Do you like old TV shows from the 50s and 60s?

Dark Shadows and Bewitched....I loved the supernatural and still do.

I love Ozzie and Harriet, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Peyton Place, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Star Trek, and yes Perry Mason, Dark Shadows, and Bewitched, and others.

I like how so many of the shows, were just designed to entertain you, not teach or enlighten, and even when they were teaching you something they didn't beat you over the head with it like so many of the new shows do.

Yes some, but most no. I agree completely with OP about To Tell the Truth (only the ones with Bud Collyer) and What's My Line, they were fun shows that had style and civility, something entirely lacking in American television today. They also bring back what few pleasant memories I have of that time as a kid. I wonder how many on Datalounge recall John Daly, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen or Arlene Francis.

I LOVE old TV shows. The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl, The Twilight Zone....there were a few too many westerns but even some of them were entertaining.

I like watching Ricky Nelson.

Yes, I watch more OTA channels than cable. I like to watch Tarzan on Saturday and Sunday. Laugh-in is fun but some shows are from the seventies. Beat the Clock is boring but I might watch it if I catch it because they're usually 1953 shows and I like seeing regular folks from then and the prizes shown and described. I like Family Affair and Bewitched and B&W I Dream of Jeannie and pretty much anything late 50s/early 60s.

I have the entire Perry Mason series on DVD, yet I still record and watch the MeTV broadcasts every day.

This is Datalounge OP; what a silly question!

Yes, Dark Shadows, The Addams Family, The Munsters, and The Twilight Zone are all great.

[quote]I wonder how many on Datalounge recall John Daly, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen or Arlene Francis.

That's THE LOVELY STAR OF STAGE AND TELEVISION, MISS ARLENE FRANCIS to you, buster.

Glad I'm not the only Perry Mason fan! I'm also watching Dark Shadows. I tried the Dick Van Dyke show but I found it unwatchable.

There was some very good, un-self conscious writing on many of the shows. They weren't arch or ironic or knowing. It's wearying to look at the cleverness contortions of much current stuff.

No announcement of an actor being gay surprised me until Raymond Burr. Same partner for more than 30 years when he died.

I loved "Naked City." It's not on any Retro cable channel in its hometown.

R7, why would you record Me-TV when you already have the DVDs??!! I own all nine seasons, which are uncut with brilliant video, sound. The TV versions are drastically cut and sometimes dire in quality.

You must be new around here.

Raymond Burr was gay?!

Shit!

Even though I was alive when it was on(okay I was 4) I had never watched 77 Sunset Strip until this year. It comes on a 4 am on METV Mon-Fri And I am completely hooked. It shows such a fabulous noir LA scene of the end of the 50s and early 60s, and the plots aren't terrible either. It was written by the same man who wrote detective/lawyer shows later in the 60s and 70s(sorry I can't think of his name.)

And it's so politically incorrect it's delicious. Absolutely everyone smokes and drinks like crazy, and all the women are Jayne Mansfield style floozy aspiring starlets. But the real draw is the delicious man meat cast: Roger Smith, Efrem Zimbalist Jr(I didn't know he was ever hot) and Edd "Kooky" Byrnes. It's chock a block with your favorite character actors on that era who we all recognize from "I Love Lucy" and the like.

If you enjoy Perry Mason, I promise you will like this...it's a dry martini with a Winston kind of a treat.

I bought the Fugitive box, really liked it; The Fugitive was my favorite movie for several years, I had watched it in theatre with my football team when it came out, our main theatre was in the former army barracks, after they moved out here in Germany; they had good voices here in Germany back in the days, they didn't synchro all the episodes of the series, didn't like that so much. It's also good to buy some series if one wants to practice one's foreign language skills, synchro actors were and are often theatre actors, that generation back then was also in Germany very hard-working. Many good boxes to buy of American series in Germany, they don't run on regular US dvd players though, in UK though.

'Following the Fugitive: An Episode Guide and Handbook to the 1960s Television Series', interesting epsiode guide, other books to the series linked as well. Many future stars and some Hollywood legends and Hollywood aristocracy had episodes or more in it, voiced by William Conrad, Leslie Nielsen, Suzanne Pleshette, Telly Savalas, Kurt Russell, that guy from Hawaii 5.0, Beau Bridges, that woman from Travolta, Bruce Dern, Tom Skerritt, Mickey Rooney, Pat Hingle, Tim Daly (a closet case) playing a killer for fun, Nan Martin, Charles Bronson, etc. . There was also a lot of intelligence and academia involved, partially also because it dealt with a doctor and medicine. I sold the box after viewing, cause it didn't fit in my collection.

I enjoy watching single episodes of shows of the 1950s and 1960s.

On YouTube I've seen:

Mr. Peepers

The Oscar Levant Show

What's My Line?

You Bet Your Life

Merv Griffin Show (Edie and Andy! Batman and Robin!)

Television Faves:

Dick Van Dyke

Batman

The Monkees

and counting this as it started in 1969: Hawaii Five-O

NOT a TV show, but a film, and NOT 1950s but 1940s: Information Please (George S. Kaufman as a panelist!)

When I discovered the "What's My Line" shows from the '50s, I was struck by how erudite and intelligent the conversation was, compared with what was to come. It was an era in which intelligence and education were highly valued, at least in popular culture. For instance, on one show, the mystery guest was a son of Winston Churchill, who was promoting a book he had just written about Europe between the two world wars. It didn't take long for all of that to go out the window. By the early '70s, we had "The Match Game," which I find unwatchable today. "I wrote 'boobs,' Gene." Lather, rinse and repeat.

I discovered that I love What's My Line when Buzzr used to show it at whatever time it was I had the TV on. I'd watch an episode or two before bed. They changed the lineup and it's just fucking Card Sharks, Supermarket Sweep or that one with Peter Tamarkan.

Another fan of What's My Line. It's on Buzzr channel. I recently watched it with stars like Bette Davis, Lucy and Desi, or quirkier choices Liberace and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Also enjoy Tattletales. They have a good time and you learn things you might not want to know about 70s-era celebrities like Dick Gautier and his wife Barbara Stuart (Bunny of Gomer Pyle) were nudists or can see that guys like Gary Crosby or Robert Blake may end up in some legal trouble.

