The 1960s: Televisions Very Best Shows EVER

[JD Spydo]

I just responded to a thread and I spoke of a couple of TV Shows out of the 1960s. Which got me to thinking about just how many superb all time classic TV Shows came from the 1960s. I still watch a few re-runs on TV LAND channel occasionally but the ones I like the best are either from the late 50s into the 1960s. There are so many great television shows from the 1960s>> the TWILIGHT ZONE and Alfred Hitchcock Presents being two I still dearly love to watch. Those two shows along with stuff like "The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the Time Tunnel, The Outer Limits and Land Of The Giant's just to name a few.

Not to mention many of the super classics like STAR TREK, The Beverly Hillbillies and our dearly loved Andy Griffith Show. There was just something about the great TV Shows of the 1960s that stood out in my opinion. So what are some of the reallky good 1960s TV Shows you all have fond memories of? How do you all think that the great muliti-talented TV Stars of that era line up against the stars of current TV Shows?

I know some of you like TWILIGHT ZONE and STAR TREK as much as I did if not more. So tell me which ones you all like from the 1960s?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling, was my favorite. Also some of the old Christian programs.

It seems that there is alot of lack of originality, today, with many modern programs?

[JD Spydo]

Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling, was my favorite. Also some of the old Christian programs.

It seems that there is alot of lack of originality, today, with many modern programs?

Good points taken "Spyderedgeforever">> Rod Serling in my humble opinion was years ahead of his time. There are a lot of people even today who don't get the main plots of many TWILIGHT ZONE episodes. So many great actors like William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Donna Douglas, Telly Savalas and Billy Mumy who literally got their start on the TWILIGHT ZONE. Now Alfred Hitchcock was cool too but no one could compete with Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE.

You're also very right on about the content of many of the shows in the 60s. Many of them truly had a moral to the story rather than shocking you with all kinds of depravity like shows now a days tend to do. There were also some of the funniest shows ever out of the 60s as well.

[phillipsted]

I remember sitting with my Grandad every Saturday night and watching Gunsmoke - and catching the early seasons of the Carol Burnett Show on Monday nights. Good stuff.

TedP

[JD Spydo]

I remember sitting with my Grandad every Saturday night and watching Gunsmoke - and catching the early seasons of the Carol Burnett Show on Monday nights. Good stuff.

Oh yes GUNSMOKE with James Arness as Matt Dillon :cool: But the "GUNSMOKE" TV Show actually got it's start in the the early to mid 50s but it was on the entire decade of the 60s to be sure. Oh yes I even remember Gunsmoke when Dennis Weaver played the deputy "Chester". And then Ken Curtis replaced him playing the role of deputy "Festus" who rode a mule instead of a horse :D

There were a ton of great westerns that came out of the 60s. One I particular remember that was really good was one called "LAREDO". Not to mention the Big VALLEY with Lee Majors and on Sunday nights you had the "High Chapparal". And don't forget the western comedy called "F TROOP"

But again the TWILIGHT ZONE, The OUTER LIMITS and Alfred Hitchcock Presents were all great paranormal shows and all of them were way ahead of their times.

[tvenuto]

It seems that there is alot of lack of originality, today, with many modern programs?

You're also very right on about the content of many of the shows in the 60s. Many of them truly had a moral to the story rather than shocking you with all kinds of depravity like shows now a days tend to do. There were also some of the funniest shows ever out of the 60s as well.

Why does reminiscing about the past always lead to bashing the present? Maybe it's because we see the full gamut of shows out now, but only reminisce about the very best of any given era?

I actually tend to think shows are better than ever, on the balance. We have new entities that have the power and viewership to create their own shows, such as House of Cards or Orange is the new Black on Netflix. And they once again have the sway to employ real actors. I believe Amazon Prime is also coming out with their own exclusive shows. And if drama isn't your thing, you can let Neil deGrasse Tyson take you on a tour of the Universe.

Just because certain topics used to be off-limits on TV and movies doesn't mean they weren't happening in the real world. Did no one kiss or lay horizontally (the horror!) on a bed until the 60's? I would agree that many shows and movies (and books) today use shock and sex as a proxy for actually intelligent writing and ideas, but that's not universally the case, it's just more prevalent now.

Anyway, I think this is a cool discussion, but just like I'll jump to the defense of VG-10, I jump to defend the shows of this era. If you've categorically dismissed them, you should take another look.

