The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American situation comedy starring Donna Reed as the upper-middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958 to March 19, 1966. When Fabares left the show in 1963, Petersen's little sister, Patty Petersen, joined the cast as adopted daughter Trisha. Patty Petersen had first appeared in the episode, "A Way of Her Own", on January 31, 1963. Bob Crane and Ann McCrea appeared in the last seasons as the Kelseys, friends of the Stones, and Darryl Richard became a near regular as Smitty, Jeff's best buddy. The show featured a variety of celebrity guests including Esther Williams as a famous dress designer, baseball superstars Don Drysdale and Willie Mays as themselves, teen heartthrob James Darren as a pop singer with the measles, canine superstar Lassie as herself, and young Jay North of CBS's Dennis the Menace. The series was created by William S. Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen. Episodes revolved around typical family problems of the period such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children. Edgy themes such as women's rights and freedom of the press were occasionally explored.
Where to Watch The Donna Reed Show
Where to stream every episode from all 8 seasons of The Donna Reed Show. Filter these episodes by what's available to watch free or on your streaming services using the tabs above.
Season 1
Amazon Prime | Rent or Buy
S01 E01
Sep 24, 1958
Weekend Trip Sep 24, 1958 This is the very first episode of the long-running series, in which audiences were introduced to the beloved Stone family. In this episode, we get a glimpse of the sometimes chaotic day-to-day life of the Stones, always buffered by the sweet and loving persona of Donna Reed as Donna Stone, TV's first ""highly visible"" Mom of the 1950s. She dispenses advice, discipline, humor and wisdom to her family, something that was usually reserved for the TV Dads of the era. In the premiere episode, Donna hopes to get away to a ski weekend with her brood, but pediatrician husband Alex's on-call schedule makes this tricky, especially since one of his young patients, Eddie Barclay (played by one of the Corcoran siblings of Disney film and TV fame; sister Noreen was on ""Bachelor Father"" with John Forsythe), has a mysterious illness and Alex doesn't want to leave him in the care of another doctor. Not wanting to disappoint Mary and Jeff (who are both experts at verbally matching wits and insults wit
S01 E02
Oct 1, 1958Pardon My Gloves Oct 1, 1958 Jeff gets a black eye from a boy who mocked Donna's acting in a local play, so Donna tries to teach Jeff how to box.
S01 E03
Oct 8, 1958The Hike Oct 8, 1958 Donna tries to prove women can out smart men when Dr. Stone is called away to treat a patient.
S01 E04
Oct 15, 1958Male Ego Oct 15, 1958 Alex feels bad about his ego and proves his independence when Donna buys the suit he wants.
S01 E05
Oct 22, 1958The Football Uniform Oct 22, 1958 Jeff wants a uniform for the team picture. Jeff must work for the money to buy it.
S01 E06
Oct 29, 1958The Foundling Oct 29, 1958 A woman abandones her child at the Stones place. Attached to the baby is a note, that upsets the entire household, including their Irish maid: Dear Mrs.Stone, His name is Willie. He's a good boy and hardly ever cries. When the local police is informed, Donna can't part from the baby. She wants to stay with him until his mother is found. Alex caves in to Donna and allows the baby to stay for the time being. Jeff, meanwhile, doesn't like the thought of a person who might become a sibling, but he soon warms up to it. Meanwhile, Donna does some invesitagtion on her own. She realizes that a baby name Guillermo might be called Willy. And who has a son named Willy? The milkman! Donna goes to his house to investigate. She finds out that the milkman is upset due to his young wife dying while having little Willy. But why did he choose Donna Stone to look after it? Because he knows Donna has a happy and loving home, and that she'd look after the child. The milkman says he realizes he did the wr
S01 E07
Nov 5, 1958Three Part Mother Nov 5, 1958 Donna tries to go to 3 places on the same night.
Season 2
Amazon Prime | Rent or Buy
S02 E01
Sep 24, 1959That's Show Business Sep 24, 1959 Mary Tries to Act.
S02 E02
Oct 1, 1959Sleep No More My Lady Oct 1, 1959 Donna is too excited to sleep because Alex is giving a speech at a convention. While trying to sleep on the plane Alex gives Donna a tranquilizer to help her sleep.
S02 E03
Oct 8, 1959A Penny Earned Oct 8, 1959 Donna has trouble deciding whether or not buy a new dress.
S02 E04
Oct 15, 1959A Friend Indeed Oct 15, 1959 Jeff's 'friend' Doug keeps getting him into trouble at school, and Jeff silently takes the blame for him because he knows Doug's mother constantly picks on him and wonders why he can't be more like Jeff, who behaves like an innocent cherub at their house. One day when Dr. Alex is at Doug's house, he witnesses Doug's mother berating Doug unfairly, so Donna invites Doug's mother over just before Mary and Jeff get home from school so she can be there to see Jeff's behavior at home. Doug's mother learns that Jeff is obnoxious to his sister, loud, and unruly at home (just like any other adolescent boy) and all ends well when Doug arrives and his mother sees that he too, is just like any other boy, but knows when to be polite in somebody else's house.
S02 E05
Oct 22, 1959The First Child Oct 22, 1959 Alex must contend with overly anxious new parents who constantly call him in a state of panic, thinking that there is something wrong with their baby.
S02 E06
Oct 29, 1959Going Steady Oct 29, 1959 Mary wants to meet a boy, so she talks Jeff into going to his kid sister's party.
S02 E07
Nov 5, 1959The Neighborly Gesture Nov 5, 1959 Alex is hurt that Jeff likes the new neighbor.