In my early NCY kiddy-hood, I recall when Timmy buried Lassie's toys, assuming as she was lost, he would never see her. again. Then there was a bark, and Lassie was HOME! I remember the scene well because my quite grumpy maternal Grandfather watched the episode with tears streaming down his face. When I saw that I was one stunned kid I can tell you! No one has mentioned the very last season of Lassie which was like Lassie on LSD. She was lost and lived on her own in the wild (though magically she didn't kill and eat prey, but somehow stayed healthy). She met and fell in love with a male farm collie. Then, Lassie gave birth to her love-puppies in a cave. Then, because that wasn't far fetched enough, she proceeded to travel the country side, finding unhappy people and gifting them with one of her puppies. She 'gave away' her own litter of babies. I think the show's writers were on some kind of drug. You think I made that all up? I did not!

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 too remember some of the episodes when I was a kid growing up,but by far out of all the "Lassie" series that ever depicted the true meaning of a boy and his dog was that of "Jeff's Collie". My friend and I had a debate is which who was the best character of all the shows and to our decision we came with Tommy Rettig for his performance to the show. He brings a astounding depth of passion and emotion to his character and by far this was the original and the first series that really brought "Lassie" out in the open and the first ever to do so during the early 50's. When Rettig left the show in 1957,he was replaced by actor Jon Provost and the tone set the collie along with his new family,The Martin's. The family consisted of June Lockhart and Hugh Reilly as the father. In other words during this run,and in some of the episodes with Provost who played Timmy,it was always up to Lassie to get him out of a tight situation and boy was Timmy one hard headed individual at times when it came to staying out of trouble! Good girl,Lassie! When the 1960's came along the collie went into another direction where during this time the Martin family would move to another country and this time Lassie was taken up by park ranger Corey Stuart played by Robert Bray and in this one Lassie had to defend her honor by helping out Ranger Stuart at times and in a two part episode called "The Tempest" it goes into that detail where Lassie fights for survival in a barron land when the Ranger is seriously hurt after a tragic accident(worth seeing and its in color). By the end of the 1960's,Ranger Stuart and Lassie went their separate ways,and the collie would take up with another family by the 1968-1969 season and from there her services would be needed once more and thus end the shows' trimuph run making it one of the all time children's shows ever.For the 17 years it ran on the CBS network(from 1954-1971),Lassie was anAmerican institution every Sunday evening until the network changed the overall course of its programming. Truly,she was America's favorite dog. Catch the re-runs on Nickelodeon and on the Animal Planet Channel.

I watched that great series without fail. I always thought how great it would be to be a friend of "Jeff Miller". Of course, knowing he was really Tommy Rettig the boy actor gave me a strong desire to somehow be like him. I even dreamed of getting a part on the show. This was, of course, pure fantasy and yet I remember the intense dedication I had as a boy toward that show. I was not aware, until now, that Tommy had passed away. It saddens me to learn this. I am about the same age as he was.