Sitcoms
  Sitcoms-The One Parent Families
  Sitcoms-Strange Families

MAMA  a.k.a. I Remember Mama
1949 - 1956

Judson Laire as Papa Lars Hansen, Peggy Wood as Mama Marta Hansen, Dick Van Patten as Nels, Rosemary Rice as Katrin and Robin Morgan as Dagmar

Program opener:
Katrin:
"I remember the big white house on Elm Street,
and my little sister Dagmar, and my big brother Nels,
and Papa. Bust most of all, I Remember Mama."

Mama was one of the best-loved of the early family comedies, and was in many ways the prototype of the "growing Family" series which later proliferated on television. There were no cheap gags or bumbling parents, but rather a warmhearted, humorous, true-to-life account of a Norwegian-American family of five making their way in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Events in their lives are seen through the sentimental eyes of Katrin, the older daughter, an aspiring writer who records their daily activities in her diary.  Episodes focus on Mama, warm, wise, compassionate, and loving, the guiding light through their difficult times.

Mama was filled with gentle humorous stories, somewhat old-fashioned in their morality but really high quality and enjoyable to watch. This series was labeled as being a sitcom, but other than its thirty minute format is not related to any other sitcom ever made. The characters weren't insulting each other and very rarely did anyone yell, and yet this highly rated show went on week after week, in its simple, affectionate and humorous way.

One of the reasons viewers loved this series was because of the way it seemed to be
commercial free. Each episode would begin with the cast acting in a live short
piece about the use of Maxwell House Coffee. Then for an uninterrupted twenty-seven
minutes the cast would perform the entire episode of Mama totally live, followed by
a live two minute Maxwell House skit at the end of the half hour.

Since this series was never in re-runs and is now considered "lost", it is easy to
forget it was a huge hit with a massive audience of loyal fans.

For more information on this program visit this wonderful site.

The Life Of Riley
1949 - 1950

Version 1
1313 Blue View Terrace, Los Angeles, California, the residence of the Riley Family: Chester, a riveter with Stevenson Aircraft and Associates; his wife Peggy; and their children, Babs and Junior. Stories relate the trials and tribulations of a not-too-bright husband and his family. Jackie Gleason's bug-eyed portrayal of Riley did not catch on, and the program was canceled after only one season.

Version 2
Three years later the series returned with an entirely new cast. William Bendix had portrayed Riley on radio in the 1940s. The premise of the show remained the same.
 

The Adventures of Ozie and Harriet
1952 - 1966

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was the real-life Nelson family on the air, with all the little adventures that an active middle-class American family might have, and two young boys growing up before their parents' and the television audience's eyes. The Nelsons lived in Hillsdale at 822 Sycamore Road. On TV Ozzie had no defined source of income, and always seemed to be hanging around the house.
 

Clarence Day, Jr.'s nostalgic autobiographical articles in The New Yorker were very successful in the 1920s. They later led to a best-selling novel, hit play, Hollywood movie,
and in 1953 to this live television series. Set in New York City in the 1880s, Life with Father was the story of Clarence Day, Sr., a stern but loving Victorian father, his wife Vinnie, and their four red-headed sons. Despite the fact that he ruled with an iron hand, and was a staunch traditionalist, Father Day dealt fairly with his family and earned
their lifelong respect. The family resided on West 48th Street in Manhattan. Clarence Sr. was a Wall Street banker. Stories related the struggles of a middle-class American
family who were plagued by the stubborness of a father who refused to accept the progress attributed to a changing world.

Father Knows Best
1954 - 1962

The dreams, ambitions and frustrations of the Anderson family: Jim (Robert Young), manager of the General Insurance Company; his wife Margaret; and their children, Betty, Bud, and Kathy, the youngest and cutest.  Every evening Jim would come home from the office, take off his sports jacket, put on his comfortable sweater, and deal with the everyday problems of a growing family.

As was the case with most of the 50's/60's black and white sitcoms, the problems in this program were simplistic and the solutions very predictable. In keeping with the title of the program, most of the problems in the Father Knows Best episodes were solved or at least partially solved by the father, Robert Young. One of the common needs in this program was for the older children to be shown how to be more sensitive to Kathy's feelings and vice-versa. Young quite often was the one who so instructed the children.

The Danny Thomas Show a.k.a. Make Room For Daddy
1953 - 1964

Format One: 1953-1957
505 East 50th Street, New York, Apartment 542, the residence of the Williams family: Danny, a nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club; his wife, Margaret; and their children, Terry and Rusty. Stories depict the home and working life of Danny Williams, a man
whose career often leaves him with little time to spend with his beloved family.

Format Two: 1957-1964
Same background as format one. Shortly after Margaret's death, Rusty contracts the measles. Hiring Kathleen O'Hara, a beautiful registered nurse, widow, and mother
of a young daughter, to care for Rusty, Danny and she fall in love and marry one year following. Stories relate the trials and tribulations of the Williams family.
 

Leave It to Beaver
1957 - 1963

Leave It to Beaver, starring Jerry Mathers, was a classic, black and white comedy
about a young boy and his brother Wally, and his parents. The show epitomized the
new era of postwar suburbia and the comedic pitfalls of growing up in an era which
today appears to lack any real problems as compared to the issues that confront us
in this high-tech, fast paced era. The show attempted to display "Beaver" as very
naive and innocent, and yet quite often it turned out that Wally was naive as well
and could be swept right into Beaver's misadventures just as easily as was Beaver.
Besides, in several of the episodes, it actually was Beaver who figured out the
solutions to the problems that the two encountered.

