Category — 1950s

It may be hard to believe, but “I Love Lucy” is still funny—as millions who have seen it on TVLand (I still call it Nick at Nite) can tell you. Back in the 50s, it was the first television show to feature a woman it its main role. (Hey, it was even eponymous.) My folks never missed an episode of “Lucy”–or the Ed Sullivan show. In the days before cable, almost everybody watched these shows. They used more slapstick than most contemporary shows, but it was good slapstick.

I didn’t know that producer Desi Arnaz (Lucy’s husband at the time the show first aired and who played her Cuban bandleader hubby, Ricky Ricardo) invented the re-run. He did it during Lucy’s (Lucille Ball) pregnancy. In those days, you couldn’t say “pregnant,” you had to say “expecting.”

Watch the old episodes closely and you’ll catch references to Phillip Morris cigarettes, the show’s sponsor. In one of the funniest episodes from this memorable early TV comedy, “Lucy Does a TV Commercial,” Ms. Ball dresses up as Johnny the Bellhop, the Phillip Morris icon.

The original “Dragnet” ran for a whopping eight seasons from 1951 to 1958. Jack Webb, wrote, starred and directed the cop drama that centered on the LAPD and his character, Sgt. Joe Friday. And then, in 1967, they revived the classic series, entitled simply “Dragnet 1967″. The four season run paired Jack Webb with Harry Morgan, who played Officer Bill Gannon.

I had no idea there were so many episodes out there. But it makes sense, since it was able to spawn that movie with Tom Hanks & Dan Ackroyd . I thought that movie was pretty cool back in the day. What wasn’t cool was the cheesy remake they tried to do back in 2003. Don’t bother watching a second of that permutation.

Find “Dragnet” and other tv shows from the 50s and 60s streaming for free at Oldies Television. The quality isn’t the best, so if you need crystal clear resolution for your Sharp Aquos tv, maybe you should go for the dvd collections.