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 ...
I dropped cable years ago. About the only thing I miss is the horse racing. Can you recommend a good substitute online?
More Westerns:
Wanted: Dead or Alive
The Rifleman
Maverick
Sugarfoot
Cheyenne
The Californians (1950s, not 1960s. An obscure two-season show that was quite good - I just watched it on Amazon Prime)
The Westerner (1950s, not 1960s. Another obscure two-season show starring Brian Keith which was also very good).
“Dobie Gilis was originally a book ( I own it), then a film, and then the T.V. show” — I did not know that.
I really liked the early years of “Death Valley Days.” The first seasons were written by a New York woman. She spent a lot of time in the west collecting stories and they aired on radio for many years before moving to TV.
Let me toss in
Father Knows Best
Make Room For Daddy
Ozzie and Harriet
> The Prisoner
Thank you. (and bcnu of course)
I thought it was the Ozark Mountains near Branson, MO.
I use Roku. There is a streaming service there called “Plex.”
In the sports section there you can find Fanduel TV (they took over TVG some time ago.)
They don’t show racing all the time but it’s usually available during prime time on weekdays and more on weekends. You might find it elsewhere as well.
Cartoons were much better then, too. Now there are none on Saturday mornings.
Don’t forget “The Virginian”.
Check out what was popular in reading material in the 60s.
Same themes in popular fiction.
It was the 60s.
Looking back it, though, I’m wondering how much of the counterculture was subsidized by the Deep State.
Nobody mentioned The May Loves of Dobie Gillis. First to break the fourth wall it seems to me.
It was good clean fun - unlike the perverted trash of today....
The Addams Family was made from the cartoons of Charles Addams and had nothing to do with Edward Gorey. (I also like Edward Gorey a lot, and have several books of his drawings.)
I don’t remember us watching that, though Beau watches it over morning coffee on Me-TV, I think?
Poor Hamilton Burger. How DOES that guy keep his law license? ;)
You misremember. They were always from Tennessee. Arkansas has no mountains. Back them people knew some geography.
Dobie Gillis is missing.
“Arkansas has no mountains”
LOL! Never heard of the Ozark Mountains or the Ouachita Mountains?
You forgot “The Loner” written by Rod Serling and starring Lloyd Bridges. Great western, I watch it on Utube.
And don’t forget Tommy Smothers as an angel, and Julie Newmar as a robot. Not to mention Edward Mulhare as “the Ghost.”
Oh, and “Uncle Martin,” of course!
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