by Ted Sherman

Created on: June 09, 2009   Last Updated: June 12, 2009

The sitcoms of the 1960s were well known for featuring cute, adorable and, sometimes, troublesome child stars. Viewers loved them, and could be sure the adventures and misadventures would always have happy endings. Those early kid-themed sitcoms contained no mystery, no violence, no sex, no political agendas. Just pure fun for kids and parents.

Whenever Timmy fell down the well, viewers didn't have to worry. They knew Lassie would come along in the nick of time to rescue him before the final commercial. Whenever Opie Taylor got into mischief in Mayberry, you knew his kindly dad, Sheriff Andy, would never ever whoop him, although some of his long lectures could be almost as painful. When guitar-plucking, 12-year-old Ricky Nelson first sang with that nasal whine, you knew, or should have known, he'd soon become a prime 1960s teenage pop star music idol.

Timmy in Lassie (1954-1973) was the the co-star to the title character of this top kids' favorite for most of its seventeen-year run. The original Timmy was Tommy Rettig, followed halfway through the run by younger, even more cuter and huggable Jon Provost. While most of the human actors came and went through the run of the series, Lassie remained the same lovable female collie who was always available to rescue the clueless Timmy from his frequent emergencies.

There were many Lassies through the years, including teams of individual dogs for each episode, because one could whine, another could limp or snarl on cue, and others could do the kid-in-the-well scenes best. Also, long before TV accepted gender reversal roles in sitcoms, many of the Lassie canine actors were males. With all that fluffy fur, who knew the difference?

Ricky and David Nelson starred in the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966): This gentle family sitcom grew out of a 1940s radio show, when band leader Ozzie and band singer Harriet Hilliard performed regularly on the Red Skelton radio program. After several years with the Nelson family's own radio show, when it appeared on TV, it had all the expected 1950s ingredients: likable, if a bit clumsy, father, all-knowing mother and two tradionally well-behaved and obedient sons, David and Ricky.

It was very popular during its run, primarily because the actors on the show were the real Nelsons, and viewers could comfortably relate to that traditional family. Ricky, originally a brat pest to brother David, grew into his teen years as the sitcom progressed. In later episodes, he strummed a guitar

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