Does anyone else feel this way about the show?

This show handled issues that I've yet to see in another show.

I can watch any episode at random and feel like I'm learning something new. Something I'm not going to get anywhere else, unless you're talking about Life - 10 years or so of living in the real world.

I think it was because they had people involved that were real and ordinary, not the usual artistic types. For example, in the Andy Griffith Show the sheriff and deputy were a musician and comedian in real life. Lots of their themes were very sentimental and more literary, or something like that.

They channeled real people and eternal and practical issues into an artistic work of art whose end result was very realistic.

Yes, I agree: Leave it to Beaver was ahead of it's time. Maybe that's partly why it has become one of the best all time favorites and has stayed that way for so, so long. When I started re-watching Beaver, when it came to TV Land, I was surprised by how right on and realistic the subject content of the scripts and plots were.

Two episodes in particular that were way ahead of their time were "Beaver and Andy" which dealt with the subject of alcoholism. The other one was an episode featuring Beaver's friend, "Chopper," whose parents have been through a divorce. Both were well done episodes.

I agree that both of those could be aired even today, and would seem relatively current!

Everybody always tells me that LITB is unrealistic, but when you think about some other shows that were done at the time, I think that in comparison, it is realistic.:)