 This is the SF Productions podcast network I'm afraid you have Cousin Oliver From the buff culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm mark you can check out our audio podcast How I got my wife three comics on itunes or on our website SF podcast network comm If you're in charge of a long-running family sitcom You will inevitably run into a problem Those precious kids tend to grow up and no longer be precious exactly so what to do How about a new younger kid who comes out of nowhere? That's cousin Oliver Introduced on the Brady Bunch in the middle of its final season in an attempt to save the failing show It did not work in that case. I do want to thank TV tropes org for their invaluable information on this subject As in many of these cases Cousin Oliver explained away thusly major characters otherwise Unseen relatives or neighbors in this case Carol's brother and his wife are removed from the storyline in this case Move to an archaeological dig in South America and the kid in this case Nine-year-old Robbie wrist is left behind so the main family takes them in Oliver became the namesake of this trope, but he's hardly alone Robbie wrist actually had a two-fer in this category He was added to the Mary Tyler Moore show near the end of the run as Ted Baxter's adopted son When Rudy on the Cosby show moved into puberty Denise Conveniently got married off-screen and came back with a stepdaughter Olivia aka Oliver Yes, aka Raven Simone When Arnold stopped being cute Sam who was Danny Cooke see arrived as the son of mr. Drummond's new wife on different strokes. Yes as the Bradford kids aged out of cuteness on eight is enough because in Jeremy a young Ralph Macho was adopted after Abby's sister-in-law died, which is another trope As all in the family aged less than gracefully Mike and Gloria left the series and were replaced by Stephanie Danielle brisbois as one of either Edith's nieces who are Was basically abandoned by her dad On good times star Esther roll got tired of playing straight man to Jimmy JJ Dino might walk her so she left the show forcing the cast of kids to grow up And adding penny Janet Jackson a new neighbor girl abused and abandoned by her mother There's a wacky sitcom premise for yet growing pains had to go cousin Oliver twice The Seavers had a new daughter Chrissy Ashley Johnson in season four Then in season seven homeless teen Luke Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes that one joined the cast Chrissy was also the victim of a common sitcom ailment accelerated aging syndrome After all when a child is born on a sitcom you may get three to four episodes out of that event And then they're dead wait until they can make quips Another double Oliver example In order to avoid changing the title of my three sons when Tim Considine Mike Douglas Decided to leave the show orphan Ernie Barry Livingston brother of Stanley who played Chip Joins the cast and this was explained by the most bizarre idea Ernie's current foster parents and neighbors to the Douglases are transferred to the Orient for work and just don't bother taking him along There's a whole storyline about needing a caregiver in the foster home And Steve Douglas Fred McMurray getting married to cover it He almost got married But then they decide that uncle charlie is technically a caregiver exactly And then since my three sons ran for so long 12 seasons Another Oliver was eventually needed in the form of Dodie Dawn Lynn A new stepdaughter after Steve remarry Those were my favorite episodes of my three sons Yes Another long-running series of the Donna Reed show at eight seasons added Trisha Patty Peterson sister of Paul who played Jeff as a runaway orphan The Partridge family went all Oliver with neighbor Ricky Ricky Segal a four-year-old singing prodigy in their final season Step by step pulled both an Oliver and age acceleration on Lily Emily May young who was born at the end of the fourth season is a baby for the fifth But is suddenly six years old in the sixth season Give me a break added orphan Joey Seven-year-old Joey Lawrence to the show after only two seasons and then brought in Joey's brother Matthew four years later Family ties added Andrew Brian Bonsall as the other kids aged, but at least mom Elise actually birthed the kid And for an older example try Billy Uncharmed Kaley Cuoco just before big man theory Who showed up as a fourth witch near the end of the series? And by the way Cuoco has now been a regular on a tv show for 16 years straight Eight simple roles charmed and big bang theory Buffy the vampire slayer even added younger sister Dawn late in the run Although she was created due to magic. Yes Since the cousin Oliver's syndrome is designed to keep younger viewers watching an aging kids-centric series It only makes sense that this also happens on cartoons The best example is scrappy doo scooby's nephew and hated characters on his apartment series hate scrappy doo The simpsons parodied the concept when poochie is added to the itchy and scratchy show the cartoon within a cartoon I have to go my planet needs me They even put a button on it when mysterious new character Roy is added and then quickly disappears from the simpson household Nibbles a gray mouse wearing a diaper was added to Tom and Jerry shorts Even mystery science theater 3000 has a reference to cousin Oliver Timmy Bobby Rusty A stereotypical lisping kid played by Paul Chaplin is added to the show to help sagging ratings I think we should add yeah, come on in cousin Oliver No cousin Oliver's here ever trust me If you have a cousin Oliver you should let us know yeah Meantime you can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife three comics on itunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com From the pop culture bunker i'm indy and i'm mark. Thanks for watching. Hey cousin Oliver get on it. Oh, no You