So many of the retro shows are enjoyable: Relaxing options like Gunsmoke or Leave it to Beaver, or grittier shows like Emergency (with cutie Randolph Mantooth) and Adam-12 (cutie Kent McCord). So many.

Yes, I do but there are many I haven't gotten to see. Of course, Dark Shadows is amazing. Laugh-In could be very popular now with the general short attention span of most Americans. I'm also very fond of Marcus Welby M.D., which I suppose is considered more of a 1970's program but began in 1969.

The early Perry Masons were almost noir-esque, but that changed as the series went on. Still a lot of fun, not to mention all of the guest stars! Here's a good resource.

When I had a broken leg, I stumbled upon Perry Mason on Me-TV. Of course, I always knew about the sow, but never really watched it. I love it! I was expecting some Jack Webb-type crap, but it's actually very good. Even the corny endings, where the witness jumps up on the stand, shouting "Yes! I dit it! And I'd do it again!". Fun fact: Raymond Burr's follow-up series "Ironside" ran just as long as the long-running "Mason", but it's PM that everybody remembers.

Other favorites: Andy Griffith, Leave It To Beaver, Bewitched, The Big Valley and Dark Shadows. One show I wish would get re-aired: The original Outer Limits.

There's a YouTube channel with every extant What's My Line episode (758 -- quite a few are presumed "lost"), along with one or two the founder dug up that never aired on GSN or Buzzr. It's painstakingly organized and a lot of fun.

And there's a private Facebook group associated with the YT channel — the people are nice if a bit obsessive at times. A couple of the regular panelists' children (who are now quite old themselves) sometimes contribute.

I recall seeing some "Laugh-In" episodes many years ago, but also many years after they originally aired. Its humor did not age well, aside from the fact that its references were understandably very dated. For a show that was seen as "hip" at the time, a lot of the jokes were appallingly sexist and (surprise, surprise) homophobic. Also, I had forgotten how painfully unfunny Dick Martin was in his routines with Dan Rowan., who was also not funny but was supposed to be the straight man.

On YT I watch some comedy sketches and song performances from "The Dean Martin Show." Dean commonly does not keep a straight face.

R26 I admit I was a tad overweight, but calling me a "sow" is just mean and homophobic (and I was married and had a child, both of whom died tragically and mysteriously)!

Leave it to Beaver. High production values, plots we could identify with, cool parents.

I forgot "The Twilight Zone." Usually good storylines by great writers, and tons of "before they were famous" appearances by later 1960s and 1970s household names.

What set "Leave It to Beaver" apart from other family sitcoms of the era was that it depicted life from the kids' point of view.

Did it ever seem strange that Beaver had a young, attractive mother, while Larry Mondello had a mother who was, shall we say, a little more matronly?

I am a fan of What's My Line.

[quote]Did it ever seem strange that Beaver had a young, attractive mother, while Larry Mondello had a mother who was, shall we say, a little more matronly?

That was Madge Blake, who several years later played Aunt Harriet on the "Batman" series. So, yeah, she was definitely long in the tooth to be playing Larry's mom.

R18, I bought a bunch of DVD bootlegged episodes of 77 Sunset Strip on ebay years ago. It was my favorite show as a kid, with Perry Mason as a close runner up. Roger Smith was Ann Margret's husband. Loved those 50s shows. They really were cool.

Have you ever seen Kiss Me Deadly, a Mike Hammer film noir from 1955? Very good, on TCM occasionally. But I was looking for it on google and found this other 1957 Mike Hammer film on youtube called My Gun is Quick.

The principal of Beaver's school was played by Doris Packer, who was so wonderful a few years later playing Chatsworth Osborne Jr.'s mother on "Dobie Gillis." Earlier on "Dobie," she played Milton Armitage's mother. Milton was played by Warren Beatty, and when he left (to make "Splendor in the Grass"), Chatsworth was introduced as the replacement "rich kid" character. It was never explained how the two characters had the same mother.

Madge Blake is a goddess!

The Outer Limits.

One Step Beyond was creepy.

Ernie Kovacs and Jack Parr on You Tube.

I positively love shows from the 1950s and 60s, especially the panel game shows. I used to obsessively watch What's My Line, I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth like crazy on the Buzzr network and would LOL whenever John Daly gave one of his overly verbose, ridiculously long explanations. Dorothy Kilgallen annoyed the crap out of me, though; she cheated so many times when the mystery guest came on.

Other shows from this era that I love: Dennis the Menace, the Addams Family, Hazel, The Joey Bishop Show and Father Knows Best. I am a huge Honeymooners fan, also. Every year NYC runs a marathon and I'll watch the damned thing like clockwork even though I've seen all the episodes a million times already.

[quote]I recall seeing some "Laugh-In" episodes many years ago, but also many years after they originally aired. Its humor did not age well, aside from the fact that its references were understandably very dated.

I revisited Laugh In again recently (it plays on Decades) and I was shocked at how unfunny so much of it was. The weird thing is that everyone remembers the show being its best during the Goldie Hawn years, but I think the show peaked in its first season. In the later seasons, it became way too canned.

r18 I love your post even though I was never a huge fan of 77 Sunset Strip--I thought the beginning of the show with the theme song was good as alot of people found it amusing at the time. "Kooky, Kooky lend me your comb". There was a pop song in the early 60s that had that line in it as I recall. Dry martini and a Winston kind of treat--I'm going to use that from now on. I think it would be fun to meet you.

Also further up the thread there was a reference to Liberace being on What's My Line--he was on as mystery guest several times, but the most pleasurable one to watch is the one from 1956 where he was on the same show as Frank Lloyd Wright. To me that was Liberace when he was at his best (beautiful eyes and gorgeous smile), not the overly done up, over the top Las Vegas slut he became years later (something like the evolution Elvis Presley went through). He had wild applause when he came out. Few today know that he and his TV show then were as popular as I Love Lucy. In fact, the questioning started with Dorothy Kilgallen who asked rhetorically when the applause and cheers died down, "are you popular?". Also included an appearance by his brother George, who, on the Liberace show never spoke, which is why John Daly said "George, say something, will you please?".

