classic shows
(from the 50's and 60's)

Let's begin...


The Addams Family, ABC
Hulu; IMDb; TV Tome

An altogether ooky classic. And way better than the Munsters, but still not one of my favorite shows. Ah, but it's always fun to make light of the macabre, ain't it? ...It must be in reruns on some channel, but I'm not sure where, just at the moment. Anyway, Gomez is a great character. And we like Morticia. Lurch is cool, too. And then there's Fester and Grandmama and Wednesday and Pugsley and Cousin Itt. Hmmm, I dunno who else, but they're all nuts and stuff. I like Wednesday better in the movies cuz she's played by Christina Ricci, at least in the first couple.
See also: The Addams Family (IMDb; Movie Tome) and Addams Family Values (IMDb; Movie Tome). And if you absolutely must you might as well see Addams Family Reunion (IMDb; Movie Tome), but I don't particularly encourage it. I haven't seen it, and I don't know if I ever will. The actors are different and stuff.

The Andy Griffith Show, CBS
IMDb; TV.com; TV Land; Wikipedia

Reruns on TV Land.
I haven't seen alot of this. What little I have seen, I found fairly boring. But it's still a classic, and I would almost say the grand-daddy of quirky shows. Y'know, not very quirky, really, but sort of mildly proto-quirky. So mad props for that alone, cuz y'know I love the modern quirky shows. What else to say? It had Andy Griffith, of course, playing the sheriff of Mayberry. It had Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife, a classic TV character if ever there was one. It had Ron Howard as Opie, who would of course do some other good stuff later, as an actor as well as director/producer. That's about all I can think to say. The theme music is nicely nostalgic, too. I wish I could whistle.

Batman

See: campy shows

The Beverly Hillbillies, CBS
IMDb; Retro Junk; TV Tome

This family from the Ozarks found oil on their land and became millionaires and moved to Beverly Hills. The head of the family, Jed Clampett, seemd reasonably sensible, I guess, but everyone else in the family were basically dumb, cliched stereotypes. I suppose you could call this a "fish out of water" style of comedy, except I see it as pretty insulting to the fish. And while I've never seen much of it, I don't have much interest in it, because I never found it that funny. What else? There was this banker named Mr. Drysdale who was overly concerned with keeping the Clampetts' money in his bank, and his secretary, Miss Hathaway, who seemed more concerned with the Clampetts' well-being or whatever. I dunno. Um, I suppose we kind of would've liked Elly May if she weren't as stupid as most of her kin.... I suppose there were some TV movies and a theatrical movie that came out later, but I've never seen any of that.

Bewitched, ABC
DVD site; Hulu; IMDb; Retro Junk; TV.com

Reruns on TV Land.
We do like Samantha. I haven't seen alot of it, and I don't love it. Not sure what else to say. Um... y'know, a painfully normal, boring guy named Darren was married this beautiful woman who turned out to be a witch. Comedy ensued.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, CBS
IMDb; TV Tome

Reruns on TV Land.
I have seen very little of this. But anyway, it's pretty good. Doesn't really seem to be about anything. There's just this married couple, George and Gracie. They're playing themselves, of course, except that Gracie's kind of dumb or crazy or something. Very amusing. That's pretty much the show.

Get Smart, NBC/CBS
IMDb; TV Tome

Reruns on TV Land.
Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86 (Don Adams) was a secret agent who worked for CONTROL, along with his partner Agent 99, who he eventually married. (We like 99, yes we do.) Max was not too bright, kind of bumbling, not very professional, joked alot though sometimes it was less than 100% clear whether he was joking or just clueless. But he was still a pretty good agent, somehow. Anyway, um... it was a really funny show which you should definitely watch once in a while. Oh, and Don Adams later provided the voice of the title character in "Inspector Gadget" (toons 5).

Gilligan's Island, CBS
IMDb; Retro Junk; TV Tome

Reruns on TV Land.
Important as a classic pop cultural reference. Also important for the question "Ginger or Mary Ann?" to which the proper response, obviously, is "Mary Ann." We like Mary Ann. Anyway, a pretty dumb show, but it could be amusing. A group of disparate people were on a little 3-hour pleasure cruise, when a storm came up and stranded them on an island. Comedy ensued. Oh yeah, there were several movies made later on. TV movies, or something. Also Gilligan and the Skipper were in the movie "Back to the Beach," which had nothing to do with this show.

Hogan's Heroes, CBS
IMDb; TV Tome

I haven't seen too much of it. It's not great, but it can be okay at times. I'd say it's one of those shows that some people overrate and some people underrate. In any event, there were some prisoners of war in a Nazi prison camp run by idiots. The good guys would sneak around on secret missions and stuff, and often manipulate Colonel Klink and Sergeant Shultz into doing or believing whatever they wanted them to. Yes, it was stupid and stuff, but it was sometimes mildly amusing. Um, the prisoners were mostly American, I guess, but there were also an English guy and a French guy. That's pretty much all I can say.

The Honeymooners, CBS
IMDb; TV Tome

Reruns on TV Land.
I haven't seen alot of this. Fairly simple show, but a brilliant cast. I don't really know what to say about it, but it can be pretty funny and stuff. Okay, it's about Ralph and Alice Kramden, and Ed and Trixie Norton.

I Dream of Jeannie, NBC
Hulu; IMDb; Retro Junk; TV Tome

Reruns on TV Land.
An astronaut finds a genie in a bottle, who he marries, I guess. I'm not sure. I haven't seen much of it. Anyway, she causes him no end of trouble. But hey, we like her, so whatever. Oh yeah, and comedy ensues.
There were a couple TV movies later, but I've only seen I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later (IMDb; Movie Tome), and I only really remember the very end of it.

I Love Lucy, CBS
IMDb; TV.com; TV Land; Wikipedia

Reruns on TV Land.
I'm not especially interested in it, but it is a classic, and everyone should watch at least a few episodes. What to say? Um, wacky redhead marries Cuban singer and causes him no end of trouble. Hilarity ensues. Also there were neighbors, Fred and Ethel.

Lost in Space
See: campy shows

The Munsters, CBS
IMDb; TV.com; TV Land; Wikipedia

Reruns on TV Land.
I guess I like the Addams Family better. But anyway... y'know, just this family of monsters living their lives, oblivious to the fact that they were different from anyone else, constantly baffled by people's behavior around them, it never seemed to occur to them that anyone would have any reason to be afraid of them. Except of course for Marilyn (the niece), who seemed quite normal and lovely, though she and her family didn't see her that way. And um... I dunno. What else to say? Herman was this dumb Frankenstein's monster kinda guy. Grandpa was this kinda wacky vampire. Lily (Grandpa's daughter), well I guess she was sort of a vampire too. And she and Herman had a son named Eddie, who somehow managed to be a kind of a werewolf, I guess. It was a really ridiculous show. I dunno what else to say.

The Outer Limits
See: anthology shows

Star Trek
See: Star Trek shows

The Twilight Zone
See: anthology shows

Wayne and Shuster, Canadian
IMDb

Okay, so this sketch comedy show was from the 50's, and I dunno how much of it I ever saw. I might've seen a few reruns or retrospective specials in like the 80's or 90's or something. In fact, you just look up Wayne and Shuster at IMDb, you'll find entries for a few other things. The team has an entry at TV Tome, but it only seems to list guest-starring roles, none of their own shows. Anyway, I can't tell you much of anything about them. Those guys could be kind of funny, though. I guess. Probably sometimes kinda stupid, but I think they were good. Not that I saw enough nor remember enough to really comment, but whatever.

The Wild, Wild West
See: Western shows


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