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Full compilation of all of Beaver's cringeworthy moments!

posted 8 years ago by Navaros
17 replies | jump to latest

Beaver dancing in his room is infamous as a cringeworthy moment, but I as I rewatch Season 5, I'm noticing a lot more Beaver moments which are equally cringeworthy and which also deserve to be infamous.

This thread if for listing a full compilation of Beaver's cringeworthy moments.

Here are some to start:

- As mentioned, in "Beaver Joins a Record Club," Beaver dancing in his room.

- Multiple scenes in "Beaver's Electric Trains" in which Beaver shouts, "Toot toot!" and "Woo woo!" while he plays with electric trains that he is way too old for.

- In "Beaver's Ice Skates" when Beaver when he is pretending to skate in his room while he says, "Look Wally,...zip zip zip! I'm winning the Olympics! Zip! Zip!"

- In "Three Boys and a Burro" when Mathers' says "Gee whiz!" about Ward taking the burro to the pound. This is a token example of Mather's acting at his very worst. Season 1's version of Mathers would never be able to perform acting anywhere near 1/1000th as bad as Season 5's version.

- In "Three Boys and a Burro" when they take the burro away at the end, and Beaver and two of his pals have their faces soaked with water that is supposed to indicate they were crying a ton, even though they very obviously were not really crying at all. I'm not exactly sure if this moment is cringeworthy due to bad acting, bad writing, bad makeup staff, or any combination of those factors...but it's definitely cringeworthy!

Do you know of any more? Let's make this list as complete as we can. 

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

Very funny cringeworthy moments. How about Silent Treatment, most everything is stomach turning. The worst is when they're at the table and Ward says something a bit humorous. Beaver keeps laughing this stupid moronic laugh to show June his father is funny just to make her feel bad.

In the one when Beaver catches a pass and everyone drools all over him he is really "a miserable guy." He comes to school the next day and Whitey and Gilbert ask why he showed up being a hero and all. He says "Oh cut it out Gilbert and Whitey." HUH?? Just say cut it out guys.

In Beaver the Sheepdog he is so cringeworthy at the table all slicked down and greasy. June and Ward act cringeworthy as well trying to avoid looking at his head and concentrating on the food. Whole episode says "what happened to the writers were they all shot?" That teacher Mr. Bailey is a dope as well as those terrible girl actors. Sheepdog sheepdog sheepdog.

[–] cleverestbunny-430-409659 8 years ago

In "Beaver Finds a Wallet", June mentions that the man from the nursery is coming by and Beaver says (with the dorkiest of looks on his face) something like: "Is he gonna bring me a baby brother"?. WTF? The kid is like 10 years old and he thinks that babies are delivered by some outside source???? WTF!!!!!!!

"You cannot boil a llama and expect it to taste like a grilled monkey".

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

In Beaver the Sheepdog he is so cringeworthy at the table all slicked down and grease

I just rewatched this one and you are right. Beaver looks like a really old version of Alfalfa. It's an eyesore.

This cringeworthy moment is kind of unique though because unlike the others, the show directly acknowledges the cringeworthiness of it and plays up the cringe for laughs.

those terrible girl actors

I found the random boy actors who were never seen before yet are suddenly Beaver's pals to be even more terrible at acting. The chubby one even kind of looks like Larry...except that Larry was a great actor and the pseudo-lookalike can't act at all. That resemblance just made me miss Larry all the more.

They had a similar problem with different random boy actors in "Tell It To Ella". Those guys couldn't act either, especially the shorter one.

[–] crlnrgbrght5 8 years ago

I thought that was 'Larry', too, and wondered why he wasn't on the forefront of the scene.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Another one is in "One Of The Boys." Beaver says he changed his mind about wanting to be an atomic scientist when he grows up and now he just wants to be a Baron. Then he pretends he is a race car and makes idiotic car noises as he runs upstairs.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

Beaver was at his most cringworthiest (is that a word?) when he makes like a race car like a 6 year old like you described.

When Beaver asks about bringing a baby brother he was kinda dumb but I bet in 1960 a lot of boys that age had no idea where babies came from. Hell I didn't know anything at 8 and believed in Santa. I think it would have been neat if Beaver asked Ward about the birds and bees like in that episode of Andy Griffith with a very young Jack Nicholson. I wish I could remember other times when Beaver was dorky....there are so many. Oh how about when he and Penny are face to face calling each other names and Beaver is mouthing her lines. Not cringe worthy just bad acting.

