How Well Do You Remember Your Favorite 60s Sitcoms?
From The Addams Family to I Love Lucy, no other decade in television history was more important for the future of TV sitcoms than the 1960s. The ’60s was part of a transitional time for sitcoms. By the end of the ’60s, televisions would have color and sitcoms would feature storylines with substance. Many of these ’60s sitcoms were on the air for years, and some lasted for eight seasons or more.
This is the decade that premiered original series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Brady Bunch, The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, and Gilligan’s Island. This was also the first time sitcoms truly developed all the characters and not just the starring role. Mary Tyler Moore emerged from The Dick Van Dyke Show, Adam West became a legend as Batman, Bob Crane turned Hogan’s Heroes into a hit television show, Barbara Eden was the perfect genie, and Bill Bixby was able to make history with a martian.
With so many other classic TV shows and original series from the 1960s to choose from, we decided to focus on the hit sitcoms and see just how much you really do remember about all those hilarious adventures and hysterical sitcoms, like what Buck Henry created when he turned Maxwell Smart into a television icon in Get Smart.
60s Sitcoms
'60s sitcoms could very well be the most influential, and underrated, decade in television history simply because of poor timing. Most people in this country probably could not afford a television in the 1940s, when they were first sold, but when the 1950s hit, and the prices of TVs dropped tremendously, more consumers started adding them to their homes. By the end of the '50s, around 90 percent of American homes had a television.
Ten years later, in the 1970s, sitcoms turned into something more than just a TV show that made you laugh. They pushed the boundaries and fought the status quo to change the way Americans thought. The '70s defined the history of sitcoms, and it became the reason most people forget all about '60s sitcoms.
So many classic sitcoms started in the 1960s, like The Addams Family, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Gilligan's Island. All the characters from all these shows were helpful for turning the 1960s into one of the best decades for sitcoms.
