By Michael Lyons
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that Reality TV seems to be happening all the time. And these aren't shows about Housewives in a major city; it was all that the world brought our way coming into our living room on the news.
Something that we’ve all needed is a break, a little “unreality TV.” In the 1960s, this was seemingly the norm, as a number of sitcoms revolved around storylines that couldn’t be further removed from reality.
These fantasy-based sitcoms may just make for the perfect escape needed now. Tune in, check out and go back to a time when prime-time television came with a load of laugh tracks and a preposterous premise.
Mister Ed, CBS, 1961-1966“A Horse is a horse, of course, of course...” is how the famous theme song to this show began. In the series, the title character, Mister Ed, can talk to his human owner Wilber Post (Alan Young).
Cowboy movie star Allan Lane provided the voice of Mister Ed but wasn’t billed in the credits. There have also been many theories through the years as to how Mister Ed’s lips moved (including peanut butter being placed on the horse’s gums), but the actual method was kept a secret.
It was all part of the producers’ plans to keep the fantasy aspect of the show alive. It worked for audiences, as Mister Ed was a hit. It was also one of the first of the far-fetched sitcoms but would in no way be the last.
My Favorite Martian, CBS, 1963-1966Actor Ray Walston (who had won a Tony for Damn Yankees and would later play Mr. Hand in 1984’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High) played “Exigiius Twelve and a Half,” from the planet Mars who crash lands on Earth. He is rescued and taken in by newspaper reporter Tim O’ Hara (Bill Bixby), who lets the Martian stay with him under the guise that he is his “Uncle Martin.”
And, you guessed it, Martin’s “powers” (accompanied by small antennae that would rise out of his head) resulted in some awkward situations for Tim, laughs for audiences at the time and, now quaint, 60s-era special effects for all of us today.
Bewitched, ABC, 1964-1972
In Salem, Massachusetts, a young businessman, Darrin Stephens, is married to Samantha, who happens to be a witch. Her use of witchcraft and Darrin’s desperate attempts to hide this was the plot of almost every episode.
Elizabeth Montgomery was very good as the matter-of-fact witch in this top-rated sitcom that’s become famous for so much: the replacement of Dick York with almost-identical actor Dick Sargent in 1969; a cast of impressive supporting/recurring actors, such as Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde and character Gladys Kravitz, whose name has become synonyms with the “overtly nosy neighbor.”
Gilligan’s Island, CBS, 1964-1967
This was it, the “tale of our castaways,” who, after a “three-hour tour” gone wrong, find themselves stranded on a deserted, tropical island. From creator Sherwood Schwartz (who would also bring us The Brady Bunch), the show played like a live-action cartoon (and later was one on Saturday mornings) and became synonyms with unrealistic television.
Decried by critics and those who turned up their noses on the series at the time, Gilligan’s Island was, and is, continually passed on to new generations through endless years in reruns. The show has entered our pop culture as an endlessly memorable comfort food-type show.
The Addams Family, ABC, 1964-1966 & The Munsters, CBS, 1964-1966
Two shows that were seemingly cut from the same cloth both debuted the same year and had similar runs.
The Addams Family was based on the famous cartoons from artist Charles Addams, about a "creepy and cooky" macabre family. Simultaneously, The Munsters looked at the titular family on 1313 Mockingbird Lane, which seems comprised of members of Universal studio's monsters.
Both got laughs as the families interacted with the terrified "real world.” Still, both shows, in their humorously twisted ways, also commented on acceptance of differences and family strength.
It's no wonder that both popular shows continue to be re-made, re-booted, and serve as inspiration for comedically creepy movies and tv shows.
I Dream of Jeannie, NBC, 1965-1970
Nasa astronaut Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) stumbles across a bottle when his capsule goes down on an island in the South Pacific. When he takes the top off the bottle, a beautiful genie named Jeannie (Barbara Eden) appears in a swirl of smoke, and Tony finds that he is her "master."
Back home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, the slapstick shenanigans ensue, every time Jeannie crosses her arms and blinks her eyes to make one of her master's wishes come true.
Hagman and Eden had great chemistry, and both played their role so well. Eden's naivete of our modern world was so genuine, and Hagman's frenetic reactions ("Jeannie!") never fail to be perfect in their comic execution.
There were other shows like these, many of which didn't last (such as the self-explanatory My Mother the Car and Sherwood Schwartz's time-travel comedy, It's About Time), all of them representing an era when "guilty pleasures" seemed to be part of part-time programming.
While there is so much more hope now than there was this time last year, an "escape" with any of these shows from the innocent time of "unreality TV" may still be what we all need.
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