by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: May 31, 2009

There have been many great television shows through the years. It is hard to pinpoint just one to be a favorite one. The greatest would have to be the ones that had the ability to bring the family together. The shows of the 1950's through the 1980's all had qualities that helped from stronger family bonds.

Some shows such as Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver showed ideal families and ways in which to work out problems that every American family ran across from time to time. This spilled over into shows such as The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Home Improvement, The Cosby Show and an entire host of other family driven shows. The tune changed a little bit as the years went on though.

The Brady Bunch brought together two separate families who lived as one. If you only saw the later shows, you wouldn't even realize that this was a step-family show. The only tell-tale mark was the song that played during the opening of the show. The Partridge Family didn't have a father in it. It was a mother and her children who sang for a living. These types of shows showed the ever changing trend in America towards divorce, absent fathers and the drive that keeps us going anyway. These shows brought together families that otherwise had no voice in America. They showed that there were people living this way but that the family could still be okay.

The Cosby Show began an entirely new wave of thinking. It portrayed a black couple raising their five children. Rather than showing these people to be poor and unable to take care of themselves thus turning into thugs, it allowed us to change our thinking a little bit about prejudices that still ran rampant throughout the states. This was a successful couple, him a doctor, her a lawyer. It showed intelligent thinking ability and had people from all walks of life tuning in each week.

In the 1970's, Archie Bunker and his wife Edith came on the scene in All In The Family. This wasn't your typical show though. They had their ups and downs but always stuck together. Archie was not the brightest crayon in the box but he had a heart of gold and wouldn't have known what to do without his Edith. We tuned in each week to see him get a taste of his own medicine due to his extreme views. There was never a man as racist as this one, but he did eventually learn a few things from it and so did we.

Leave It To Beaver always had a lesson for everyone. Parents learned from June and Ward and children learned from Beaver and Wally. Beaver was always getting into trouble in one way or another. It was always by accident though. He never intentionally did anything wrong. He always had to pay the price though. His big brother was always there to give him advice on how to handle things with Mom and Dad. Dad always come into the room to let the boys know how much he loves them. True, it was a fairy tale of sorts. There is nothing wrong with that though. It promoted family togetherness and truthfulness above all else. June always wore a dress, even when she was cooking all those great meals. Ward was almost always in a suit and tie. His work demanded it, that is a guess.

There is no way to simply choose just a few of these shows. The list goes on and on. The sitcom of yesterday isn't around anymore. These great family shows have been replaced with supposed reality shows. It would be nice to tune in every now and then to see a fairytale portrayal of family life, just for old times sake. Television shows once brought families together certain nights of the week. Then electronics and reality set in and we have never been the same.

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