It may not be for everyone, but some here might like to look at John Kennedy's press conferences for which he was actually well noted at the time not least of which for his sense of humor in some of his answers to the press corps. I was about 8 or 9 at the time and would watch them when my parents would watch (they were staunch Democrats) and would try to understand what Kennedy was talking about, but didn't half the time. The humor then totally escaped me too as my parents would chuckle or burst out laughing at something Kennedy would say and I would look at them wondering what was so funny--now I know!

TRIGGER WARNING

There were assault rifles on this program.

Jumpin Jehosophat, no one mentioned us?

And this Car 54 ep is hilarious! All of them are on youtube I tihnk.

R26, The "PM" novels were very popular, also (I have them all, I think). Were there any "Ironside" ones?

R2, Has "Peyton Place" the series been shown on Me-TV? I'd like to watch it again!

Love watching "Wild, Wild West"!

[quote] I wonder how many on Datalounge recall John Daly, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen or Arlene Francis.

I do!

R32, According to Wikipedia, Rod Serling wrote/adapted over 2/3 of the episodes.

[quote]I wonder how many on Datalounge recall John Daly, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen or Arlene Francis.

Not to mention Fred Allen, the first of the regular panelists to die unexpectedly, years before Dorothy did.

[quote] I am a huge Honeymooners fan, also. Every year NYC runs a marathon and I'll watch the damned thing like clockwork even though I've seen all the episodes a million times already.

Same here. Love the Honeymooners. Gleason and Carney were great together, of course, but it was Audrey Meadows' portrayal of Alice that gave that show its heart. Sheila MacRae couldn't begin to match her in the 1960s musical episodes from Florida. Audrey did return to the role for a series of reunion specials in the 1970s, with Jane Kean, from the '60s episodes, as Trixie instead of Joyce Randolph, the only surviving cast member (she's 93).

Rawhide still holds up.

Ruggedly handsome Eric Fleming was the top-billed masculine star, and pretty-faced, unknown Clint Eastwood was supposed to be his not-too-bright and impulsive sidekick. Sheb Wooley was to be the handsome singing cowboy.

It’s fun to watch now, and see how Clint’s lanky charisma soon over-shadowed Eric.

Rawhide was unique in that the stories could be controversial and morally-ambiguous, people were gritty, sweaty, poor, and dirty, and there was very little comedy. Other Westerns such as Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Wagon Train, Bonanza, and The Rifleman, had clear-cut simplistic good guy/bad guy storylines, clean and dolled up people, and occasional inane comedic attempts.

Rawhide was so ahead of its time.

[quote]Audrey Meadows' portrayal of Alice that gave that show its heart. Sheila MacRae couldn't begin to match her in the 1960s musical episodes from Florida.

Fuck you, honey.

R34 I thought the exact same thing.

But IRL Mrs Mondello and June were both in their late forties, as hard as that is to believe.

[quote]Fuck you, honey.

Well, Pert at R55, maybe if you hadn't been a commie pinko tool you would have been allowed to continue the role at CBS. Oh wait, weren't you having "heart problems"? Funny, your heart seemed fine when you did "The Music Man" years later and even made a return visit to "The Honeymooners" in the 1960s, playing Alice's mother.

On an episode of the old Frank DeCaro show, Dennis Dermody mentioned that they have released all the episodes of THE FUGITIVE. I knew nothing about the show growing up, but I'm loving it now.

David Janssen has a brooding sensuality, and like PERRY MASON, the B&W episodes have a has a noirish quality. The location shots of mid-century LA are a treat

No love for Route 66, with hotties George Maharis (GAY!), Marty Milner, and Glenn Corbett?

I had never seen "Route 66" but started watching it regularly on Me TV a few years ago. I thought it was a terrific show for its time. Created by Herbert B. Leonard and Stirling Silliphant, who also created "Naked City." Both shows were strongly written and offered the kind of compelling interpersonal drama that was a mainstay of Broadway in the 1950s.

When FETV started running two episodes a day of [italic]Father Knows Best[/italic], beginning with Season 1, Episode 1, I recorded every one of them, then watched the entire six seasons in sequence over a several-month period. I had forgotten what a charming, yet completely unrealistic view of 1950s life was portrayed on the show.

When teenagers went to casual get-togethers at each others' houses, the girls wore crinoline party dresses and the boys wore dress slacks, blazers and neckties. When Father (Robert Young as Jim Anderson) came home from the office, he'd NEVER take off his tie. Mother (Jane Wyatt as Margaret Anderson) spoke in a highly cultured mid-Atlantic accent that was just…wrong for the midwestern town of "Springfield." The girls relied on feminine wiles and trickery to get what they wanted, and the boys were always too stupid to pick up on this.

[italic]Father Knows Best[/italic] was a vision of what viewers wanted to see as American culture. Fortunately, no one took it that seriously. While it was a deception, I think that probably the only people hurt by it were the have-nots and poorer viewers, who watched the unrealistic portrayal of American life and wondered what the hell had gone wrong and why they were never able to live that lifestyle themselves.

I'm just finishing up season one of Mission Impossible. Wonderful show. I just watch an episode that featured the mother from 1976 Sybil. Didn't recognize her face until she opened her mouth. That voice!!!

[quote] I'm just finishing up season one of Mission Impossible.

When the first Mission Impossible film came out TV Land ran a weekend marathon of the original series. The plot of each program was the OUT-THINK the bad guys. Smart strategy was the key, not fireball explosions, endless ammunition guns, and idiotic stunts. Fuck Tom Cruise.

r61 Father Knows Best is on Hulu, I love it but right now am watching the Brady Bunch. Family Matters is too, they have great family sitcoms on hulu.

