"Grandpa's Visit"

It is now 1978, yes, yet another important year in the Marshallverse.  (No, really, really important, in fact in pop-culture history.)  I'm not sure if that means it's now 1960 onscreen, but it is emphatically Winter, with references to snowmen, exterior shots of snow, and a "Winter Frolic" at Arnold's.  And there's some other timeline stuff, thanks to the visit of 47-year-old Howard's 65-year-old father, played by 65-year-old Danny Thomas.  (Bosley was 49, and yes, he looks a bit too old to be Thomas's son.)  While there's some interesting family dynamics here, the episode feels unfocused, like is it about the recently retired police detective's restlessness or is it about age discrimination?  So a C+.

Notes:

• Sean Cunningham seems to be a widower and he's definitely Irish, although Thomas doesn't sound like it most of the time.
• He calls Howard "Sonny" and later sings "Sonny Boy."  I'm guessing Howard is an only child, or at least an only son.
• The kids call their grandfather "Gramps."
• Sean thinks hardware is boring.
• He lives in Sheboygan, an hour north of Milwaukee.
• It wasn't that long ago that it was a big deal for Richie's band to have a Black drummer, and now the gang at Arnold's doesn't bat at an eye at an elderly, interracial jazz combo.
• There's a cute moment where Thomas and Molinaro compare noses.
• The goat-mascot-stealing is straight out of the last season of The Brady Bunch.
• George F. Slavin didn't write anything else for HD and in fact seems to have retired from writing a couple years later, although he'd live until 2001.