[JD Spydo]

I'm not necessarily bashing the present TV Shows per se but I do admit that I find the content of many of the older shows more intriguing. Because here in the past 10 years or so I've gravitated more to channels like DISCOVERY, SCIENCE CHANNEL, ANIMAL PLANET, HISTORY and H2, NAT GEO and mostly educational type TV.

I know you're a lot younger than many of us here at Spyderville and I can certainly appreciate where you are coming from because you did grow up in a completely different era all together. I think it's fair to say I base my personal liking of the older shows more on preference rather than predjudice.

Because if you ever got into the works of Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, Alfred Hitchcock, and many other pioneers of what led up to what we have today I think you would see where I'm coming from. Because a lot of these pioneer geniuses truly set the stage for what we have today.

Even the older movie creators like Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpaugh and to some degree Oliver Stone really paved the way. As the old saying goes "Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder">> you can probably also say that talent is perceived by those who appreciate that particular genre. I just don't really care for the genre of a lot of the newer stuff>> so again to me it's preference instead of predjudice. One guy likes Chevy the other guy like Ford>> one guys likes Rembrandt the other guy likes Picasso>> that's my take on it.

[paladin]

My screenname is in honor of Richard Boone a.k.a. Paladin on Have Gun Will Travel :)

[bdblue]

There are plenty of modern shows that I'm interested in just as much as older shows. There were some older shows that are classics for sure. One of the problems with modern shows is that there seems to be less originality because so many shows are similar, but there are original shows now also. Some of the older shows were somewhat repetitive too- Tarzan, The Rifleman, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Green Acres, etc. were fairly repetitive from episode to episode. To me a show is interesting if it has an interesting premise, maybe unique, AND if the characters are interesting to watch. Even a mediocre concept with interesting characters will get my attention.

[The Mastiff]

Yeah, I was a fan of" Have Gun, Will Travel".", the Rifleman", Wanted, Dead or Alive", and some others.

"Combat", "12 o'clock high" and "Rat Patrol" were all good too.

There were some made for TV movies that I've always wanted to see redone. "Killdozer", "the Car", and "the soul Survivor" ( Turn Lady Be good's tragedy into a ghost story.)

Friday nights and Saturday mornings after chores were about the only time I could really watch TV, or what I wanted to watch anyways.

The middle 70's on I was pretty much too busy to watch TV so middle 60's to middle 70's were my TV years.

[JD Spydo]

Yeah, I was a fan of" Have Gun, Will Travel".", the Rifleman", Wanted, Dead or Alive", and some others.

"Combat", "12 o'clock high" and "Rat Patrol" were all good too.

There were some made for TV movies that I've always wanted to see redone. "Killdozer", "the Car", and "the soul Survivor" ( Turn Lady Be good's tragedy into a ghost story.)

The middle 70's on I was pretty much too busy to watch TV so middle 60's to middle 70's were my TV years.

The RAT PATROL!!! Yeah buddy that was one I liked. If I remember correctly it came on the same night as "The Guns Of Will Sonnet" .

Another great show of the 60s was Robert Conrad in the "WILD, WiLD WEST">> that show was cool for it's time. And who could forget Dr. MIgilito Loveless :D

And who could forget Clint Eastwood's first hit show "RAWHIDE" :cool:

[Barman]

I was a big fan of the 60's spy shows especially Mission Impossible, I Spy, The Prisoner, and The Wild Wild West.
Other than that Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Lost In Space, Star Trek,The Addams Family and The Munsters were staples.
And you're right, they don't make them like they used to.

[Monocrom]

I remember sitting with my Grandad every Saturday night and watching Gunsmoke - and catching the early seasons of the Carol Burnett Show on Monday nights. Good stuff.

TedP

Oh, The Carol Burnett show was hilarious!.... Unfortunately, after its run was over, she made a rather pathetic TV comedy special which was nothing more than very poor Anti-Gun propaganda. Poor, as in very badly done due to its blatantcy. Ending on what was supposed to be a disturbing note. But just came off silly. (And not silly in a funny way.) Incredible series, with a terrible ending to her TV career. So bad, it was never replayed and soon forgotten by nearly everyone.

The Black Adder series decades later featured a very dramatic ending as well. Now THAT was a perfect example of how to end a comedic series on a serious and dramatic note.