I enjoy "This is Your Life" it is interesting to see the background of some of Old Hollywood stars. As I recall, Gloria Swanson accidently found out she was being featured on the show. She, of course, shows up looking every bit a glamorous movie star. Probably, the saddest show is "Queen foe a Day". Haus fraus compete for who has the saddest lives to see who wins a bunk bed for their child. I cant believe my Mom used to watch that show every day

Jesus, I LOVED [italic]Queen for a Day.[/italic] When I was very little, my mom would watch QFAD and some other show dealing with human misery. She called them her "agony shows." Later, she'd talk with her friend, the lady next door, and they'd laugh at which of the day's contestants was the most tragic. They saw through all the bullshit and enjoyed the terrible high drama of the proceedings.

As a middle-class kid growing up in the suburbs I could not get over some of the sob stories on QUEEN FOR A DAY. Some of those women's stories really upset me. I was such a little Mary, my mother forbade me from watching it after I kept badgering her to send some money to one poor woman whose story particularly upset me.

It really was a twisted idea for a show: go on national television and tell everyone how miserable your life is and the audience gets to vote on whose story is the most heart wrenching and then the winner sits there and sobs while they give her all these typically housewifey gifts like a dishwasher or a new vacuum cleaner, when what she could really use was a one way trip to Hawaii so she could get away from her wretched existence.

I'm surprised that have tried to remake that Queen for a Day show. It sounds perfect for our reality TV world.

Considering the cruel mindset of early daytime television, the winner got their new Maytag washer and the losers probably got a pie in the face.

r68 they have, it's called "American Idol"

R11 , why did you find The Dick Van Dyke Show unwatchable ?

I've been watching The Donna Reed Show for the first time on Amazon. Carl Betz is one hot motherfucker.

"Cheyenne" star Clint Walker has died at age 90.

R34... June Cleaver was always perfectly coiffed, made up, and wore nice dresses... with her pearls, of course... even when she was doing heavy duty housework. At least, on the show, Father Knows Best, Margaret Anderson will wear a head scarf, and old clothes at times, when cleaning.

I became interested in old radio shows a while back. "Father Knows Best" began as a radio series. Robert Young was the father, but Margaret Anderson was played by Jean Vander Pyl, who years later became the voice of Wilma Flintstone. The youngest child, Cathy, was played by an adult woman trying to sound like a little girl. She was excruciating to listen to, as you can imagine.

R51 It wasn't all that unrealistic for a certain class of people.

I was a teen in the late sixties and that was very much what my life was like: particularly the father not removing his tie. My dad used to mow the lawn in a shirt tie and alpaca cardigan(V-neck.) I actually had to ask him to please remove it when a date came to pick me up, because I thought it would make him look less intimidating. But I completely agree that it was not representative of the life of the average TV viewer of the 50s.

r72 Seasons 6-8 of "Donna Reed" have never been released on DVD and are not part of the syndication package so are never seen on TV anymore. These are the ones that featured Bob Crane and Ann McCrea as their neighbors, and where Patty Petersen was a regular.

When I was young in the 1980s, Saturday morning children's TV was all about 1960s shows. The principal ones I remember were Batman, Get Smart and The Monkees. We were stuck to the television all morning and my mother got to sleep in. Later in the afternoon there was Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Sorry, R61 but I'm going to call b.s. on you having watched Father Knows Best. You sound like one of those people who never really saw the show and are just parroting talking points from other people who also didn't watch the show but singled it out as the quintessential unrealistic 1950s sitcom that made everyone feel bad by presenting everyone and everything as picture perfect.

Anyone who's actually seen the show knows that isn't true. Father Knows Best was always about conflict, ethical dilemmas and setting examples of what to do in difficult situations. The Andersons were anything but perfect and many of the episodes involved the characters lapsing into moments of self pity, hatred, pettiness, selfishness and spite. The show tackled difficult social issues as well, such as "The Persistent Guest", which was about a kid who becomes homeless after his parents dies, starts couch surfing and then gets hated on by his classmates for being a vagrant.

So given all that, I think you're lying about having watched Father Knows Best. The fact that your complaints about the show being unrealistic are based on very petty, superficial observations like "the father never took off his tie" and "girls wore crinoline." There were no "girls" on the show to use "feminine wiles and trickery" on "boys", either. There was only Betty, who was dating age, and most of her episodes didn't focus on dating. Bud was the stereotypical 1950s male chauvinist who would've made a snarky crack about "feminine wiles" if someone had tried to lay them on him.

You are clearly making stuff about the show. Why, I don't know. But I'm guessing that the reason why people keep spreading propaganda about it is that the show having moral lessons offends them, so they keep going on these poison pen campaigns to tarnish the show's legacy. (Note how no one ever targets Leave It to Beaver or The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as being unrealistic.)

So, to people reading comments by the show's detractors, don't believe them. The show wasn't supposed to be about shoving a fantasy in people's faces. It was, like I said, about setting examples.

Sorry Kitten, at r79, but r61 is right about Mother's accent, I have seen the show many times and I like it but her accent is so ridiculous.

The Comet channel airs two episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS every weeknight - first the 90s anthology series, which I really like, then the older one. The 90s one has one of the best episodes I have ever seen, with David Hyde Pierce in an episode called "The Sentence."

Also stay up late on Sunday nights to watch THE FUGITIVE. As a kid I was scared shitless of that creepy one armed man; when they showed him in the opening credits I would cover my eyes.

I would like to see the old legal series THE DEFENDERS, with EG Marshall, Robert Reed, and James Farentino as lawyers. I remember it as being very good. And of course THE TWILIGHT ZONE is without peer, but I have seen so many of them in recent years during the marathons.

[quote] Father Knows Best was always about conflict, ethical dilemmas and setting examples of what to do in difficult situations

That's apparently true. Sometime somewhere along the line I have seen an old episode of Father Knows Best and recall it was about the teenage son deciding he and his young girlfriend would elope and he would support them on his pay as a garage mechanic. I don't recall particulars but they weren't playing it for laughs.

After the show went off the air it was learned the child actress playing he younger daughter was molested by her father and probably others. Heroin junkie and pusher, institutionalized in mental wards, suicide attempts. She had it rough.

