Season 2

September 21, 1955

Bud loses a job to a boy who fakes his resumé, which leads him to believe it is alright to do this himself

September 28, 1955

Margaret is forced to invite a woman over who makes her uncomfortable because she is Jim's friend's wife.

October 5, 1955

Bud learns that the girl he likes is dating his best friend.

October 12, 1955

Kathy gets a new magic set, from a trade with a friend, and becomes convinced she can truly wield magic.

October 19, 1955

Betty has recently taken up tennis at school and is chosen for a photo shoot for the paper. This causes friction between her and her doubles partner, Eula, who is the team’s best player.

October 26, 1955

Bud is accused of cheating because he is suddenly getting high grades in class.

November 2, 1955

After commenting on a sitcom (“Father Does It Again”) the family watches together one night, Jim speaks about how TV fathers are often portrayed as dumb in comparison with their families. Later, he plans on going hunting and starts believing that Margaret and the kids are secretly trying to get him to stay.

November 9, 1955

When Jim gets an invitation to a dance for his class reunion—class of ‘33—the kids start behaving as if their parents are ancient. Then, when the kids at their alma mater treat them the same, Jim and Margaret deal with the thought of getting older.

November 16, 1955

Bud gets irritated by a girl (whom he refers to as “Dumb Dora”) who has a crush on him, hurts her feelings when his irritation leads to cruelty, and must make amends.

November 30, 1955

Margaret has a premonition of danger for Jim’s upcoming business trip, and tries to get Jim to postpone it. But Jim believes it’s a bunch of superstitious nonsense, and insists on going anyway.

December 7, 1955

Tate Idsen saves a stagecoach from savage Indians in a flashback sequence.

December 14, 1955

Bud gets in trouble when his latest friend turns out to be a kleptomaniac.

December 28, 1955

Betty is indignant when Jim arranges a date for her with an old insurance salesman buddy’s son, Carter.

January 4, 1956

Jim comes home early from work, after a long, hard day, and expects to gain comfort from his family, but is quickly disillusioned when they all are too absorbed in their own interests and tasks to pay attention to him. This just makes his mood more sour and he declares at dinner that if he must, he will become a tyrant. This leads to unwelcome consequences.

January 11, 1956

Bud is having trouble in school and the family are hard-pressed to find out why. Eventually, Jim and Margaret come to the conclusion that, since he’s entered high school, he’s lost his confidence over being constantly compared to Betty and her accomplishments.

January 18, 1956

Betty gets a job to pay for a new, expensive formal for the Cinderella Ball at the country club.

January 25, 1956

Jim has a bet with Betty and Margaret concerning human nature, integrity and the man painting their house—Mr. Everett.

February 1, 1956

Bud seems determined not to go to a Senior/Freshman dance that is Sadie Hawkins-themed.

February 8, 1956

Betty becomes irritable with her family as she goes through an existential crisis.

February 15, 1956

Kathy is taught about fair trading from her father—and ends up trading her doll for a real baby.

February 22, 1956

When Bud receives an assignment to write a term paper about a Revolutionary War hero, he ends up researching the life of a relative—Major Nathaniel Oliver Anderson.

February 29, 1956

Jim’s old college friend, Charlie Bradley, a successful industrial tycoon, is in town. Charlie, along with Jim, were a part of a group known as The Four Musketeers, in college. Of the four, Jim appears to be the least ‘successful.’

March 7, 1956

Bud’s new friend, Fred, won't leave the Anderson house.

March 14, 1956

The family tries to think up excuses to keep from going to Margaret's family reunion.

March 28, 1956

Betty tells a wealthy friend, Eloise Sanders, that she’s going to a charity dinner at a club. But it’s expensive and she hasn’t asked her father, yet.

April 4, 1956

Bud gets in a tussle with a boy, Eddie, at school, then dreads facing him the next day because the kid wants to fight him. Jim makes Bud face him in a boxing ring to settle it, knowing that Bud will have to face Eddie, eventually. Later, Jim has Bud take boxing lessons.

April 11, 1956

Betty takes a vocational guidance course and signs up to get practical experience to become an engineer, but she gets a lot of flack for it because she’s a girl.

April 18, 1956

Jim and a family friend, Frank, fight over an insurance claim and dissolve their friendship over it. Betty and his son, Bob, are dating and this affects them, too.

April 25, 1956

Margaret is asked to represent her branch of the PTA by giving a speech, but later decides against doing so because of some mischief Betty gets into.

May 2, 1956

Bud boasts to his friends, Sandy and Kippy, that his dad can get Duke Snider’s All-Stars to come to Springfield.

May 9, 1956

Jim fights the elements to collect plants for Kathy's nature folder.

May 16, 1956

Jim makes a bet: the kid who doesn't tattle for one week will receive ten dollars.

May 23, 1956

Kathy finds a receipt for $25 from the adoption center and believes she was adopted.

May 30, 1956

While the family is readying for Betty’s graduation, Betty becomes conflicted about the event.