Boy, the way the Beaver played. Ricky Nelson made the hit parade. Voices they were seldom raised. Those were the days. And then, on January 12, 1971, America met the Bunkers, and sitcoms would never be the same. The Bunkers were TV’s first dysfunctional family: blue-collar bigot Archie (the late Carroll O’Connor in his iconic role), his long-suffering but loving wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), “little goil” Gloria (Sally Struthers), and her liberal husband “Meathead” Mike (Rob Rein Read more…

Like a groovy Family von Trapp, The Partridge Family arrived in 1970 with matching velvet outfits and wholesomeness bursting from every pore. Watching it now, you expect little more than kitsch–but the show, though certainly a sitcom representation of the world, is curiously fresh and appealing. This sheer likeability comes partly from the cast–Shirley Jones (The Music Man) looks foxy in miniskirts while still being the cool mom everyone wishes they had; teen idol David Cassid Read more…