Nagging TV Show Mysteries

[LKellerIII]

"Beaver" lasted one season on CBS (1957-58) and
proved to be a poor fit for sponsor Remington Rand;
it then spent five years on ABC.

I, too, like the later shows best; like many of you
I think Jerry Mathers is acting about half his age,
plus he's become both fat and self-conscious by
1962. The Wally/Eddie/Lumpy interactions do get
better.

BTW, "Beaver" wasn't canceled. The last year
(1962-63) it was running in a block with "Ozzie
And Harriet," Donna Reed, and "My Three Sons"
on Thursday nights and doing just fine. Producers
Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, however, decided
that Jerry didn't have it anymore (even Barbara
Billingsley recognized it) and asked ABC
to drop the show. Perhaps it was a good thing;
"Beaver" ended two months before JFK's assassination
and all the changes in society which followed. I
just can't see Wally and the Beaver dealing with drugs,
long hair, hard rock, or (in Wally's case) whether to
protest the Vietnam war. (Side note: on her show
in 1966, Patty Duke went out with a guy from a military
school--probably the last time for a long time that that
was acceptable.)

Not that canceling Beaver was a bad move...no offense to Jerry Mathers, but he was proof that cute kids don't necessarily become cute teens or attractive adults. But you seem to be saying that TV changed with the JFK assassination, and by extension - the Vietnam war protests and the other changes in society.

Not hardly! TV remained as innocent and non-controversial as ever, past the end of that decade. There weren't many mid- or late 60s comedies that reflected society's changes. What sitcoms from that era reflected the change in society? I Dream of Jeannie? Gilligan's Island? Green Acres? Please. Four years after Beaver was canceled, NBC Standards and Practices made Barbara Eden cover up her navel. Norman Lear finally took some chances, starting with All in the Family, but that wasn't until 1971.

There may have been a few dramas in the mid 60s like East Side West Side that took some chances, but most of them lasted a whole 13 weeks. TV programming (and sitcoms in particular) stayed stuck in the 50s for far too long

 

[searadiofreak]

"Beaver" lasted one season on CBS (1957-58) and
proved to be a poor fit for sponsor Remington Rand;
it then spent five years on ABC.

I, too, like the later shows best; like many of you
I think Jerry Mathers is acting about half his age,
plus he's become both fat and self-conscious by
1962. The Wally/Eddie/Lumpy interactions do get
better.

BTW, "Beaver" wasn't canceled. The last year
(1962-63) it was running in a block with "Ozzie
And Harriet," Donna Reed, and "My Three Sons"
on Thursday nights and doing just fine. Producers
Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, however, decided
that Jerry didn't have it anymore (even Barbara
Billingsley recognized it) and asked ABC
to drop the show. Perhaps it was a good thing;
"Beaver" ended two months before JFK's assassination
and all the changes in society which followed. I
just can't see Wally and the Beaver dealing with drugs,
long hair, hard rock, or (in Wally's case) whether to
protest the Vietnam war. (Side note: on her show
in 1966, Patty Duke went out with a guy from a military
school--probably the last time for a long time that that
was acceptable.)

Not that canceling Beaver was a bad move...no offense to Jerry Mathers, but he was proof that cute kids don't necessarily become cute teens or attractive adults. But you seem to be saying that TV changed with the JFK assassination, and by extension - the Vietnam war protests and the other changes in society.

Not hardly! TV remained as innocent and non-controversial as ever, past the end of that decade. There weren't many mid- or late 60s comedies that reflected society's changes. What sitcoms from that era reflected the change in society? I Dream of Jeannie? Gilligan's Island? Green Acres? Please. Four years after Beaver was canceled, NBC Standards and Practices made Barbara Eden cover up her navel. Norman Lear finally took some chances, starting with All in the Family, but that wasn't until 1971.

There may have been a few dramas in the mid 60s like East Side West Side that took some chances, but most of them lasted a whole 13 weeks. TV programming (and sitcoms in particular) stayed stuck in the 50s for far too long

I agree, Beaver's time was definitely up. (I still vote for the first couple seasons to be funnier than the later years, it seems the humor and performances were more natural, perhaps because it was CBS to start, but I do think the humor did change with shows like Gilligan, Green Acres, etc. It was a little edgier, but still tame I will admit. And you are correct, All In The Family was the game changer. Total ballsy move by CBS. When I was 12-13 years old, All In The Family WAS appointment television. I sometimes wonder why there is so little rerun syndication of the show today. Is it because it is too old, or are stations afraid of the content in today's PC world?

 

[radioman148]

"I think all that attention helped them get that new series going in the 80s "Still the Beaver".
BTW: Barbara Billingsley is in her 90s now."

93 to be exact, and may she celebrate many more birthdays.

