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and gave us the classic banter of George requesting, Say Goodnight, Gracie and Gracie following it up with, Goodnight. It was like a visit with friends. Maybe this does belong higher up on the list. It would make for an interesting debate.

2) Father Knows Best - The Anderson family warmed our hearts, taught us morals and values, and made us laugh along the way. Robert Young was the perfect father with Jane Wyatt the perfect mother. Aside from The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best is perhaps the ideal family image in America. We all wanted our families to be like theirs. This TV show ended after the 1960 TV season, but in 1977, it returned for two television movies which featured the original actors and which took the show to a natural progression. It was like we'd never stopped watching the Andersons. This show was all about the family first and the humor second.

1) I Love Lucy - This is potentially the greatest comedy of all time. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz owned the comedy camp with this series. Ball had to fight the networks to allow Arnaz to star in the show, and wow, was she right. Arnaz was the brains behind the comedy, though Ball often received the credit. It was sad that their marriage couldn't go the distance, especially since it's pretty much common knowledge that they always loved each other. Regardless, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo continue to be household names. Never has a Cuban bandleader been so loved as Ricky, and never has a redhead been so adored as Lucy. My favorite is the classic Vitametavegemin routine, but every I Love Lucy is magic.

Honorable Mentions: I Married Joan, My Little Margie, Make Room for Daddy, Life of Riley, The Bob Cummings Show, Bachelor Father, Leave it to Beaver - All of these shows made a mark on television comedy as well. Make Room for Daddy is actually in my top list of shows for the sixties, and both Bachelor Father and Leave it to Beaver received mentions in that article as well. I really liked The Bob Cummings Show. It had a certain classy but goofiness to it that I found very funny. Cummings has a more sophisticated style of humor, and it was a hoot.

The 1950's were really the birthing grounds for television comedy. It set the mark for all comedies that followed to meet. Some were passed, but yet others are classics for the ages. What matters most about these shows, however, is that they brought laughter into our homes, and laughter is good for the soul.

Learn more about this author, Marcia Studley.
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