jonesy74-1 Hoo-boy, am I going to be the bad-guy regarding comments about this show. Everybody loves dogs and animals, and yes, Lassie (who, I understand was played by a series of male Collies - they found that female collies were difficult to train and work with) was an incredibly well-trained and smart dog. That part was fun. But, as a t.v. show, I found the plots to be contrived and the pace of the shows to be slow, filled with long spaces with no dialog. The music was schmaltzy and maudlin, as were the plots, I'm afraid. Timmie, played by John Provost was a cute child actor. He seemed to go for long periods without checkin' in with Mom or Dad. You'd think as much trouble as he got in where Lassie had to go find Mom and Dad to rescue him, the Martins would have kept a little tighter reign on their boy. Lassie had this uncanny ability to communicate long complex sentences with only a bark or two. She also had an amazing ability to understand fairly complex English sentences. As a family show, it was obviously aimed at families with younger children. It was a fun show, if you could suspend reality enough to stay with it.

lrldoit Lassie first aired in 1954. It was created by Robert W. Maxwell. He created the perfect vehicle for teaching children (and adults) values and moulding young minds. Lassie brought in the viewers. The children learned as Jeff did. The episode, "The Leash" was especially notable as Jeff learned how to deal with the aftermath of a friend's tragedy and its implications.Jan Clayton is outstanding as Jeff's mother, Ellen. Ellen Miller is in my opinion, the most well developed and realistic mother in the history of television. She is a real mother, period. Her advice to Jeff as well as so many touching scenes is simply something that has to be seen to be believed. Bravo to the most talented woman in America, Jan Clayton.

Pepito-5 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.

crazy-12 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.