Ms Billingsley had an absolutely hysterical cameo in the movie Airplane (and even that was 28 years ago!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-xHPU6NulM

I remember that. It was quite funny.

 

[bpatrick]

"Beaver" lasted one season on CBS (1957-58) and
proved to be a poor fit for sponsor Remington Rand;
it then spent five years on ABC.

I, too, like the later shows best; like many of you
I think Jerry Mathers is acting about half his age,
plus he's become both fat and self-conscious by
1962. The Wally/Eddie/Lumpy interactions do get
better.

BTW, "Beaver" wasn't canceled. The last year
(1962-63) it was running in a block with "Ozzie
And Harriet," Donna Reed, and "My Three Sons"
on Thursday nights and doing just fine. Producers
Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, however, decided
that Jerry didn't have it anymore (even Barbara
Billingsley recognized it) and asked ABC
to drop the show. Perhaps it was a good thing;
"Beaver" ended two months before JFK's assassination
and all the changes in society which followed. I
just can't see Wally and the Beaver dealing with drugs,
long hair, hard rock, or (in Wally's case) whether to
protest the Vietnam war. (Side note: on her show
in 1966, Patty Duke went out with a guy from a military
school--probably the last time for a long time that that
was acceptable.)

Not that canceling Beaver was a bad move...no offense to Jerry Mathers, but he was proof that cute kids don't necessarily become cute teens or attractive adults. But you seem to be saying that TV changed with the JFK assassination, and by extension - the Vietnam war protests and the other changes in society.

Not hardly! TV remained as innocent and non-controversial as ever, past the end of that decade. There weren't many mid- or late 60s comedies that reflected society's changes. What sitcoms from that era reflected the change in society? I Dream of Jeannie? Gilligan's Island? Green Acres? Please. Four years after Beaver was canceled, NBC Standards and Practices made Barbara Eden cover up her navel. Norman Lear finally took some chances, starting with All in the Family, but that wasn't until 1971.

There may have been a few dramas in the mid 60s like East Side West Side that took some chances, but most of them lasted a whole 13 weeks. TV programming (and sitcoms in particular) stayed stuck in the 50s for far too long

I agree, Beaver's time was definitely up. (I still vote for the first couple seasons to be funnier than the later years, it seems the humor and performances were more natural, perhaps because it was CBS to start, but I do think the humor did change with shows like Gilligan, Green Acres, etc. It was a little edgier, but still tame I will admit. And you are correct, All In The Family was the game changer. Total ballsy move by CBS. When I was 12-13 years old, All In The Family WAS appointment television. I sometimes wonder why there is so little rerun syndication of the show today. Is it because it is too old, or are stations afraid of the content in today's PC world?

I'll agree that TV changed with the coming of "All In The Family," although
there were a few, mostly unsuccessful, attempts to deal with change in
the '60s ("That Girl" was an attempt to depict a single, career woman, but
Mary Tyler Moore did it better; likewise, "Julia" and "I Spy" incorporated blacks,
but "Love On A Rooftop," with a lead male character on a small income; and
"Occasional Wife," with a single male executive with no desire to get married,
did not make it).
What I am saying is that if Beaver, Wally, and the rest of their friends had
gone on with their '50s hairstyles and clothes their audience would have laughed--
and not because the show was funny (it's something of a joke that Chip on
"My Three Sons" let his hair grow long, but cut it by the end of the episode).

 

[LKellerIII]

I'll agree that TV changed with the coming of "All In The Family," although
there were a few, mostly unsuccessful, attempts to deal with change in
the '60s ("That Girl" was an attempt to depict a single, career woman, but
Mary Tyler Moore did it better; likewise, "Julia" and "I Spy" incorporated blacks,
but "Love On A Rooftop," with a lead male character on a small income; and
"Occasional Wife," with a single male executive with no desire to get married,
did not make it).
What I am saying is that if Beaver, Wally, and the rest of their friends had
gone on with their '50s hairstyles and clothes their audience would have laughed--
and not because the show was funny (it's something of a joke that Chip on
"My Three Sons" let his hair grow long, but cut it by the end of the episode).

Well...That Girl and those other shows might have represented very tiny steps, but they were hardly controversial. I saw an episode of That Girl a few years ago, and I thought it was excrutiatingly dated...almost painful to watch. I never liked the way Marlo and that Don guy mugged for the camera.

Those other shows you mentioned...also tiny steps, maybe - but mostly just surface stuff. The pressure to integrate televsion brought us Bill Cosby on I Spy. Julia was very non-controversial in content. The only controversial part was the casting of an African-American woman in the lead role, but you have to remember that it was a drop-dead gorgeous black woman that was very well known to the public. By the way - have you seen Diahann Carroll lately? Amazing - the woman does not age. If she has had surgical assistance, it was expertly done. Pardon the diversion...

