by Leslie Schwab

Created on: May 30, 2009   Last Updated: June 03, 2009

The 1960's was a period of sweeping social changes in this country. Many of these changes resulted from civil rights legislation, and the growth of the feminist movement. These changes were reflected by types of television programs that were appearing, compared to those of the previous decade. Family-oriented comedies as "Leave it to Beaver", and "Father Knows Best", were typical of comedies from the 1950's in that the families depicted had one wage-earner: the father. The mother always greeted her husband at the door, wearing a dress and an apron. The family members would then sit down together at the dinner table, where the meal was already prepared and waiting to be eaten.

The comedies of the 1960's started to break from this conservative mold, and into more off-beat story lines. The normal family was replaced by ones that were more unusual. Two prime examples were "The Munsters", and "The Addams Family". The characters on "The Munsters" were based on those from classic monster movies: Fred Munster was Frankenstein; his wife, Lily, was a vampire; their son, Eddie, was a young version of the Wolfman; and Grandpa was an elderly version of Count Dracula. "The Addams Family", on the other hand, was simply wierd. One character, Uncle Fester, for example, would insert a light bulb in his mouth, which would then light up!

New comedy variety shows also appeared during the 1960's. The first was "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in". It was famous for launching the career of Goldie Hawn, and for the line, "Sock it to me!" which was exclaimed on the show by guests ranging from John Wayne to President Richard Nixon. Another variety show that began in 1965, then continued until 1992 was "The Tonight Show", hosted by Johnny Carson. Many regard Carson as the greatest of all comedy talk show hosts. The third great comedy variety program was "The Dean Martin Show", in which Dean appeared drunk, which surrounded by beautiful women. Finally, there was "The Red Skelton Show", in which Red would constantly laugh at his own jokes.

Finally, there were comedy sit-coms that didn't revolve around family issues. Two of the best were "Hogan's Heroes", which was about a very unfunny subject: American prisoners-of-war in a German prison camp; and, "I Dream of Jeannie" which starred Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden. Barbara Eden, as Jeannie, was the fantasy of many teen aged boys during the 1960's.

These comedies from the 1960's gave way to more provocative comedy shows of the 1970's, such as "All in the Family", which confronted controversial issues as prejudice, and the Vietnam War. The break from more traditional programming was complete.

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