Thanks for posting that R79. I had never seen that episode. Pretty weighty stuff for a 50's sitcom. Those of us of a certain age will recognize guest star Virginia Christine (Grace) as Mrs Olson, of Folger's coffee fame

Naked City is great. I couldn't believe how well the episodes of them held up when watching a Naked Cities binge on Decades a few months ago. It's almost forgotten now that Route 66 was a Naked City spin-off. The pilot was a Naked Cities episode.

My mom used to consult on s c r i p t s for the old shows. Now that she's gone, it's fun to watch MeTV or Decades and hear her voice through the characters.

I recently discovered a Twilight Zone knockoff called "One Step Beyond". There are a few episodes on Youtube. Fun show.

I've been watching "The Donna Reed Show" on Amazon Prime as well. They're really good, told from the mother's point of view, as she tries to maintain the home, solve problems, etc. Carl Betz was so very hot indeed, but his character as times was something of a male chauvinist, inducing Donna to prove she was up to a challenge. The kids, Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen, seemed more like real kids, who sometimes spoke back to their parents and weren't all goody-two shoes. I think Larry Mondello on "Leave it to Beaver" was actually one of the most natural kid actors ever, but Paul Petersen on "Donna Reed" was pretty darn good and very energetic. I 'm also reminded how kids used to go outside and play and also have dances and social gatherings for leisure. "Donna Reed Show" started around 1959 and the only electronics they had were a landline telephone, an tv, and a record player basically, but they all had fun and seemed to be a loving family. A few episodes include dream sequences allowing Donna Reed to dress up in some glamorous outfits, including one which is practically out of her Oscar-winning role as the hooker in "From Here to Eternity"! Reed was lovely, and she and Betz look like a hot couple.

I've also been watching "The Beverly Hillbillies" which still holds up; Granny, Elly Mae and Jethro are also especially endearing, and Mrs. Drysdale and Jane Hathaway are superb support. Elly Mae even had her on musical leitmotif whenever she was around her critters. Plus I came upon some episodes where Jethro was shirtless and in his bathing suit when he went for a swim in the "See-ment Pond". He was really very hot in that clueless Li'l Abner way.

"What's My Line" is great; there are clips on youtube of the shows and also of the mystery guests. My faves are Rosalind Russell who is hilarious (it take forever for them to realize she's not a man) and also Fredric March, who uses so many different voices and acts them so well, that the panel are utterly confused.

r83 There's also one where Bud dates a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" I remember it being pretty gritty, like a 50's version of JJ's prom date.

R82... Robert Young, who played Jim Anderson (Father Knows Best), battled depression and made a suicide attempt in 1991. When you read about the real lives of actors, who seem to have a happy persona... and portray an "ideal" way of life and family, they have some pretty horrific personal problems in their own lives. Some of them are really tragic.

Robert Young also had an alcohol problem. He was a very good actor in old films as well -- just watched him on TCM in "The Enchanted Cottage" the other day.

R79... In that episode of Father Knows Best, in the beginning, with Bud eating in the cafeteria with his friend, I think that friend was Lumpy, in Leave It To Beaver (the actor who played him).

Bud also appeared onscreen at one point in a tee shirt and jeans. No decent young man then have done that. Only juvenile delinquents like that James Dean fellow and that Brando person. If he had gone to school dressed like that, he would have been suspended if not expelled. It was quite daring.

r81 James Farentino was in exactly ONE episode of "The Defenders." The only regulars were Marshall and Reed.

No one has mentioned Alfred Hitchcock Presents and its immediate successor, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (basically the same show expanded from 30 minutes to an hour).

They are brilliantly written, directed and produced and often feature some of the very best stage actors of the period who weren't otherwise represented on film. One of the classics was an episode where Barbara Bel Geddes clubs her brutally abusive husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb. In the final scene, she feeds the thawed and cooked murder weapon to Martin Balsam, the lead detective investigating the case.

Airing now on MeTV from 2 to 3 am.

r94 I didn't think we had to mention AH, doesn't that go without saying, this one with Roddy was great!

[quote] Paul Petersen on "Donna Reed" was pretty darn good and very energetic

Wikipedia: In 1990, following the suicide of former child star Rusty Hamer, Petersen founded a child-actor support group, "A Minor Consideration", to improve working conditions for child actors and to assist in the transition between working as a child actor and adult life, whether in acting or in other professions.

And he's aged very nicely, too.

The Addams Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Room 222, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.

And how could I forget Gillians Island. I always wanted to grow up and be Ginger until Marsha Brady arrived on the scene a couple of year later in The Brady Bunch.

I found it interesting that even though "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres" were both set in Hooterville and had cross-over characters like Sam Drucker, the two shows occupied completely different universes. "Petticoat Junction" remained fairly bucolic and homespun, but "Green Acres" became increasingly surreal. I remember one opening in which Lisa Douglas suddenly sits up in bed and notices the opening credits superimposed over the scene. She wakes up Oliver, asking, "Oliver! Vat is that backvards writing in the air?" In another episode, the credits appeared on pieces of toast popping up in the toaster. Lisa got a knife and tried scraping the words off the toast. I found "Petticoat Junction" a little too cornball but loved the bizarre and quirky "Green Acres."

the name of the game.

Batman.

Make Room For Daddy

Art Linkletter Show - where he used to talk to children

Truth or Consequences - with Bob Barker

Perry Mason is a favorite of mine due to being 'forced' to watch it along with my brother and sister when we'd visit our grandmother back in the day. I've obtain the DVD series and have enjoyed watching it in memory of my grandmother.

One thing I noticed during the courtroom scenes is how dressed up the women were - done up hair, fancy jewelry and dresses with many of them often wearing fur. Who goes to court wearing a fur coat!

A little know show 'I Married Joan' starring Joan Davis and Jim Backus was quite funny but as it was during the time of 'I Love Lucy' it didn't get the exposure it deserved.

I know some people who thought Joan Davis was even better than "I Love Lucy" and loved Joan. It was a hit, though couldn't be seen for years and years. Another friend of mine thought that Betty White way back then gave Lucy a run for her money for comedic talent (and Betty's still around many series and years later).

I liked My Little Margie. And the man who played her father, Charles Farrell, was really handsome. I read that he was a severe alcoholic.

