In the beginning: Looking Back at Some Famous Sitcom’s First Episodes

By Michael Lyons

January, the first month of the year; the start of something new.  It’s the perfect time of for a fresh start.

As we work through our resolutions, which sadly may already be broken, it’s good to remember that everyone has to start somewhere and that we all have our own “ square one.”

What a perfect time of year to look back on where some of our most famous TV sitcoms started and reflect back on the very first episodes of these, now legendary, television shows.

“TV or Not TV,” The Honeymooners, aired October 1, 1955

Starting life as a skit on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” “The Honeymooners” became its own show with this episode, in which Brooklyn pals Ralph (Jackie Gleason) and Ed (Art Carney), decide to “share” a television.  They split the cost and keep the TV in Ralph’s apartment, which of course leads to arguments over who will watch what and when and where.

The standards of this epitome from the Golden Age of TV are set in motion in this very first episode, most notably Ralph’s explosions at Ed, which are particularly hysterical here, as Ed attempts to watch the popular kids show, “Captain Video.”

It’s also ironic and so fitting that the first episode of “The Honeymooners” (one of TV’s most popular shows of all time) centered around and commented on what was then becoming our obsession with television.

“The Sick Boy and the Sitter,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” aired October 3, 1961

In this very first episode, comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke, of course) is invited to a party at the home of Alan Brady (the show’s fictional famous comedian whose show Rob writes for).  Rob desperately wants to go, but struggles through a clash in his conscience when his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) worries that their son may be coming down with something and doesn’t want to leave him with a babysitter.

Much of what “The Dick Van Dyke Show” would become famous for is strongly in place here, particularly the quick, comic writing and timing (the latter exhibited by supporting players Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie)

What’s interesting is an oh so subtle change, Mary Tyler Moore’s now famous Laura Petrie is referred to as “Laurie” in this debut episode.

“Meet the Bunkers,” “All in the Family,” aired January 12, 1971

The very first episode of a landmark series that was so very revolutionary at its time and started a shift in the TV landscape.

In the premiere show, an anniversary party for Archie and Edith Bunker (Carol O’ Connor and Jean Stapleton) turns incendiary when Archie, the ultra conservative clashes with his liberal son-in-law Mike, a/k/a “Meathead,” (Rob Reiner).

No sitcom before or since has tackled the clash of political and cultural beliefs in such a thoughtful, and still funny, way.  Not only was “All in the Family” a watershed show for its time, it’s still oh so relevant today.

“Give Me a Ring Sometime,” “Cheers,” aired September 30, 1982

We first met the denizens of the bar, “where everybody knows your name” in this debut episode, where Diane (Shelly Long) is jilted by her fiancé and left at the bar, heartbroken.

While there, she meets Sam (Ted Danson), the reformed alcoholic, ex-Red Sox pitcher and the residents and employees of the Boston bar that will feel like home to her and countless, devoted Thursday night viewers for another eleven years.

With “Cheers” becoming a “comfort food” like show that feels so familiar, seeing the first episode is like watching old home movies.

All of these premiere episodes are so much like January itself, an impressive debut with the hope of so much more to come.

Sources:

IMDb

Wikipedia