‘Family Affair’s Kathy Garver Shares Her Favorite Episode on its 60th Anniversary
What To Know
- Kathy Garver, who played Cissy on Family Affair, is celebrating the show’s 60th anniversary by hosting a special featuring her eight favorite episodes on Catchy Comedy.
- Garver reflects fondly on her time with the cast, noting her close relationship with Anissa Jones and sharing updates about Johnny Whitaker.
On Monday, September 12, 1966, Family Affair joined CBS’ must-see Monday night lineup that included Gilligan’s Island, The Lucy Show, and The Andy Griffith Show. This year marks Family Affair’s 60th anniversary, and one of the last surviving child stars, Kathy Garver, who played Cissy, is going all-in on the show’s milestone.
“On September 13, which is a day after the show actually debuted, I am hosting a 60th anniversary special with my eight favorite episodes on Catchy Comedy,” Garver tells us. “I’ll introduce the episodes and then comment on each one of them. So, it’s lots of fun, lots of nostalgia, and lots of collecting memories and laughter.”
Camera crews came to Garver’s house in Los Angeles, where she propped up her Mrs. Beasley doll in the background and grabbed her pink phone.
“I had a pink telephone; there was an episode when Buffy [Anissa Jones] and Cissy are getting their room redone, and they’re not really happy about the whole thing. And it’s one of my favorite episodes,” Garver tells. “Buffy was especially miffed that I got a pink phone and that she didn’t, but we made up and continued to be loving sisters the rest of the series. But I have that phone in the show.”
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When Family Affair ended in 1971, Garver was 25, and Jones was just weeks away from turning 13. When asked if they argued at the end of the show who would get that coveted pink phone, Garver laughed. “No. She was just the sweetest girl. She was very nice. I don’t think we ever got in an argument off screen.”
What truly was difficult was whittling down her list of favorites to just eight episodes, as Catchy Comedy will show them all on Sunday, September 13, from 1 – 5 pm ET/PT.
“It was really a task. I mean, there were like 138 episodes. I mean, now people are so, ‘Oh, we got picked up for another season. Oh, that’s great. Yeah, we did our first eight.’ And I say, ‘Well, when we did a season, it was like 32 episodes,’” Garver chuckles.
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The episodes she picked primarily revolve around Cissy and her dilemmas and show how she grew up from a teen to a young woman.
“You can really see the change in her,” Garver adds. “I tried to get organized, and I went for the first year and picked out my favorite, the second year, third year, fourth year, and fifth year. And then for the final three, I picked out just kind of like my favorites.”
So, what is Kathy Garver’s favorite episode of Family Affair?
“My most favorite episode of the whole thing is ‘A Waltz from Vienna,’ [which originally aired as part of Season 3, on Oct. 7, 1968]. And for three or four different reasons. I mean, one, it’s that I’m asked to be married by a prince. And I have this beautiful gown on that, actually, I wore as a bridesmaid. And I let them borrow it. So, I wore my bridesmaid’s dress with my long white gloves,” Garver shares. “But it was very romantic. I’m a total romantic. That’s why I wrote the book, Romancing With the Stars. But it’s a dramedy and then a total drama when I turned him down. My older self, Cissy or me, would say, ‘Are you kidding, Cissy? I mean, you turned down this prince. Are you nuts?’ But I had to go back to my family. It all worked out for the best, and we continued on for three more seasons.”
Whatever happened to Johnny Whitaker, who played Jody?
Johnny Whitaker, the only other surviving cast member, who played Buffy’s twin brother Jody Davis, is a bit out of the spotlight these days, working on his writing and producing a documentary on Portugal. “He’s kind of gone his own way,” Garver protects. “I saw him at a museum, and we said hi, but I think he is concentrating on cruising. He wants to cruise every year, and he wants to finish his book. And I think he wants to finish this documentary on Portugal he’s been working on. … I think he just wants to relax. He’s been working since he was 3.” You can catch Johnny at the upcoming Hollywood Show in October.
What’s next for the Family Affair 60th anniversary and Garver?
The celebration of the show’s 60th will continue through next year. In addition to her Catchy Comedy Family Affair celebration this week, Garver also has a reunion cruise lined up (you can join her!) in May 2027, a new 60th anniversary Mrs. Beasley ornament coming, she’s being honored with the Margaret O’Brien Legacy Award on December 13 in Palm Desert, Fan Cons, and more.
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