The back stories on many of these actors is fascinating. My partner cringes because I know some of the seedy or tragic history. I would have been better off to just enjoy the shows and not look into WHET.

Here we are, 106 posts and not one mention of this TV classic, "The Munsters"!

Surrender your DL membership cards, now!

I'm a diehard DLer, and I still couldn't tell if the blonde in R107 is Beverly Owen or Pat Priest.

It's interesting to recall the Munsters home was on Wisteria Lane. The Beaver lived just a couple doors up from them too.

Ozzie and Harriet is my go to lately. The Nelson brothers were easy on the eyes, and it always had a happy ending. Kind of low key but it got its point across.

[quote]After the show went off the air it was learned the child actress playing he younger daughter was molested by her father and probably others. Heroin junkie and pusher, institutionalized in mental wards, suicide attempts. She had it rough.

And a common motel hooker!

Later she became a Christfrau and wrote a memoir called "Father DOES Know Best."

Billy Gray (a/k/a Bud) of "Father Knows Best" also had a tough time of it. Elinor Donahue did "Andy Griffith Show" and "The Odd Couple" among others -- she apparently turned out all right. I wonder if it was the on-set vibe or their guardians/parents/managers who created the problems for Gray and the youngest daughter (or for an kid star). The kids on the Donna Reed Show turned out fine, and Paul Petersen even started a support group for show biz kids. I think he mentioned that Donna Reed and Carl Betz, who played the parents on his show, were terrific people.

(or for "any" kid star), that is.

The Imperial Russians banned Jews from any job that has them access to children and their bodies.

Aaaaay! This is starting to get embarrassing. A 100+ replies without TPDS not being included in this conversation. It churned out 104 episodes in its brief run and it's a pretty damned delightful show. I watched a couple of full eps on YT the other day. It appears the whole series is there to see.

I loved, That Girl. I wanted her wardrobe and her life in NYC. Great examples of mod fashion, on that show.

I love them. I was born in the 50s and TV was my safe place. Now it is again. I escape to another time.

[quote]In another episode, the credits appeared on pieces of toast popping up in the toaster. Lisa got a knife and tried scraping the words off the toast.

I love those gags with the credits! In one episode, the director's name appeared on one of Lisa's "hotscakes" as she flipped it over. When she mentioned it to Oliver, he looked and said, "There's no director's name there." She replied, "No, it just stays long enough for his mother to see it."

They did funny things with subtitles, too. One episode, telling a WW2 story, showed Lisa in the Hungarian resistance. A fellow resistance member saw something unusual (Oliver, caught in a tree with his parachute) and said something in Hungarian, with the English subtitle "Quick, come look at this." Lisa appeared and said something in Hungarian, with the English subtitle "Vot's wrong?"

I discovered That Girl in reruns during college in the 90s and was hooked. I loved seeing the NYC exterior shots. So... were Donald and Ann fucking or not? And how did Ann afford her outfits?

r112 Elinor Donahue was married to mega-TV producer Harry Ackerman for almost 30 years.

Ann was a struggling actress, in between jobs. In reality, she would never have afforded her designer clothes and apartment. Ahhh... the fantasy of TV. I say they fucked... lol.

That Girl made sense -- Daddy was paying for everything.

[quote]That Girl made sense -- Daddy was paying for everything.

He even bought her a glass coffee table.

Oh, wait—I guess that was her [italic]real[/italic] daddy.

I've been watching "That Girl" on Amazon Prime and they hold up pretty damn well. There's great chemistry between Marlo and Ted Bessell, but there are whole episodes about separate rooms when they travel together, etc. So I think they might have gotten as far maybe as heavy petting and making out, but I don't think they actually fucked... but I'm just on season 3 right now. One of my fave episodes is where her butinsky father is playing a game of Monopoly with Donald and there's a battle over the sale of Marvin Gardens. Hilarious. Yes, I think it's great to see all the exteriors of NYC back in the '60s. Btw, Ann's girlfriend on the 1st season was Bonnie Scott, who was the lead on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business"' she was super cute, but decided to marry and leave show biz after the first season.

The Defenders.

[quote] Ann was a struggling actress, in between jobs. In reality, she would never have afforded her designer clothes and apartment

Some Roger Sterling type was probably paying her rent and expenses while she was "modeling".

[quote]I love those gags with the credits! In one episode, the director's name appeared on one of Lisa's "hotscakes" as she flipped it over. When she mentioned it to Oliver, he looked and said, "There's no director's name there." She replied, "No, it just stays long enough for his mother to see it."

I remember the "Green Acres" credits running while the Douglases were in bed ...

"Olivah! Dere vas a name in de dark!"

"Go to sleep, Lisa."

"Dere it is again!"

[quote]I know some people who thought Joan Davis was even better than "I Love Lucy" and loved Joan. It was a hit, though couldn't be seen for years and years. Another friend of mine thought that Betty White way back then gave Lucy a run for her money for comedic talent (and Betty's still around many series and years later).

The success of "I Love Lucy" resulted in several copycat sitcoms that revolved around a wacky housewife. "I Married Joan" was Joan Davis's entry, and Betty White's was "Life With Elizabeth," a syndicated series that featured three separate vignettes per half-hour episode instead of a single plot. The original run was just two years but the episodes could be seen in syndication for a long time afterward. Every week, the episode would end with the off-camera announcer asking, "Elizabeth, aren't you ashamed?" At which point Betty would think for a moment and then shake her head "no." But I do recall at least one episode in which she shook her head "yes," although I can't recall what she did that finally caused her to feel ashamed.

Get Smart.

[quote]But I do recall at least one episode in which she shook her head "yes," although I can't recall what she did that finally caused her to feel ashamed.

She and her husband Alvin were caught 69ing in the back seat of their Buick at a drive-in restaurant on La Cienega.

Ah yes, I remember it well.

When I was a kid in the 60s I sooo wanted to spank and fuck David Janssen when he was on The Fugitive, in fact, that's mainly why I watched the show. When they put him in snug fitting jeans in some episodes I practically went nuts. I was just starting to jack off then and David Janssen was frequent jack off material. Now when I see him, I wonder what I was thinking then. I found out he was rather difficult to work with on the set partly due to his drinking problem.

