Old Time Television
I love Lucy
Leave It to Beaver
Honeymooners
Superman
Quiz shows!!!!
Leave it to Beaver contributed to the notion of the perfect Fifties family. Parents never raised their voices or were too busy for the kids. Dad didn't work late.
Mom, well, poor Mom seemed obliged to remain perfectly coifed and dressed regardless of task. Dusting, vacuuming, cooking. No matter. She always had a dress and her heels on. What they never showed was Mom ironing which must have been a daily ordeal to keep all those nice outfits pressed.
A life crisis consisted of a lost report card or failure to eat your vegetables.
Still, we watched. Amused by the comings and goings of the Cleaver family and I suspect, wishing our own families could be as perfect as the Cleavers.
The Honeymooners was really television's first spin-off.
I Love Lucy
Lucille Ball was a pathfinder who paved the way for all the women in TV to follow. Without Lucy, arguably, there might not have been a Carol Burnett or Mary Tyler Moore. She proved women could be the leads and carry a show. Not one show, but several. None of which takes away from Desi Arnaz's estimable talents as a producer. His "can do" attitude made the "I Love Lucy Show" work. He innovated the three camera filming format still in use today. Previously, shows like this were performed before a live audience and preserved on kinescope which makes poor copies. Desi's filiming of Lucy is the reason there are great copies today. The show ran in a period of TV history when married people slept in separate beds which would explain why on TV, women didn't get "pregnant.
The era of I love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver and Father knows Best, brought about a time where family values were necessary, family life was wonderful and no one was worrying about politics and the Cold War. These families had the molds of women constrained in the home, men bringing home the bacon and all in the homes of white middle class families. Women in the 1950s were often depicted as dependent on men and were encouraged to get married young. (Bloom and Breines, 6) It took large media input from movie stars like Marilyn Monroe, to influence many women to join the workforce and reject the “traditional feminine roles”. (Bloom and Breines 6) This mold would be challenged by the introduction of the Birth Control pill in 1954 and the growing unhappiness of women who would seek to break the walls that trapped their mothers. (Bloom and Breines, 5) More women would venture out of the homes and into the workplace between the two decades, “from 25 percent in 1950to 32 percent in 1960”. (Bloom and Breines, 5) The introduction of the Birth Control pill allowed for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies or even marriages and encouraged the sexual liberation that would be seen in the sixties.
After viewing an episode of I Love Lucy, positive aspects of family and financial issues can be clearly seen in the 1950s. The Ricardo's are middle class, Ricky works as a club band leader and Lucy stays home and `poured all her energies into their nuclear family.' (37) This is a positive side of the 1950s because compared to a few decades before, `women quit their jobs as soon as they became pregnant,' (36) and concentrated more on raising children. These families were much more stable and made almost `60 percent of kids were born into male breadwinner-female homemaker families,' (37) which is a important factor for children to have a good childhood.
	Lucille Ball's major contribution has been as a comedienne. Not only was she the star of the world renowned television show, I Love Lucy, but she has also performed on radio, in films, and even on Broadway. Ball had an extraordinary personality. "In short, Lucille Ball's unique brand of wacky physical comedy made her the queen of TV. . ." (Dziemianowicz 54). Her hit television show, I Love Lucy, was one of the most watched television shows of all time. The success of I Love Lucy was due mostly to Ball's comic brilliance (Zoglin 188). "With near perfect timing, and a genius for sightgags, red-haired Ball careened through nineteen episodes of the original sitcom as a ditzy housewife" (Biography 1). Her show was so successful and popular that, "the 1953 episode on which she gave birth to 'Little Ricky'. . . was said to attract more viewers than the concurrent inauguration of President Dwight D Eisenhower" (Biography 1). Her impact was so great that even today, everyone knows that "Lucy Ricardo, of course, achieved eternal life" (Brady 342).