As to why All in the Family isn't in syndication much anymore... My guess is that stations and networks think that all that controversial political content of the time (Vietnam War, Nixon, etc.) would not interest anybody younger than baby boomers, and they're probably right.

 

[bpatrick]

"That Don guy" is the late Ted Bessell, later of
"Me And The Chimp" infamy.

My main point is this: if you wanted to appeal
to kids and teenagers after the coming of the
Beatles in 1964, you couldn't have them looking
and acting like the kids on "Leave It To Beaver."
(At least the Brady and Partridge kids looked fashionable
for the early '70s.) At some point, too, there would almost
had to have been an episode where Beaver is offered
marijuana. Does he inhale? Of course not, which is the
lesson of the story. But to do a show about teenagers
(remember, Beaver was starting high school and Wally,
college, in 1963) in the '60s without at least touching on
some issues would not have worked. It was the very
irrelevance of most of '60s television that sent young people
scurrying to their neighborhood movie houses.

No, I stand on my belief that "Beaver" ended at the right time,
so that all these complications were avoided. And let's those
of us who remember "Beaver" in first run remember it as symbolic
of the better parts of our childhoods.

 

[mleach]

I'll agree that TV changed with the coming of "All In The Family," although
there were a few, mostly unsuccessful, attempts to deal with change in
the '60s ("That Girl" was an attempt to depict a single, career woman, but
Mary Tyler Moore did it better; likewise, "Julia" and "I Spy" incorporated blacks,
but "Love On A Rooftop," with a lead male character on a small income; and
"Occasional Wife," with a single male executive with no desire to get married,
did not make it).

About "Occasional Wife", had that show been done say 10 years earlier it might had made it, or better yet it would made for a cute movie. However by the time the show aired in the mid 60s, the idea of some business who only hired marrieds ( and was blunt about it ), it just didn't happened as much unlike the 50's and before when help wanted ads that said "married men only" or "only single young women can apply" were more/less commonplace. Come to think of it I think even TV Guide and TV Radio Mirror both had pointed that out during an article about the show back then.


[/quote]

As to why All in the Family isn't in syndication much anymore... My guess is that stations and networks think that all that controversial political content of the time (Vietnam War, Nixon, etc.) would not interest anybody younger than baby boomers, and they're probably right.

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.

 

[landtuna]

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.

The younger squirts might not get the humor but for those of us who lived through the era it's still funny.

 

[LKellerIII]

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.

The younger squirts might not get the humor but for those of us who lived through the era it's still funny.

You bet your sweet bippy!

 

[Markieo]

I'll agree that TV changed with the coming of "All In The Family," although
there were a few, mostly unsuccessful, attempts to deal with change in
the '60s ("That Girl" was an attempt to depict a single, career woman, but
Mary Tyler Moore did it better; likewise, "Julia" and "I Spy" incorporated blacks,
but "Love On A Rooftop," with a lead male character on a small income; and
"Occasional Wife," with a single male executive with no desire to get married,
did not make it).

About "Occasional Wife", had that show been done say 10 years earlier it might had made it, or better yet it would made for a cute movie. However by the time the show aired in the mid 60s, the idea of some business who only hired marrieds ( and was blunt about it ), it just didn't happened as much unlike the 50's and before when help wanted ads that said "married men only" or "only single young women can apply" were more/less commonplace. Come to think of it I think even TV Guide and TV Radio Mirror both had pointed that out during an article about the show back then.

If you has a show like that today, First thing the Baby Food executive would do is hire a good EEO lawyer! That'll show 'em.

As to why All in the Family isn't in syndication much anymore... My guess is that stations and networks think that all that controversial political content of the time (Vietnam War, Nixon, etc.) would not interest anybody younger than baby boomers, and they're probably right.

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.
[/quote]

I agree, When Trio ran the series several years ago, it seemd very dated, and it shows!

All except for Arte Johnson in his yellow raincoat and hat driving his tricycle into a tree, street sign, mailbox, etc.

 

[KeithE4]

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.

I agree, When Trio ran the series several years ago, it seemd very dated, and it shows!

All except for Arte Johnson in his yellow raincoat and hat driving his tricycle into a tree, street sign, mailbox, etc.

By the time the show ended in 1973, it was already dated. Its time was the late '60s and should have called it quits after the 1970-71 season, when Arte Johnson & Henry Gibson left the show.

 

[radioman148]

This is one reason why the reruns of Laugh-In back in the 80s didn't last.

I agree, When Trio ran the series several years ago, it seemd very dated, and it shows!

All except for Arte Johnson in his yellow raincoat and hat driving his tricycle into a tree, street sign, mailbox, etc.

By the time the show ended in 1973, it was already dated. Its time was the late '60s and should have called it quits after the 1970-71 season, when Arte Johnson & Henry Gibson left the show.

Agreed--the show ran at least 2 years too long.