The Hooneymooners? I honestly think this show was ahead of it's time. It was like a 70's show without Color-lol Ralph yelling and screaming and slamming doors, Alice with her wisecracks and don;t get me started on Norton. But I never looked at this sitcom as your typical 50's tv shows. It was truly the best of the 50's. Who else on here is with me on this?

I agree. The Honeymooners was ahead of it's time. When I'd watch it, I'd always be amazed that this is a 50's show.

I liked how they didn't show Ralph and Alice in twin beds. It just didn't show the bedroom at all. That way, we can assume that they sleep together.

I agree. The Honeymooners was ahead of it's time. When I'd watch it, I'd always be amazed that this is a 50's show.

I liked how they didn't show Ralph and Alice in twin beds. It just didn't show the bedroom at all. That way, we can assume that they sleep together.


Which reminds me, I need to buy the DVD-lol

THE HONEYMOONERS was unique, even among classic TV shows. It was in
black-&-white and only ran for one season (39 episodes). Yet there were so
many gems among those "classic 39." Norton and Ralph have been described
as a Laurel & Hardy for the fifties, and that isn't too far off. And Ralph and
Alice probably influenced every TV couple from Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca to
Fred and Wilma Flintstone to Doug and Carrie Heffernan (and a lot in between). The Golden Age of TV, I think, produced just four genuine
classic sitcoms: I LOVE LUCY, THE HONEYMOONERS, THE ANDY GRIFFITH
SHOW and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Those four will be rerun forever.

The Hooneymooners? I honestly think this show was ahead of it's time. It was like a 70's show without Color-lol Ralph yelling and screaming and slamming doors, Alice with her wisecracks and don;t get me started on Norton. But I never looked at this sitcom as your typical 50's tv shows. It was truly the best of the 50's. Who else on here is with me on this?
Sorry Soloman, it's gotta be I Love Lucy. I never cared for Honeymooners.;)

Sorry Soloman, it's gotta be I Love Lucy. I never cared for Honeymooners.;)



I love Lucy?????????? You really got to be kidding me Irene-lol

On my favorite shows list (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?p=2785118) I put The Honeymooners right below Three's Company and Good Times, so I definitely agree it's the most entertaininh 50s sitcom for me. But I Love Lucy was close at #6, I think that was ahead of its time too.

I completely agree with you, Retro. The Honeymooners is one of my favorite sitcoms (and one of the only ones from the 50s I can really get into). It was ahead of its time in the sense that Alice regularly stood up to her husband (a rarity for the 50s), Ralph and Alice actually ARGHUED(unlike the Cleavers or other 50s couples who never seem to have major disagreements), and Jackie Gleason's comic timing was similar to those of Carroll O'Conner and Bea Arthur. It seems more in step with 70s shows than with the 1950s. I have the "Classic 39" on dvd, but I still need to get the "Lost Episodes" from the Jackie Gleason Show. Those are even more wild.:lol:

I love Lucy?????????? You really got to be kidding me Irene-lol
Yes Soloman. I haved watched and loved her since I was five!!!!! I collect Lucy memorabilia, books, etc. She is my idol!!!!

I completely agree with you, Retro. The Honeymooners is one of my favorite sitcoms (and one of the only ones from the 50s I can really get into). It was ahead of its time in the sense that Alice regularly stood up to her husband (a rarity for the 50s), Ralph and Alice actually ARGHUED(unlike the Cleavers or other 50s couples who never seem to have major disagreements), and Jackie Gleason's comic timing was similar to those of Carroll O'Conner and Bea Arthur. It seems more in step with 70s shows than with the 1950s. I have the "Classic 39" on dvd, but I still need to get the "Lost Episodes" from the Jackie Gleason Show. Those are even more wild.:lol:


Exactly, a 70's Sitcom with No color-lol

The Honeymooners was and will always be one of the greatest sitcoms (even though it only ran one season) and you were right it was ahead of its time but you are wrong about one thing....

I Love Lucy was the Best Show from the 50's if not The Best Sitcom of All Time!...