Rich, Michaele. "TV Families of the Fifties." Fifties Web. N.p., 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
her. His mother and father rushed in and realized what had happened. This family was
Over decades, television shows have reflected the social changes of the family structure. Starting with the 1960’s, a family commonly consisted of parents and their children. Nuclear families, with parents and children, embodied shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett. Family was everything to people back in the day. People lived to create and spend time with their family. Television shows were emerging steadily and became popular. Also, television was a main source for families to bond over, and it influenced the behavior of family members. Leave it to Beaver and Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet played a major role in shaping the family structures. During the 1960’s, middle-class white families dominated television shows. Situation and family drama’s mainly influenced the traditional family structure (Television and Family 1). In Leave it to Beaver, the focus was on the ideal suburban family in the fifties through the sixties. The show was mild and the spotlight was more on the children in the family compared to the adults. The theme presented was a happy and loving family (Cox 1). The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was an enduring family-based comedy on television. For decades, the Nelson family symbolized a wholesome and normal family. Their main focus was to epitomize a happy, upright family life (Wesblat 1)....
Lucille Ball, a beloved Hollywood actress, overcame difficulties in childhood and adulthood, becoming a successful actress and studio head. She portrayed the relatable character “Lucy” in “I Love Lucy,” making her an American Icon.
During the 1950‘s suburbs such as Levitown were springing up all across the country, and the so-called American dream was easier to achieve for everyday Americans than ever before. They had just come out of two decades dominated by The Great Depression and World War Two, and finally prosperity was in sight. The need for women to work out of the home that was present during the war was no more, and women were overwhelmingly relegated to female-dominated professions like nursing, secretaries, and teachers, if they worked at all. Televisions became very popular, and quickly became part of the American cultural canon of entertainment. Leave It To Beaver is a classic American television show, encompassing values such as respect, responsibility and learning from your mistakes. But, at least in the episode used for this essay, it is also shockingly sexist to a modern viewer. This begs the question, what does the episode The Blind Date Committee1 say about the gender expectations of the 1950’s?
THOSE OF US WHO grew up in the 1950s got an image of the American family that was not, shall we say, accurate. We were told, Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and Ozzie and Harriet were not just the way things were supposed to be—but the way things were
The 1950s was a time when American life seemed to be in an ideal model for what family should be. People were portrayed as being happy and content with their lives by the meadia. Women and children were seen as being kind and courteous to the other members of society while when the day ended they were all there to support the man of the house. All of this was just a mirage for what was happening under the surface in the minds of everyone during that time as seen through the women, children, and men of this time struggled to fit into the mold that society had made for them.
Family life was a lot different today than it was in 50’s it was seen as materialistic nation also a social status decade(Stuart A. kallen “The 1950’s). After having the victory in world war 2 a lot of young veterans coming and finding girls, to settle down and have a family(Becky Bradley). Which came to be called the baby boom generation. Which in this time and in within the family life and what it was like to live in 1950’s neighborhood was that everyone knew each other (Stuart A. kallen). In the 50’s we were not afraid of lawsuits if you touch person or you did this etc. We were more together as a family. When times got hard are first was not to run from our partner but to, but to stay through thick and thin (Becky Bradley). Children growing up always had something to do from mak...
Have u ever thought about African Americans invalid with television? If not in this report you will learn about how African Americans have influenced television. You will learn about television shows that have effected television and also just certain people that have effected television also. Commercial television was born in 1948 as each of the three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, began broadcasting. 1948 was also a great year in African American history with the desegregation of the United States armed forces to see Blacks in the American Military and an endorsement of civil rights in the presidential platform of the Democratic Party headed by President Harry S. Truman.
Since people could not run around naked someone had to make the clothes or buy them and that was the women. “And the mother mends Harry’s stockings (Gorn 49).” Once again it states the “mother” as the one doing this chore. The women on the trail though it shows had little time to care about mending clothes, “The majority of the overland women wore what clothing they had and prayed that what they wore would not tear. They were too preoccupied with the necessities of the day to consider fashion at all (Schlissel 105).” I would be happy if I were these women because that just means one less chore that was their “duty” to perform.
In the 1950s, the family unit was glamorized as something that was expected. In this era, the importance of family unity was obvious. 1950s America was quite like your typical modern Hispanic family. The man was the head of the house, the wife maintained the living area, and children had responsibilities of their own. When each member has a role, the family is usually in sync with one another. The family unit had straightforward morals, teachings, responsibilities and gender roles (Buckett). As gender roles have left the equation, new things also
The 1940's and 1950s Cable Television originated in 1948 as a service to households in mountainous or geographically remote areas where reception of over the air television signals was poor. Antennas were erected on mountaintops or other high points, and homes were wired and connected to these towers to receive the broadcast signals.