TV Happiness

1955 was during the golden age of television when sales of TV sets like babies were booming. Homes with TV's reached 38 million and adult viewership was almost five hours per person, per day.  In just a few years, the seductive medium had become America's most popular leisure activity.

The top rated programs of 1955 were comedy and variety shows.  Viewers wanted to laugh and couldn't get enough of entertainers like of Bob Hope and Jack Benny. The year saw the premiere of classic TV shows including:

"The Honeymooners" (1955-1956), "Gunsmoke" (1955-1975) and "The Lawrence Welk Show" (1955 -1982).  For the kiddies, "Captain Kangaroo" (1955-1984) and "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955-1959) debuted weekday afternoons.

"I Love Lucy" was the number #1 TV program in 1955. The sitcom is one of TV's most beloved shows of all time. The misadventures of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo and their well-meaning neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz confused, complicated, and twisted everyday situations and brought laughter into homes across America.

Middle class families embraced situation comedies and they were highly profitable for the networks. Sitcoms could be "rerun" over and over again, and often they were.  Popular sitcoms like "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (1952), "Make Room for Daddy" (1953) and "Father Knows Best" (1954), projected their version of modern family life.  Mostly, it was a lily white-collared suburban world that continued to evolve with shows like "Leave it to Beaver" (1957) and "Dennis the Menace" (1959). I vividly remember watching these wholesome programs that portrayed the almost perfect family with a successful, respected father figure, a saintly domesticated mother and kids whose misadventures were mere harmless lessons of life.  It's no wonder families like mine chased the American dream to the suburbs.



               Lucy in Hollywood.  She's a comic genius.

                   The Nelson's, "America's Favorite Family."                      "Make Room for Daddy," featuring Danny Thomas.
                   "Ozzie & Harriet" aired from 1952 - 1966.                          The award winning sitcom aired from 1953- 1965.
               It's TV's longest running sitcom (non animated).