I would put The Honeymooners up there with I Love Lucy and Sgt. Bilko as the best sitcoms of the 50's.

Yes, I love the Honeymooners. That is my favorite show from the 50s as well, along with Leave It To Beaver. The Honeymooners was ahead of it's time because I could still relate to the humor. people are still going through what th Kramdens are going through. That show is different from any other 50s show, because it was realistic, other 50s shows just showed surburban familes living comfortably and america back then wasn't like that. Honeymooners is one of few shows that make tears come out of my eyes. Jackie Gleason was something else. My favorite episode was when Ralph found that fake money. LOL I did like it better than I Love Lucy, Solomon, but you have to give credit where credit is due. Lucy was made ahead of it's time too. She was the queen. She was the first.

Let's not forget the Honeymooners inspired the Flintstones.

Yes, I love the Honeymooners. That is my favorite show from the 50s as well, along with Leave It To Beaver. The Honeymooners was ahead of it's time because I could still relate to the humor. people are still going through what th Kramdens are going through. That show is different from any other 50s show, because it was realistic, other 50s shows just showed surburban familes living comfortably and america back then wasn't like that. Honeymooners is one of few shows that make tears come out of my eyes. Jackie Gleason was something else. My favorite episode was when Ralph found that fake money. LOL I did like it better than I Love Lucy, Solomon, but you have to give credit where credit is due. Lucy was made ahead of it's time too. She was the queen. She was the first.

Let's not forget the Honeymooners inspired the Flintstones.



Lucy never did anything for me,. I recall the husband being the standout character-"LUCY U GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO"-lol

I agree, the Honeymooners is great

My favorite 50s shows are I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Leave it to Beaver and Burns & Allen. I also loved Father Knows Best, but I haven't seen that in 15 or 20 years, and I have a feeling that I wouldn't like it as much now as I did back then.

I Love Lucy, I think, is the greatest sitcom ever (and the best TV Show ever) because it ran for five years or so and never had a really bad episode (I'm not a fan of the Scottish musical episode, so maybe one bad one)...

The Honeymooners was probably wise to quit after 1 year, because even Gleason admitted that maintaining the high quality of the classic 39 would be impossible... So I think that the Honeymooners is the single best season over, for any show...

But there's a difference in being great for 1 year, vs. 5 years... to borrow a sports term, TV shows can be evaluated both on "Peak" value as well as "Career" value... Honeymooners is the best at peak value, but I think I Love Lucy and Dick van Dyke rate best in 'career' value (i.e. the general quality of the show over its entire run).

I'd love to see more Burns and Allen shows, the only ones I've seen (other than reruns as a kid in the late 60s, which I don't remember) are the few episodes TV land would run on Sunday mornings. But I love that show!

I also love Leave it to Beaver, although I think it would have been better had they quit after season 4 or 5. When Beaver was like 14, but he was still acting and talking like a 7 year old...not cute! And a bunny suit??? Even in those days, Jr. High Schools didn't put on pagents in which the kids dressed as animals... what WERE the writers thinking??

Desi Arnaz was a pioneer. He is deserving of more credit than he gets. It's because of I Love Lucy he was able to make his mark in television history.
I cut this article down. It was toooooo long.
ARNAZ, DESI

U.S. Actor/Media Executive

Desi Arnaz is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo in the early television situation comedy, I Love Lucy. The series, which starred his wife, Lucille Ball as his fictional wife, Lucy Ricardo, appeared weekly on CBS. The show originally ran from the fall of 1951 through the 1957 season, and during this time ranked consis-tently among the top three national pro-grams. In addition to this recognition of Arnaz as perfect comic straight-man for Ball's genius, however, he was one of Hollywood's most perceptive, and powerful, producers in television's early years. His shrewd business skills and his realization of particular combinations of the television's technological and cultural connections enabled him to develop aspects of the medium that remain central to its economic and cultural force.