I was really annoyed by Beaver in Poor Loser how he acts with Wally while he's getting ready for the ballgame. He even thinks Ward can just snap up another ticket for Beaver after work. Kid was so dumb and hated how he pulled his belt so tightly wearing those tight crotch pants.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I didn't know anything at 8 and believed in Santa.

My local public schools actually pro-actively promoted the Santa lie as the truth by (among other things) showing propaganda films every year at Christmas time, such as a cartoon called "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" which is all about a little girl who writes to a news media organization to ask them if Santa is real, and they reply by lying to her that he is (but the film itself asserts that they are not lying!). The message for real-life viewers is to believe the lie too just like Virginia does, because everyone knows that the news media must always tell the truth (or so the state-backed curriculum of propaganda claimed). 

And when kids asked questions to their teachers about if Santa is real or not, the teachers blatantly lied too and said that he is, and made up baloney excuses to cover for when kids poked holes in the Santa story.

Lots of modern news organizations also promote that same lie today, such as by saying on Christmas Eve that they are "tracking Santa's location" and that his journey through the air has definitely started.

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

C'mon, Navaros! I'd hardly consider Santa Claus a pernicious lie. Just an innocent folk tradition and part of the fun of the Christmas season.

[–] crlnrgbrght5 8 years ago

The whole Santa thing isn't a lie, so much that it's something fun for young children. we live in such cynical times, that those who don't believe, has to spoil it for those who still do, by telling them there is no such thing. My father told My brother, Sister, and I, the truth about Santa (even though, I had long ago figured out that he wasn't real), so we wouldn't go to school, telling everybody that we still believed, and make fools of ourselves. I think in time, kids start figuring things out that don't add up, and realize the truth about Santa's nonexistence, without somebody spoiling it for them.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Oh how about when he and Penny are face to face calling each other names and Beaver is mouthing her lines. Not cringe worthy just bad acting.

Yeah, the same thing happens when Beaver insults the girl at the end of the Sheepdog episode. His acting is horrible, especially the one that starts with "Hey Ugly..." Mathers' timing is all wrong. The insult just seems to come out the blue from nowhere, as if he is an amateur actor doing random Improv comedy. Perhaps the editing is partly to blame for making Mathers' acting look really bad here.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

I loved believing in Santa and when I found out that Santa was made up I wasn't crushed.

Yeah Jerry's acting left much to be desired. I'm sure Hugh thought the same thing. However he was uninhibited as a young boy and his acting was first rate. It happens to most child actors they grow up and reach a level of total incompetence as an actor. Hey Tony wasn't so great either. Check out how self conscious he is in later episodes, however, it could be the lousy script. Not too bad, though, for someone who was a swimmer not an actor.

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

Check out how self conscious he is in later episodes

I thought Tony was more self-conscious in the earlier episodes. His acting seemed to get better and better as the series progressed.

[–] crlnrgbrght5 8 years ago

Tony Dow, I thought was very self-conscience, more so than Mathers, who was a natural actor, especially as a small child.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Dow started off the series as a bad actor who over time became great. That's not Dow's fault though, because he had no acting training before the series began.

Mathers started off the series as a great actor who over time became terrible/unwatchable.

[–] snelling 8 years ago

When they changed the opening credits to the family working on the garden/lawn. The mom comes out with an iced pitcher of lemonade on a tray and Jerry Mathers (as the Beaver) comes to greet the camera licking his lips like a jackass.

"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer SimpZZZ--" - Frank Grimes

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Three more cringeworthy Beaver moments from "The Parking Attendants," at a time when Beaver is either 12 or 13 years old but still thinking & talking like a 6 year old:

#1. Wally comes into the house excited, shouting "Hey. I got it! I got it!" Beaver replies, "Got what, poison ivy?" Wow Beaver, nice borderline-insane non-sequitur! LOL

#2. In the very same scene, after Ward agrees to let Wally take the parking job, Beaver randomly blurts out "Hey Dad! Can I have a motorcyle?" Ward rebuffs his nonsense, and Beaver says, "Well I figured as long as you were in a such good mood, I thought I might as well ask you for something."

#3. Wally and Eddie and Lumpy are discussing the job. Since Lumpy's license is suspended, he can't do it. Eddie suggests that Wally change his plan to make it a 3-man job and instead make it a 2-man job on the grounds that "that way there will be a bigger melon to split." Beaver replies, "Melon? Aren't you guys gonna get paid off in money?"