YMMV / Family Affair

• Alternate Character Interpretation: At the end of "Christmas Came a Little Early" (where the family throws an early Christmas party for an ill girl who won't live to see the real Christmas, without telling Buffy and Jody the reason why), why does Buffy cry at the end? Does she suddenly realize while lying in bed that Eve is going to die and that this was the real reason for the party? Or did she secretly know the truth all along?
• Common Knowledge: Many people believe that "Ava" is Buffy's real first name, with "Buffy" being a nickname based on her presumed middle name, "Elizabeth." Even IMDB.com lists her full name as such. Actually, "Ava" was the name Buffy briefly considered changing hers to after making a new friend called Lana (not that one) in the season 3 episode "The Latch-Key Kid." It's likely that hazy memories of the episode (as Family Affair was not widely syndicated for a long time) turned into general public misremembering of "Ava" as Buffy's actual first name, and then that became Common Knowledge in the era of the web.
• Harsher in Hindsight: With all that tragic business about Anissa Jones Not Allowed to Grow Up, and the effect it had on her... watch a rerun of the Season One episode "Room With a Viewpoint" where Buffy acts out because she is worried that Cissy is growing up and leaving her behind. Try not to cry when Cissy and Uncle Bill reassure her that one day she will grow up too.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The show is best remembered for its controversial decision of keeping Buffy's age the same despite the fact Anissa Jones was already hitting puberty... and how the psychological effects may have led to her premature death at the age of 18.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • Family Affair has several elements in common with the earlier show Bachelor Father. Both involve a successful, footloose bachelor with a foreign manservant becoming responsible for his sibling's orphaned offspring.
  • The show also has some elements in common with My Three Sons, also created by Don Fedderson. While the settings and details are different, both shows revolve around three siblings being raised by a single father figure (played by a well-known movie actor) and a live-in male housekeeper.

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