Another pretty good Jackie Gleason show was "American Scene Magazine" in the early/mid 1960s. I wonder whatever happened to the June Taylor dancers.

The Invaders - starring Roy Thinnes. It was one of those supernatural type series and Roy was quite the hot potato at least to my teen eyes! I don't remember much about the show but I'll never forget Roy!

[quote]Another pretty good Jackie Gleason show was "American Scene Magazine" in the early/mid 1960s. I wonder whatever happened to the June Taylor dancers.

Probably not doing a lot of dancing these days. At one point, Gleason married the sister of June Taylor. On Gleason's earlier CBS variety show, in the 1950s, Ellen Burstyn was one of the "away we go" dancing girls, under the name Erica Dean, before deciding to become an actress, a career move that worked out rather well for her.

[quote] I wonder whatever happened to the June Taylor dancers.

They still make occasional television appearances.

Those overhead kaleidoscopic shots of the June Taylor Dancers made me gay.

R117 I am so glad to see that someone else shares my "getaway." I watch Our Miss Brooks, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Mr Lucky, 77 Sunset Strip and Donna Reed almost every day now, and I completely am transported to that better time.

Captain Nice.

Captain Nice offered the bonus of Ann Prentiss as the chaste love interest. Back in the days when she wasn't yet trying to murder Richard Benjamin.

They tried to translate James Thurber to television. The critics adored it. Good show but there weren't enough New Yorker subscribers to win the timeslot.

Thank you r136, that was great! It always amazes me how they did all that in unison, it must have taken a tremendous amount of work, energy and rehearsal.

It's About Time.

Bewitched

[quote]Fun fact: Raymond Burr's follow-up series "Ironside" ran just as long as the long-running "Mason", but it's PM that everybody remembers.

Ironside didn't have Della Street.

[quote]Btw, Ann's girlfriend on the 1st season was Bonnie Scott, who was the lead on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business"' she was super cute, but decided to marry and leave show biz after the first season.

In a few episodes, Reva Rose plays Marcy, the loud mouth neighbor. She was the original Lucy in the off-Broadway production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and can be heard on the cast album. I think Marlo Thomas had several of those actresses canned because they were funnier than she was.

So many responses and you've forgotten some of the greats?

Family Affair - three orphaned kids who are put with their swinger uncle, who then leaves them with the butler. Datalounge had an excellent comment thread devoted to this show. It's worth searching out. It's almost like a copy of Auntie Mame. And some of the episodes really strayed from the comedy and went into darker subjects.

My Three Sons - Don Grady was a hunk of burning love. He had been a child actor and always looked dorky, but by the time the colorized episodes of MTS came around, he was sex on a stick. Years later, I read that each season they had to film all of Fred MacMurray's scenes for the entire season first because he was more committed to movies than he was to tv. Then when they were done with all of MacMurray's scenes, they had to go back and film all the ones he wasn't in That must have been hell for the continuity people on the show.

[quote] I read that each season they had to film all of Fred MacMurray's scenes for the entire season first because he was more committed to movies than he was to tv.

Henry Fonda had a similar arrangement for his shows. One a western and another as a police detective.

Honey West.

I never see any reference to forever-single Susan Oliver. She did many episodes of various 60s shows including Andy Griffith, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Virginian, etc. Even did a little TV directing in the 80s, I think.

Does anyone have any stories or know anything of her? There is scant information except she never married, became a pilot!, and died youngish of cancer.

For years, I found old black and white TV shows depressing.

I might give some a try, though.

R149, maybe that dame was gay.

Actress Susan Oliver Flys Solo From New York to Moscow 1967

Perry Mason was well written. Raymond Burr was handsome. Too bad he lived in a time that he was so deep in the closet that he had to invent elaborate lies about a fake wife and kid that were killed.

R151, Yes. One of the reasons I thought there might be some chatter on here about her, but I don't recall seeing it. Wish I had thought to ask Susie Lee during that heyday. She must have really laid low, so to speak, to have no gossip.

I just saw her today in Your Cheatin' Heart with George Hamilton and wondered if anyone had any stories.

Gidget

The Invaders.

Sallly Field is so adorable in "Gidget!. Love the theme song -- actually one of the best. The late Pete Duel "Alias Smith and Jones") had a recurring role on the series too.

Gidget is sort of an anomaly in the syndication world in that it only ran for one season.

They used to produce more shows in one season back then. Plus Sally Field became so famous after "The Flying Nun" and her Oscars.

"77 Sunset Strip" is fantastic. It's a great detective show that has a great sense of humor and doesn't take itself seriously. One of the best Easter eggs (for lack of a better term) is the number of Roger's Smith's "Auntie Mame" co-stars who show up (both were produced by Warner Bros.)

R18 forgot to mention the addition of the twinkalicious Robert Logan, who replaced Kookie as the valet for Dino's Lodge who he became a junior detective for Bailey & Spencer.

Another great thing about the show is the music. The house band for Dino's was swinging and they often had girl singers performing there, more often than not singing a Cole Porter tune.

So many great dames on Perry Mason episodes.

Cloris on Perry Mason....

R10, Star of Stage, SCREEN AND Television.

Why did they cancel Gidget? The Flying Nun was basically the shame show. If the Flying Nun had LaRue along with Sister Woman and Sarah Tucker from the Cool Whip Inn, it may have been perfect.

Love them! They're the shows I grew up watching. I'm retired and I keep the TV on MeTV most of the day and watch as I work in the house. Love the old westerns. Bonanza, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, The Big Valley. My Three Sons and Leave It To Beaver in the early hours every day. Around 5 I switch to Netflix or Prime. That's when that brainless "Charlie's Angels" comes on. I still can't believe anyone watched that dreck back in the day. Worst acting I've seen in my lifetime. Complete and utter schlock.

The Defenders.

Space Ghost.

Space Ghost? pffffpt

But Space Angel..... Gene Roddenberry stole Scotty from this.

Perry Masonary. On the Flintstones!