The boys' parents were one of those nice, middle-class couples so often seen in this kind of program. Larry, Whitey, and Gilbert (among others) were Beaver's pals, Eddie and Lumpy were Wally's buddies. Eddie Haskell was one of the more memorable characters, unctuous and oily to adults, but a bully to little kids.

Miss Canfield and Miss Landers were Beaver's school teachers. As the years passed and Beaver got older, the stories naturally moved away from the little-boy premise until, in the final season, Beaver was about to enter his teens and Wally was ready for college.

ABC first aired The Donna Reed Show on Wednesday, September, 24, 1958 at 9:00pm. It was the beginning of a long relationship with America as it tuned into the Stone family for eight years (274 episodes) of family-centered comedy. Based in the small town of Hillsdale, the show followed Donna Stone, mother of two teenagers and pediatrician's wife, through a myriad of half-hour dramas around dating rituals, childhood illnesses, jealousies, loyalties, competitive friendships, and innocent lies. Donna patiently and gracefully immersed herself in the lives of those around her. Later in the series, Donna found herself adopting another daughter, Trisha, after her oldest, Mary, left for college. Some time after that her son, Jeff, left as well, and the show shifted next door to the Stone's neighbors, Dave and Midge Kelsey. Throughout the years, friends like Scotty, Smitty, and Karen continually appeared to add spice to Mary and Jeff's lives on the show.  Jay North appeared in The Donna Reed Show at least once as Dennis the
Menace.

Dennis the Menace
1959 - 1963

627 Elm Street, Hillsdale, the residence of the Mitchell family: Henry, an engineer with Trask Engineering; his wife, Alice; and their son Dennis, a very mischievous young boy. Stories depict Dennis' disastrous attempts to assist people he believes are in trouble. His
favorite victim is his retired next-door neighbor, good ole Mr. Wilson.

Joseph Kearns passed away toward the end of the third season. Gale Gordon was introduced as his brother, John Wilson, a guest of Mrs. Wilson's. At the start of the
fourth and final season, John Wilson, and his wife Eloise, had moved into the house, George and Martha being a distant memory.

What made Dennis the Menace such a success was the interaction between Dennis (an eight or nine year old boy) and his neighbor and buddy, the retired Mr. Wilson. Wilson spends almost every waking hour in his yard nurturing his roses and other flowering plants, only to have his efforts trampled by one unguided foot tour from Dennis and his little friend Tommy. Although Wilson barks a good yelp and complains incessantly to his wife about Dennis, the fact of the matter is that he really loves Dennis and can't function in his daily life without Dennis around.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
1961 - 1966

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" centers around the life of Rob Petrie, a New York comedy writer  who lives in suburban New Rochelle (448 Bonnie Meadow Road) with an attractive wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), a cute son Ritchie (Larry Mathews), and a pair of zany next-door neighbors, Dentist Jerry and Millie Helper (Jerry Paris and Ann Morgan Guilbert) and their young son Freddie.

Rob is the Head Writer of the "Alan Brady Show" and shares an office with writers Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie.)

The team works under the constant scrutiny of Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), the balding, sarcastic producer of the show, and the constant target of Buddy's jokes.
Alan Brady is played by Carl Reiner, the real-life creator of the Dick Van Dyke Show.

Early episodes often included flashbacks to Rob and Laura's courtship, while Rob was still in the army, the early days of their marriage, and the development of Rob's career.
Classic episodes abounded. Remember when Laura got her toe stuck in a hotel bathtub? When Rob dreamed about ever-present walnuts and an alien with no thumbs that looked like Danny Thomas? The show won four straight outstanding comedy Emmys.


 

Number Eight Remsen Drive, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York, the residence of the Lane family: Martin, the managing editor of the New York Chronicle; his wife, Natalie; their daughter, Patty, a perky, bubble gum chewing teenager who dug Paul Anka records and slumber parties; their son Ross; and their glamorous, intellectual Scottish cousin, Cathy Lane, who is residing with them until she completes her high school education and is able to rejoin her father, Kenneth Lane, a foreign correspondent for the Chronicle.

Stories depict the lives of two pretty high school girls, sixteen-year-old identical cousins: Patty, the average American girl, possesses an unquenchable thirst for life and the ability to complicate matters that are seemingly uncomplicatable; and Cathy, shy, warm,
and sensitive, possesses a love for the arts, and, treasuring her European upbringing, sometimes encounters difficulty as she tries to adjust to the American way of life.

 

228 Circle Avenue, Ridgemont, New York was the residence of the Nash Family: James, an English professor at Ridgemont College; his wife, Joan, a free-lance magazine writer (pen name: Joan Holliday); and their children Kyle, Joel, and Trevor and Tracy (who are twins). Based on Jean Kerr's best-selling book about an unusual suburban family. Joan was an unconventional housewife, she hated housework and liked to sleep until noon. Completing the household was Martha O'Reilly, the family maid and Ladadog, a huge 150-pound sheep dog. Living next door was Herb Thorton, a lawyer, and his wife Marge. Gerald Carter was the dean of Ridgemont College, and Ethel was his wife. Also frequently seen was repairman Ed Hewley.

All in the Family

All in the Family (1971-1983) is about Archie Bunker, an opinionated but uneducated dock-supervisor, his wife, Edith, his daughter, Gloria, and her husband Mike Stivik, who is a college student at the start of the series. They live in a house in Queens, New York, and the four of them frequently argue, and Archie calls the others names. Archie Bunker's frank but dubious opinions on ethnic issues and other political subjects made the show different from the bland sitcoms it competed with, and number one for its first five years-the only show to be number one in the ratings for five years in a row.