song, and tells Jeff she thinks it’ll be a “big hit.”

In reality, Gore had already recorded it — it was not a Jeff Stone original, but a track from her 1965 album, All About Love. But why let that ruin a happy ending?

After the show’s final episode, cast members went on with their lives and careers — Fabares memorably starred alongside Craig T. Nelson on Coach, while Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes on the 1984–1985 season of Dallas (and sued the studio when they fired her because Bel Geddes decided to return to the show).

But Reed remained proud of the show for the rest of her life, remarking in a 1984 interview that “I felt that I was making, for women, a statement. This mother was not stupid. She wasn’t domineering, but she was bright and I thought rather forward-thinking, happily married.” Similarly, in a 2008 interview, Petersen recalled the show as depicting “a better time and place. It has a sort of level of intelligence and professionalism that is sadly lacking in current entertainment products.”

The first five seasons of The Donna Reed Show are streaming on Amazon Prime, though the final episode is not available.