The Allure Of Early TV Sitcoms
This column was written by CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
Jane Wyatt died a couple of days ago. She played the wife on an early TV sitcom called "Father Knows Best."
I watched that show in wonder because the dad in "Father Knows Best" wore a suit to work. Robert Young played an insurance salesman.
I remember those things because the Andersons were a couple of rungs above our social class. So were Beaver's parents. My mother never wore pearls when she was hanging the laundry in our backyard.
It seems like a lot of the sitcoms were middle class or a little better. The dad on "My Three Sons" had a good job. Didn't he wear a suit?
And people golfed. I swear I knew not a single soul who golfed when I was growing up.
TV had a spell on us back then, and part of it for me was seeing how others — even make-believe others — lived. Quite honestly, all that middle-classness was quite alluring.
We knew we could never be as badly behaved or as stupid as the teenaged boys on TV, but if you got a good job, heck, your wife might look like Donna Reed.
Harry's daily commentary can be heard on manyCBS Radio News affiliates across the country.
By Harry Smith