User reviews

The writers on this show almost seemed to know the culture was about to change and that Leave It To Beaver was emblematic of an innocent and more carefree time that was about to end as a presidential assassination, the British invasion, the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, and a more open attitude about sex due to the advent of the birth control pill changed everything. Just ten years later America's family would be Archie Bunker and company.

So in a rare instance for those days of a TV show having a series finale, the Cleavers look through a scrapbook that has the viewer relive moments in the series. As some reviewers have said, many scenes shown are of some very embarrassing moments and for sure nobody would have a camera handy, but the point is nostalgia not realism.

I just finished watching this episode. It brought me back to 1963 when I was graduating from Grade 8. This was such a moving and touching episode and a wonderful way to end a terrific series. I remember when I was a young man, didn't want to see this series end but, I guess, it had to. People grow up and move on, can't stay the same. The same with this cast. You almost had the feeling you were a part of this group. A throwback to a simpler time, one that we will never see again. Wally, Beaver, Eddie all the characters were similar to ones I went to school with and recognized. When I watch the re-runs of these episodes my life is re-visited in a flashback. My cares and worries are gone and I get to take a nostalgia tour.

I watched the series from start to finish, so this is it. This episode should have been an hour to finish it off. The change of Beaver has been the most dramatic of all the characters. Having stills from video justly tops off a great series, with a ton of writing holes.

Historically, this episode inspired many other sitcoms to show clips and highlights from past shows as a final send off. I agree, the episode should have been in two parts, or an hour special. Too much classic material to squeeze into such a short time. It does have its moments though, especially to see Beave and Wally young all over again. And you have to admit, Jerry Mathers was perfect for the role.

Accordingly, June dusts off an old scrapbook, Ward, Beave and Wally sit down one last time in that famous living room and relive some great stories. The big debate -- even to this day -- is the selection of the memorable episodes, some true gems that were unfortunately left out.

The goofy side to this story are the assorted "snapshots" in the scrapbook. Definitely a dash of poetic license, a freeze frame of a particular embarrassing moment. It makes you wonder, who the heck was hanging around with a camera -- and at the precise second to snap a photo of some disaster, either in the making or had just happened? And that always brings to mind none other than Eddie Haskell, the series most famous offbeat character.

True, many of us agree the series could have gone on much longer, although ratings had dipped considerably. The missed opportunity, Wally and Beave's college years, and perhaps even getting engaged. MY THREE SONS picked up from this point and ran another six years, total of 12 seasons, and in color. Thankfully, about 20 years later, most of the cast was reunited for a new series with wives and grandkids, minus Ward, who had passed, and the stories now written around single grandma June.

Fittingly directed by Hugh Beaumont, who would focus on more dramatic roles. He did have a brief recurring part on PETTICOAT JUNCTION as father in law to one of the daughters, during the classic wedding episodes. He also appeared in some memorable episodes of MANNIX, before retiring.

More recently, a salute to Tony Dow, who we all miss.

SEASON 6 EPISODE 39 remastered Universal dvd box set. Released 2011. The front and back color cover artwork is now a collectors item.

The series finale of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER has always struck me as a cop-out. The Cleavers reminisce over a family scrapbook and we see flashbacks to different scenes from the series' past. Of course, it is much harder to do a proper finale than it is to just film brief connecting segments and fill the rest of the half hour with flashbacks. But it wouldn't have been half as bad if the flashbacks had made better sense. As it is, the scenes that are flashed back to - Beaver and Wally chatting as they fill the bathtub with water in a effort to simulate having taken a bath, or Beaver and Larry surreptitiously reading Larry's sister's diary - would never have actually been photographed. So the scrapbook functions here as a sort of poetic conceit. The scenes seem to have been chosen haphazardly rather than for being particularly significant milestones in Beaver's and Wally's lives.

The episode's saving grace is the final image of Beaver and Wally, now almost full-grown men, gleefully playing with a windup toy in their room. The image leaves us with the eternal joys of childhood and returns us full circle to where this delightful series first began.

This, of course, is the very last episode from TV's "Leave It to Beaver".

This story has the Cleaver family sitting around together in the living room, looking at a photo album.

Through it all the Cleavers remember the good old days when everyone was somewhat younger and more optimistic.

Adios one and all.

I have always thought that this final episode (No. 234 of 234) is very weak and doesn't really do justice for this classic series.

The plot is simple: Ward and June find an old family photo album with pictures of various characters (Miss Landers, Larry Mondello and his mom, Eddie Haskell, and others). Joined by Wally and Beav, they reminisce and recount interesting stories with the aid of flashback footage of old shows.

A really good final episode would have Wally preparing for college and Beaver getting ready for high school, assisted and advised by their proud parents. The future plans of Lumpy, Eddie, Julie Foster, Fred Rutherford, and many other characters could be presented to the audience to provide a sense of closure.

Instead, the final insipid scene of this wonderful series has Wally and Beav playing with a little windup toy from Beaver's early childhood. I've always thought this was a really meaningless way to wrap things up. Anyway, it was good to see the Cleavers one last time, but the show could have been so much better, with a sincere and final farewell to the audience and to Mayfield.

If the people involved knew that this episode was to be the series finale, they chose a very cheap and underwhelming story. Essentially, we have the Cleaver family looking through a photo album, and reminiscing about old times. The scenes taken from previous episodes are nothing special. The show didn't have many "standout" moments, but there still had to be better clips than those that were chosen. At least two of the clips show characters that had been randomly dropped, as the series went along. Most notably, Sue Randall as Miss Landers. This clip was from a good episode, but this can make you wonder why Miss Landers didn't stay for the duration of the series. I would have been glad to have seen the stuffy old principal, Mrs Rayburn drop away, instead. Another clip shows Beaver with Larry Mondello. Beaver talks about Larry Mondello very casually, but the character had dropped out long before this episode (without any explanation). All in all, this could have been done much better. This episode was directed by Hugh Beaumont. Beaumont was very good, and very likeable, as Ward Cleaver. He also directed several other episodes, all of which seemed to be better because of his input. Too bad that Beaumont couldn't have made this final episode better, as well.