Loved Bill Bixby , together with Ray Walston in "My Favorite Martian", just in time for the space race. And Bixby again in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", with (then) little Brandon Cruz. Cruz has nothing but nice things to say about Bixby, and Bixby remained friends with Brandon Cruz and Ray Walston throughout his life. "Courtship" was another groundbreaking show as it showed a single dad's day-to-day travails while doing his best to raise his young son. Sweetly done light comedy feel-good show.

R165 Is a Weekday Rope Opera watcher!

Bill Bixby was known for his ever present basket.

sometimes it is a relief to watch old comedies. No swearing, complete innocence and a time before all of the chaos we live in now. It is an escape and some of them still make me laugh.

Miss Angie Dickinson on Perry Mason....

Miss Fay Wray on Perry Mason....

Guess who! On what!

One day last week Bette Davis was on Wagon Train.

In the early days of Perry Mason, it was heavily implied that Perry was a womanizer and may have been fucking Della. Then they sort of sanitized him.

In the novels Della clearly stayed the night, and would fix them breakfast in the morning. I pictured her more like Joan Blondell.

Miss Ruta Lee and.....

From Dennis the Menace to Perry Mason with Miss Gloria Henry....

Raymond Burr, gay you know.

The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse featuring the tragic Judy Tyler as Cherie Chi-Chi.

Judy Tyler was wonderful on the recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Pipe Dream" (keeping up vocally with Wagnerian soprano Helen Traubel), in clips as Princess SummerFall WinterSpring on "Howdy Doody" and as Elvis' first co-star in "Jailhouse Rock" before her unfortunate fatal accident.

So many things don't seem to be here, things that I loved....like "December Bride" (with Spring Byington), Loretta Young's show, Gale Storm in "My Little Margie" and "Oh Susannah!"...."Sugarfoot," "Lawman," and all the other WB men-in-tight-jeans westerns that aroused my intense interest (why? I had no idea....What WAS it about Doug McClure as Trampus?)....and the game shows--"I've Got a Secret"--the story of my life as a child....

Durward Kirby and Carol Burnett do a live commercial on the Gary Moore Show.

Judy Tyler....

Did anyone mention "Sgt. Bilko"? "The Shirley Temple Storybook Hour"? Shirley Temple was important to me.

"The Outer Limits" was too scary for me--I was such a wimp....still am.

The only 1950s show I ever really liked was The Honeymooners, and only the 39 episodes that were originally in syndication. The lost episodes were just dreadful. I remember WPIX out of NYC stopped showing the lost episodes and went back to showing the 39.

For 1960s shows, The Twilight Zone still holds up really well.

Nineteen year old Barbra Streisand's introduction to the general television public at 26 minutes. Carol Burnett displays her first Emmy at the end of the clip.

R188, I still remember the theme song to "Shirley Temple's Storybook," which she would sing at the opening of each show before introducing that week's story.

How can we have gotten to r192 with no mention of 2 of the best sitcoms ever?

BURNS AND ALLEN with George and Gracie and an inimitable supporting cast including Bea Benaderet, Harry Von Zell and super hot son Ronnie Burns? Was it the first meta sitcom with George watching the show on his TV to outwit all the other characters?

LOVE THAT BOB Originally titled The Bob Cummings Show with Bob playing the wolfish L.A. cheesecake photographer supported by the dazzling Ann B. Davis (long before The Brady Bunch), Rosemary de Camp and Dwayne Hickman, with occasional appearances by Nancy Kulp as bird-watching spinster Pamela Livingstone.

They were both written and produced by Paul Henning who went on to produce The Beverly Hilbillies and Petticoat Junction.

IMHO those are only sitcoms besides I Love Lucy that still hold up today. As a kid I spent endless hours in the 50s watching morning reruns of My Little Margie and Oh, Susannah with Gale Storm, Private Secretary with Ann Sothern, I Married Joan with Joan Davis and Our Miss Brooks with Eve Arden, but they're all sadly a trial to sit through today.

There's something about the Tarzan series (1966-1968) that I find appealing.

What I loved about all of these is that there was such a diversity of style. Everything from "I Love Lucy" which was loud and slapstick to the noir-like shows talked about above to the erudite game shows. Today it seems like every series is the same. All comedies follow the same format and all dramas follow the same format.

[quote]BURNS AND ALLEN with George and Gracie and an inimitable supporting cast including Bea Benaderet, Harry Von Zell and super hot son Ronnie Burns?

I love that show! In the early 80s (before we all had VCRs, unfortunately), there was a cable channel that showed an episode every weeknight. I don't know what kind of distribution it's had since then.

You'd think, by now, there would be some decent BURNS AND ALLEN DVDs, but Amazon just shows items with a few random episodes. Such a shame, when many lesser programs have received better treatment.

Here's a cute conversation from a scene on one of the DVDs that does exist. Gracie returns home carrying a huge bouquet of flowers.

GEORGE: Oh my, Gracie, what beautiful flowers.

GRACIE: Yes, aren't they! And it's all thanks to you that I have them.

GEORGE: Me? What did I have to do with it?

GRACIE: Well, it was your idea, George. When I said I was going to visit my friend in the hospital, you said I should take her flowers. So, when she wasn't looking, I did.

Hee Hee!!

It was a beautiful day outside today and I stayed inside and binge watched old Perry Mason episodes. I loved the guest stars and how Perry figured everything out. Perry Mason is the GOAT!

I’m finding I’m streaming less and watching reruns more.

I know this is bad, but I actually like watching these shows for the style of the era. Especially the housewives that get all dressed up just to stay inside and clean their house. Even Queen Elizabeth, THE QUEEN, wore more relaxed everyday wear. I had a 6-month unemployment gap and after awhile I started getting dressed up to head to the library and completed job applications. it was great fun spending 30 mins on an outfit, grabbing a coffee, head to the library for 3 hours, take a walk around the park, go to the grocery store before making dinner. Made going back to work a lot harder.

I love the fantasy of these families. Of course, i would hate to have to ask my spouse for spending money like a child, but not going to work is a huge tradeoff. I love these shows.

The Mothers-in-Law! Jerry Fogel, the last surviving cast member, just passed away.