What Happened To Those “Family” Shows?

You know you are getting old when you start to wax nostalgic about the “family” shows of days gone by. After all, today’s television lacks good old-fashioned morals and is nothing but a landfill of garbage and filth.  We have only heard this refrain for the last 50+ years or so!  It was sung by our parents and our parents parents. Now its us, singing the same worn out tune that we used to roll our eyes when we heard! We have become that angry old man who lived on the corner and yelled at the kids to get off his grass!

But what about those wholesome “family” shows we miss so dearly? You know, the Ozzie and Harriet/Ward and June Cleaver, nuclear, american family; dad working, mom in the kitchen in a dress and pearls, everyone eating dinner together shows? (Like that all happened in the normal household.) Were they really as “wholesome” as we recall?

Lets consider a sample of some of the most popular shows of the “family” television show era:

Andy Griffith – This show was about a single dad, no mom/wife, raising a small boy with the help of his live-in Aunt.

My Three Sons – Another single dad raising 3 boys, (then a 4th kid appears from somewhere), with the help of live in uncle.

Bonanza – Again, single dad, 3 grown sons living with him. No mom/wife. In fact, none of the grown sons had wives!

The Rifleman – Single gun-toting Dad, raising a young son on his own in the wild west.

The Big Valley – Speaking of wild west, this show was about a single Mom, with 3 grown sons (1 being the ‘illegitimate’ son of her late husband!) and a grown daughter. (Notice again none of the grown sons have wives.)

Gunsmoke – This “family” western revolved around a woman named Kitty who ran the local saloon and brothel. Yes, those “sleeping rooms” at the Dodge House were used for more than sleeping!

The Brady Bunch – “Blended” Family. Mike Brady is a widower, and in real life, was gay. Carol Brady’s marital status is never revealed even though the shows producer wanted her to be a divorcee.

There are many more. Shows like “Family Affair”, “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”, “The Partridge Family”, “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “Petticoat Junction”, “Full House”, “One Day At A Time”, “Whose The Boss”?, to name a few. All “Family” shows about single/divorced parents and or/blended families. The list from the 1960’s thru the 1990’s is so exhaustive I am exhausted just thinking about it!

So the next time you catch yourself shaking your head or wagging your finger in sanctimonious disdain for the immoral state of modern-day television, wishing for a return to the good old days of conservative, nuclear family broadcasting, stop yourself.  Those shows you loved weren’t as “family” oriented as you recall. At least, not the way you define “family”.