Lassie

I grew up with the Tommy Rettig "Lassie" series. Looking back on

it, I would say that I was addicted to that show and that I fantasized

that I was the Jeff who lived with Lassie on the Miller farm, not the

Jeff who lived in New Jersey suburbia with a teddy bear. When George

Cleveland died, the show decided that Tommy Rettig was too old to be

Lassie's boy and the scenario was that since Gramps was dead, they had

to sell the farm and go live in a crummy apartment in Capital City

where Mom would get some miserable job and Jeff would simply go to

school. Mom explained all this to Jeff at the kitchen table, adding

that they couldn't take Lassie to live in some crummy Capital City

apartment, so...... I was ten years old when seeing this unfortunate transition. I

remember it felt like it was my life that was being eviscerated. I

never enjoyed the "Lassie" show much after that.

After nearly 3 years as a user of IMDb, I can't believe I haven't commented on this yet. 'Lassie' was one of the TV shows I grew up with when I was a child. In my place they used to air this in a Turkish TV channel and, as you can guess, the show was dubbed in Turkish. I don't know why they wouldn't air this in another channel. Nevertheless, I loved to watch this, even if I didn't understand a word they said.

I am surprised that this show lasted 20 years. But I think that the episodes I watched were from the 50's, possibly with Tommy Rettig (who resembled a lot another young actor from that decade, Tommy Kirk).

This is one of those classic shows that stay eternally in our best memories. They don't make them like this in this generation. It's a great show, with expert dog training, beautiful settings (all natural, no fake sceneries), adventure, drama, courage and emotion. Plus, it's a show that teaches useful and good lessons and values. Lassie is the hero. She is a very brave, loyal and intelligent dog. And she saves many lives, always with a happy ending, even in the most dangerous situations which she even risks her own life.

This show increased the popularity of Rough Collies to a notorious level and became the trademark of these dog breeds. Anyone who grew up with this show associates for sure the name Lassie with this dog breed. Even if that person isn't familiar with the name of the breed, if you tell «It's a Lassie», the other person will almost for sure say «Ah yes, a Lassie! I know it!». "Lassies" are beautiful and very elegant dogs.

'Lassie' is a timeless classic that was once very popular, but today it's so unknown is such that it's almost an optical illusion. Ask any kid of this generation if he/she is familiar with this show and see if any of them says yes...

I live and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was given a book, a novel, called "Lassie: The Secret of the Summer", based on the Jeff's Collie cast of characters - Jeff, Porky, Ellen, Gramps. The story was that Jeff was trying to save up enough money to buy a record player for his room... and the Millers took in vacation guests on their farm. It was one of my favourite books of that time, in fact, I still have it somewhere. It was published by Whitman Publishing Co. of Racine, Wisconsin, I believe. I first saw the Timmy series of episodes -- and was confused when his parents changed actors suddenly. Later in the 1960s, another network reran the Jeff's Collie episodes from the 1950s. I loved the Jeff's Collie theme music -- wasn't it something classical... Mozart? All in all, a great childhood memory.

Peter Kohn, Melbourne, Australia

I, too, have to chime in with the folks who prefer "Jeff's Collie" to the other incarnations of "Lassie". Tommy Rettig, rest his soul, was superb, as were Jan Clayton and George Cleveland (and the wonderful boy who played Porky, sorry, I've forgotten his name). Perfect family entertainment -- and a brilliant vehicle for teaching young and old alike the all-important lessons in empathy and do unto others. What better way to learn how to look beyond appearances and taking things at face value, than taking the time to understand what a dog is feeling or trying to tell us? Sometimes the storylines were amazing, considering the time. I saw a rerun last week that dealt with the evils of people who engage in pit bull dogfights! I feel very fortunate to have grown up with Lassie.

BTW, thanks to the poster who remembers the book "Lassie and the Secret of the Summer" -- I LOVED that book!

I've watched a few episodes of the '54-'58 Jeff's Collie [Lassie] and it brought back some good child memories. Being Hispanic and living in New York City, I fantasized how nice it would be to live in the midwest, on a farm, where I could go out with a friend like Porky, on our bicycles, and do the things they did like going fishing, and having a great dog like Lassie to watch over us. I would hear how they greeted each other with what I believe was "Aquie! Aquie!" Which in Spanish means over here, over here. Next time anyone watches the show, listen to their greeting, aquie, aquie, and see if I'm right. Sorry to hear that Tommy Rettig [Jeff Miller] past away. I'll be looking for Joey D. Veira's [Porky Brockway] movies, to see what he looks like as an adult. I know what John Provost [Timmy Martin] looks like. Thanks to the TV network/s, and IMD.com, for helping us walk down memory lane.