[Johnnie1801]

It's a bit before my time but when I was a kid a lot of the shows already mentioned were constantly on tv over here. I guess they were pioneering shows that were well made and that were cheap for our networks to buy. The Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera cartoons were fantastic and I doubt they could be reproduced today. I remember after school we'd get shows like Hogan's Hero's, I dream of Jeanie, The Adams Family, The Munsters, Mr Ed, The Green Hornet and Bonanza. On Sunday mornings we used to get The Fugitive followed by the Phil Silvers Show/Sgt Bilko, which was way better than the movie they made with Steve Martin.

I was just looking at the tv listings last night and all we have now is endless repeats of Game of Thrones, loads of comic book shows and endless lists of cop/detective shows. There is not much originality/uniqueness anymore.

[Evil D]

There were a lot of great original ideas from those days that can't really be redone today. Even if you look at all the Star Trek series' they were good shows (arguably better in some ways) but none of them have that endearing charm of the original.

[JD Spydo]

There were a lot of great original ideas from those days that can't really be redone today. Even if you look at all the Star Trek series' they were good shows (arguably better in some ways) but none of them have that endearing charm of the original.

Interesting you bring up STAR TREK because it may have been the best science fiction show to come from that era. Star Trek like so many great TV Shows out of the 60s spawned so many TV shows in the following decades>> but like you say there has never been one that can beat the original. But like you say EVIL it's difficult if not impossible to replicate many of them from that particular era. A lot of those 60s TV Shows truly had great influence over our culture and society in general at that time.

Recently watching a re-run of Rowan & Martin's LAUGH IN which was a highly rated, top notch comedy show in the late 60s and I remember how I used to laugh so hard back then>> but seeing that same show in this present time it wasn't really that funny at all anymorell. I guess because times and culture have changed so much since then that it's just not applicable to our present day life anymore

[dewildeman]

I think a lot of us remember the old shows as being better than they actually are. But don't misunderstand me, there were some great shows. We have to remember that TV didn't hit their stride until late '50's, early '60's. Before that, everything was an experiment. What may have worked in radio didn't necessarily work on TV. Somethings did. Google "TV Playhouse/Theater/Presents, etc" and you'll see a list of programs that were basically plays made for TV. Rod Sterling wrote several great TV plays long before he did Twilight Zone. Ray Bradbury had a TV show. Nat King Cole and Les Paul had shows, NKC's was 15 minutes long, IIRC. We also had shows entirely controlled/censored by the sponsor.
I like that there are channels and services that offer the old shows (I watched 3 Twilight Zones the other day). I wish more of them were available. I also like that Netflix has House of Cards and Amazon did Bosch by Michael Connoly and has ordered another season. I think there is room for both.
I am sad about Saturday morning TV. I read an article recently that pointed out that there are no longer cartoon shows on network TV on Saturday morning. What is on is live action. No Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Heckle and Jeckle, Hanna/Barbera etc. Sigh.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

What you also do not see anymore are "Comedy Duos" like Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Burns andAllen, and the Three Stooges, though they were three. What do you think happened that we no longer see that form of comedic combination? Is it because of cultural changes?

[tvenuto]

What you also do not see anymore are "Comedy Duos" like Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Burns andAllen, and the Three Stooges, though they were three. What do you think happened that we no longer see that form of comedic combination? Is it because of cultural changes?

Key and Peele. If you haven't seen any of their stuff you absolutely need to. Here's a classic, playing on how ridiculous some football players names are. (Links in case vids don't work) East/west



And if you liked that one, check out the East West Superbowl, which includes actual NFL players. Superbowl

[JD Spydo]

What you also do not see anymore are "Comedy Duos" like Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Burns andAllen, and the Three Stooges, though they were three. What do you think happened that we no longer see that form of comedic combination? Is it because of cultural changes?

That's really an interesting thing to ponder "Spyderedgeforever" because when you think about it the "Smother's Brothers" along with "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In" were two of the last ones I can remember as far as comedy duos were concerned as far as the 60s era goes. Myself I even went back further than that>> I really liked the Marx Brothers of which there were four and you're so right about the Three Stooges they were great and I still laugh at those guys.

I guess you could say that Dan Akroyd and John Belushi ( The Blues Brothers) of the old 70s vintage Saturday Night Live fame might have been two of the last remaining comedy duos of that general era.

It is interesting for sure to see a trend like that die for no apparent reason and I don't know why that is because a lot of people loved comedy pairs like the aforementioned. >> Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin went back to the 50s if I remember correctly.

But who could forget CHEECH & CHONG :D >> I just heard NPR interview George Carlin's surviving daughter and that was interesting. But that is a great question you ask and I wish I had a more consise answer>> but history does repeat itself so maybe that trend might return again.