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Posted on 08/04/2025 5:39:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The sixties was one of the more creative decades in modern history: The music, the clothes, the movies, the pop culture. But maybe most creative were the goofy TV comedy series.
The sixties were one of the most creative periods for art in modern American history. Mostly known for innovative music, now called "classic rock," the decade also broke meaningful ground in the areas of dress, pop culture, literature, movies and more. The sixties reminds this journalist of the fertile twenties in American literature with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and the like.
What isn't acknowledged much is the outrageous creativity of sixties television comedy series. Think about the goofiness of "Green Acres" (sophisticated New Yorkers moving to a rural farm), "I Dream Of Jeannie" (an astronaut and a genie) and "Mr. Ed" (a man with a talking horse). What minds came up with that stuff, I can't imagine, but there was a refreshing innocence about the shows, and, to this day, many are still in syndication.
I picked out five of the more memorable to look at, listed below in random order.
(1) "I Dream Of Jeannie": With the Cold War space race between the U.S. and former Soviet Union in full swing, this series had some relativity to the time period. It ran for five seasons on NBC, starting in 1965.
Major Anthony Nelson, an astronaut played by Larry Hagman, later to star in “Dallas,” becomes stranded on a remote island when his reentry capsule meanders off-course. While on the island, he finds a bottle that's washed up on shore. When he uncorks it, out pops actress Barbara Eden, a beautiful genie dressed in Persian garb who helps rescue him and is his willing "slave" going forward.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
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They had something back then that is sorely missing from today’s creative talent... An imagination.
Entertainment used to be entertaining.
How about a woman who gets reincarnated into a 1928 Porter? Or a prehistoric family with a dinosaur and sabertoothed cat for pets?
They made it work and they made it all seem easy, America was overflowing with talent everywhere and nothing looked difficult or strained, excellence was just a given.
Yeah, I don't think the "creators" of Mr. Ed had ever heard of Francis the Talking Mule.
Well, they had a bit more than half the population we have now, but only three networks. The talent’s still there but it is far more diffuse now.
Mr. Ed was a reality show.
Oh, much more - does anyone have a collection of TV Guides? I bet we could fine some real doozies that didn’t hang around long enough for anyone to remember.
Shows about show business (I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, etc) get an extra dishonorable mention.
Who writes this crap? The Clampetts were from Tennessee, not Texas, and the castaways were on a three hour (not day) tour.
If this bozo had ever watched the intro to these two shows, he wouldn’t have made a fool of himself.
With double the population you would think all that talent would still be showing up somewhere, diffused or not, but where is it, is it in the music, the movies, the TV shows, in late night comedy, in science fiction writing, in novels?
My grandpa was a WWI Marine veteran, and Hogan’s Heroes was his favorite show. He never missed an episode. That plus Bonanza at 9 pm every Sunday night.
After “My Favorite Martian,” and “My Mother the Car,” it seems reasonable enough.
How could he have forgotten “My Favorite Martian” and “The Flintstones”??
There were so many other greats, but not in the preposterously silly genre that he came up with:
The Donna Reed Show
Dennis the Menace
Leave It To Beaver
My Three Sons
The Many Loves of Dobie Gilis (pretty silly)
The Andy Griffith Show
Car 54 Where Are You? (Silly)
That Girl
The Wild, Wild West
F Troop (Silly)
McHale’s Navy
The Munsters (Silly)
The Addams Family (Silly)
Dragnet
The Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Mission Impossible
The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (who names a moose “Bullwinkle”?)
College Bowl (zero college kids today could make the grade)
Perry Mason
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Candid Camera
Wow, just listing them and remembering them is tiring!
I think the nation was still reeling from WW II and was still seeking solace in light-hearted and just plain crazy fare.
That was funny.
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