I was born in 1949, so this was square in my growing-up years. I didn't watch "Leave it to Beaver" because that family didn't look like mine. (Not that it was a bad family, theirs or mine. It's just that mine wasn't like that at all, so there wasn't much for me to identify with.)

Didn't really watch much other TV either because I was a bookworm. But, I did (today) watch the entire episode that is posted at the end of the article you are drawing from. I will have to admit laughing out loud over the GUN talk and the dead animals (with FUR on them!!) and other things that give liberals nightmares.

Now think about it. Maybe there were some mass shootings in those years. I certainly don't remember any....but the more we hide the guns and make them "bad" to talk about...the worse it gets.

And nobody seems to see this! Are they blind?

There's a full episode at the end of the article. Did you watch that one?

I don't believe that the world has changed...we've always had the perverts and abusers, out there. Difference was...our government would lock those people up and hand out "real" punishment to transgressors.

What has happened is that they've opened the doors and let all the crazies out, while at the same time, handcuffing parents and preventing them from taking the appropriate actions to protect their children.

Ditto for Madonna.

Ah yes, preadolescent fantasy. Miley Cyrus could learn a thing or two from Annette

My middle name was the same as Beaver's First name, but was never called Beaver nor Theodore...just Ted...(thank goodness). Later as I got my Birth Certificate, I found that my first name was actually the same as my Dad's, (Carl), and I was a Junior too!

I instantly changed to Carl...forever abandoning the "Teddy" designation.

Ah, nostalgia.
They sure read a lot of stuff into the script, didn't they? Even the names had special meanings. But as I recall, rather than the pleasantly euphemistic play on words that the writers of the article expressed "Beaver Cleaver" had a meaning to most of the piggish boys who scurried about like mice in my immediate vicinity that was fairly obscene, Especially in those days where a peek at Brigitte Bardot's cleavage was the key to opening the door that concealed her behind.

Laughing...see?..even different species can have mutuality and common thoughts...cracks me up!

I bought a 53 Ford for $5.00, with the proceeds of my paper route, to practice driving around the yard and when my parents went out and left the 57 Olds Rocket 88 home, I would peal out on our dead end street!
I spent much of my time afterward covering over the rubber marks on the road with sand...laughing

Wow, further proof that our great minds think alike. That scene occurred to me while I was writting the above. but I discarded the notion of adding it on.

We all liked Annette...that was the innocent porn of the day...today...anything goes. [sad] No mystery's to discover when they get older.

And tape their eye lids open like in: "Clock Work Orange"...

Yes it is...everything that was Good in now, Bad.

#Me Too!...laughing

1957.....I remember it well. We moved from North Carolina to a small town on the east coast of Florida. My parents had a 57 Chevy. I was constantly telling my dad to mash the gas pedal and put it into passin' gear. The small Florida town was a great place to ride our bikes and go fishing. Then we graduated to motor scooters and terrorized the neighborhood. Then came the cars and the girls. Life was beautiful.
And then..........

A kinder gentler era when America Was Great. I grew up with these shows including Mickey Mouse Club. The music was G rated with entertainment value. Today it is filled with anger (especially rap music) which fuels social unrest. Yes, our moral compass is a muck and communism is alive and well.

Me dino is thinking of names of prominent "progressive kinda people" I'd like to tie to chairs and force them to watch every episode of "Leave It To Beaver."
I may have to gag them due to screams.

Very enjoyable article and an accurate analysis. Too bad such moral guidance for children is lacking today.

I can still hear my fathers whistle calling us out of the woods at meal time. I also still remember the crunch of the coldest snow under my feet walking to school.

Very welcome, OUC. I enjoy your posts.

Thanks for the plug, Mccannon01.

Many younger folks won't even give the show a browse because it's filmed in black and white, requiring a little extra imagination effort. Add in there is a total lack of gratuitous sex and violence. Add to that, as you say, it has become no more than a cliche - in a negative way.

Give it a try, CG, and I think you will find yourself smiling and appreciating why OUC brought this to the Gulch.

This makes me want to watch the show. As the article says, I know the show only as its title used as a cliche.

Much of mine was the same...instead of a bell my mother would call out my full name, you could hear her 1/2 mile away through the woods, over the river and across the fields...How embarrassing!

We walked to High School and yes...walked in feet of snow up hill both ways.

My wife had a bell on the back porch. In the summer she sent all four kids out after breakfast and rang the bell for lunch. Afterwards, out again and ring the bell for dinner. Where ever they were playing there was watchful parents and neighbors and they were perfectly safe. They had their own society, made their neighborhood rules and grew up. Our town was designed for families with all schools in walking distance, an outer ring of grade schools an inner ring of middle schools and the high school in the center. We had no school busses and the kids didn't get any snow days. 98% of the graduates went to college from this public school. Yeah, it was a different world.