Classic TV In 1959: Looking Back At 10 Shows Celebrating Their 60th Anniversaries This Year

‘The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends’ (1959-64)

Moose and Squirrel, as Boris Badenov would say, made its debut 60 years ago, introducing the world to Jay Ward’s wacky sense of humor. The animation was limited, but the scripts were great, working on a number of different levels. Besides having our titular heroes dealing with Boris and his co-hort, Natasha Fatale, there were short segments featuring characters like Dudley Do-Right, Peabody’s Improbable History (a dog and his boy, Sherman, traveling through time), and the sometimes twisted Fractured Fairy Tales.

‘The Alaskans’ (1959-60)

Long before he became James Bond, or even Simon Templar of The Saint, for that matter, Roger Moore starred in this series set in Alaska during the late 1880s. He plays Silky Harris, alongside Jeff York’s Reno McKee, the two of them being adventurers whose goal was to take advantage of people heading to the Yukon territory at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. The show only lasted a single season, though, as was the studio’s way at the time, Warner Bros insisted that, to save money, producers recycle scripts from one of WB’s other shows, in this case James Garners’ Maverick.

‘Bonanza’ (1959-73)

One of television’s most beloved westerns, it ran on NBC for 14 seasons from 1959-73, producing a total of 431 episodes. Google describes the show like this: “Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) is the patriarch of an all-male Nevada ranching family. Set during and after the Civil War, Bonanza is the story of life on the family’s thousand-acre spread, known as the Ponderosa, near Virginia City.

“Ben has his three sons, each with a different (and deceased) mother. Serious eldest son Adam (Pernell Roberts) hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps; middle son Hoss (Dan Blocker) is a gentle giant — physically strong, but sometimes naive; and youngest son Little Joe (Michael Landon) is the most impetuous and romantic of the offspring.”

In 1964, when Pernell Roberts decided to leave, Guy Williams, who had starred in Disney’s Zorro TV series and would go on to play the lead in Lost in Space, was brought on as Ben’s nephew, Will Cartwright. But Guy found himself forced out of the show when Pernell changed his mind.

The show finished its run in 1973, the ratings dropping due to a combination of the death of Dan Blocker (people truly loved his character of Hoss) and the fact that NBC put the show directly against Maude, the Bea Arthur spin-off from All in the Family.

‘Dennis the Menace’ (1959-63)

Dennis the Menace was based on the newspaper comic strip by Hank Ketchum. In it, Jay North played the title character of Dennis Mitchell, described as a good-natured kid who inadvertently finds himself in trouble pretty much all the time, particularly with next door neighbor George (“Good Old Mr. Wilson”) Wilson.  By the end of its run, the show was losing its appeal with viewers because Jay was, obviously, getting older and Dennis’ antics were not as cute as they had once been.

Sadly, Jay had a terrible behind-the-scenes life during production, which scarred him emotionally.

‘Hennesey’ (1959-62)

Now here’s the flipside of a child actor who was able to successfully transcend from child actor to more adult roles, and became a television director, producer and executive. Jackie Cooper got his start in films, most notably Skippy (1931), which garnered him an Academy Award nomination; and he was also well known for his role of Jackie in Hal Roach’s Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) comedy shorts.

On this show, he plays Lt. Charles W. “Chick” Hennesy, a United States Navy physician who is assigned to the U.S. Naval Station in San Diego, CA along with Abby Dalton as Navy nurse Lt. Martha Hale. This comedy-drama lasted three seasons.

‘The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis’ (1959-63)

The series focused primarily on a teenager named Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman), who was all about achieving popularity, money and catching the attention of beautiful girls — and his failure to do so was at the heart of the show. Bob Denver (perhaps you know him as Skipper’s little buddy, Gilligan) played his best friend (and apparently television’s first beatnik character), Maynard G. Krebs, a bongo-playing jazz fan. The show ran for 144 episodes, and was the subject of an unsuccessful 1977 pilot reboot that brought the cast back together called Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis?, and the 1988 TV movie, Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis.

‘Rawhide’ (1959-65)

“Set in the 1860s, Rawhide portrays the challenges faced by the drovers [people in charge of moving stock over long distances] of a cattle drive,” describes Wikipedia. “Most episodes are introduced with a monologue by Gil Favor (portrayed by Eric Fleming), trail boss. In a typical Rawhide story, the drovers come upon people on the trail and are drawn into solving whatever problem they present or confront. Sometimes, one or more of the crew venture into a nearby town and encounter some trouble from which they need to be rescued. Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) was young and at times impetuous in the earliest episodes, and Favor had to keep a tight rein on him.”

This series was what first brought Clint to the attention of Hollywood and the audience. He was propelled to even bigger stardom when, in 1963, he used a hiatus from the show to star in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, which launched him into “Spaghetti Westerns” and turned him into an international star as well.

‘Riverboat’ (1959-61)

Grey Holden wins a river boat in a poker game, which he then pilots, along with his crew, in various adventures along the Mississippi River. Set in the 19th Century, it stars Darren McGavin (The Night Stalker, A Christmas Story) as Holden, with Burt Reynolds as Ben Frazer. Reportedly there was a falling out between the two actors, resulting in Reynolds being released from the show. We heard he made out okay, though.

‘The Twilight Zone’ (1959-64)

The greatest anthology series of all time, and one that is still touching the audience 60 years later. Writer Rod Serling, chafing from battles with networks and sponsors about content, discovered that he could write about virtually anything he wanted by setting it in this fantasy realm known as The Twilight Zone. As he explained to journalist Mike Wallace at the time of the show’s premiere, “These are very adult, I think, high-quality half-hour, extremely polished films. But because they deal in the areas of fantasy and imagination and science fiction and all of those things, there’s no opportunity to cop a plea or chop an ax or anything. I don’t wanna have to battle sponsors and agencies. I don’t wanna have to push for something that I want and have to settle for second best. I don’t wanna have to compromise all the time, which in essence is what the television writer does if he wants to put on controversial themes.” We’d say he was right.

‘The Untouchables’ (1959-63)

The series took its title from the memoir of the real-life Elliot Ness and Oscar Fraley. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, it fictionalized Ness’ adventures as a Prohibition agent at the time. Robert Stack (who would later serve as host of Unsolved Mysteries) plays Ness. The show would inspired the 1987 film starring Kevin Costner and Sean Connery; and a 1993 syndicated series that ran for two seasons.