It's no wonder things are so messed up...if it wasn't for those shows appealing to my sub-conscious, Being hyperactive, I may have never been able to deal with that condition as well as I did...nothing to brag about mind you, but It could of been a lot worse.

A totally different world...truly the best time to grow up.

My friends always called my wife June Cleaver and they were pretty much on point. All of our kids watched this show when they were growing up along with My Three Sons, Donna Reed and Ozzie and Harriet.

A great article. Thanks for posting.

Similar shows were on TV up and through the 80's (Family Matters, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Family Ties, Cosby Show, etc.) but these have all gone the way of the dodo to be replaced with shows glorifying dysfunctional families such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and others. It's one of the reasons I've never subscribed to cable TV and I doubt I ever will. Even the venerable Disney Channel no longer has anything showing the traditional family - their most popular show (until it was cancelled) was about a nanny.

We see the same thing in cartoons. (This will date me but oh, well.) I grew up watching He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers, and other shows which nearly always had at the root of the episode a moral question which was then addressed by the characters at the end of the show. Now (aside from Phineas & Ferb and maybe My Little Pony) we have nothing but Sponge Bob (and his intellectually stultifying themes) and other such tripe. Gone are the days of actual morality on TV.

You have a point...many adults could learn something from these works...should be required reading material for the left side of congress.

You're welcome Bev...

Yes they are.

And...hump them on every wednsday...

The moral imagination referred to in this article also reminds me of the moral characters in many of Heinlein's excellent "juvenile" sci-fi novels. I have always thought the label of juvenile was incorrectly applied to Heinlein's works.
Examples:
A Tenderfoot in Space
Citizen of the Galaxy
Farmer In The Sky
Farnhams Freehold
Have Space Suit, Will Travel
Orphans of the Sky
Podkayne of Mars
Red Planet
Rocket Ship Galileo
Space Cadet
Starman Jones
Tunnel In the Sky

Thanks for the trip in the "Way Back" machine. I watched the Beave faithfully when I was a young'un. Those that sneer, snark, and disparage the Cleaver family are clueless idiots.

Gee, Wally, that's swell.

Awesome Carl thanks. Leave it to Beaver the story of a young boy who learned “first principles” and was guided in “virtue and wisdom” in the midst of his family.
I was first disillusioned by the liberal dems when the obvious solution to many problems was what they attacked. Family values ....sheesh.
Now they openly attack making America great .
May a Camel sit on their heads and flatulate(sp).