1951, before the perfection of video tape, nearly all television shows were live productions, fed from the East Coast because of time-zone differences. Philip Morris approved the idea of filming I Love Lucy, but the sponsor wanted a live audience, which had been effective on radio. Desi and cinematographer Karl Freund, a veteran of pre-World War II German expressionist cinema working in Hollywood, devised a plan for staging the show as a play, performing each act before an audi-ence, and simultaneous-ly filming with three or four cameras stationed in different loca-tions. Because this technique in-creased network production costs, CBS asked the Arnaz and Ball to take a cut in salary to compensate for the increase. In negotia-tion, Arnaz agreed, providing Desilu, a company he and Ball had created, would then own the shows after the broadcasts. A few years later the couple sold the films back to CBS for more than four million dollars, a sum that provided the economic base for building what became the Desilu empire. The practice of filming television episodes also paved the way to TV re-runs and syndication. After I Love Lucy was established as a hit, Desilu applied its multi-camera film technique to the product-ion of other shows, such as Our Miss Brooks, December Bride, and The Lineup. By 1957, Desilu was so successful that addition-al facilities were needed and it bought RKO Studios from the General Tire and Rubber Company.

Desi Arnaz was a pioneer. He is deserving of more credit than he gets. It's because of I Love Lucy he was able to make his mark in television history.
I cut this article down. It was toooooo long.
ARNAZ, DESI

U.S. Actor/Media Executive

Desi Arnaz is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo in the early television situation comedy, I Love Lucy. The series, which starred his wife, Lucille Ball as his fictional wife, Lucy Ricardo, appeared weekly on CBS. The show originally ran from the fall of 1951 through the 1957 season, and during this time ranked consis-tently among the top three national pro-grams. In addition to this recognition of Arnaz as perfect comic straight-man for Ball's genius, however, he was one of Hollywood's most perceptive, and powerful, producers in television's early years. His shrewd business skills and his realization of particular combinations of the television's technological and cultural connections enabled him to develop aspects of the medium that remain central to its economic and cultural force.



1951, before the perfection of video tape, nearly all television shows were live productions, fed from the East Coast because of time-zone differences. Philip Morris approved the idea of filming I Love Lucy, but the sponsor wanted a live audience, which had been effective on radio. Desi and cinematographer Karl Freund, a veteran of pre-World War II German expressionist cinema working in Hollywood, devised a plan for staging the show as a play, performing each act before an audi-ence, and simultaneous-ly filming with three or four cameras stationed in different loca-tions. Because this technique in-creased network production costs, CBS asked the Arnaz and Ball to take a cut in salary to compensate for the increase. In negotia-tion, Arnaz agreed, providing Desilu, a company he and Ball had created, would then own the shows after the broadcasts. A few years later the couple sold the films back to CBS for more than four million dollars, a sum that provided the economic base for building what became the Desilu empire. The practice of filming television episodes also paved the way to TV re-runs and syndication. After I Love Lucy was established as a hit, Desilu applied its multi-camera film technique to the product-ion of other shows, such as Our Miss Brooks, December Bride, and The Lineup. By 1957, Desilu was so successful that addition-al facilities were needed and it bought RKO Studios from the General Tire and Rubber Company.



Ricky still was no wasn;t WILD like Ralphie Boy-lol

Ricky still was no wasn;t WILD like Ralphie Boy-lol
Ricky wasn't...but Desi sure was! That's why Lucy divorced him!! LOL

I have to agree with all of you. The Honeymooners is a classic show. It is one of the greatest shows of its time.

I like I Love Lucy, as well as The Honeymooners - Both were equally entertaining. I wish it would come back to TV Land, I see it's on the "Vote for the most Requested Shows" list.

I agree with you that The Honeymooners was one of the most innovative shows of the decade and it is a true classic, but in terms of personal taste, it's definately not my favorite. It's not bad, I mean I can tolerate it, but I've never been able to really get into sitcoms revolvong around the home (with the exception of Burns & Allen) that had only a couple and no children. I don't know, something about larger families I think gives the show more dimension. JMO.

I think I Love Lucy was the best show of the 50's. The Honeymooners Second.

The Honeymooners was a classic. Why do you denigrate it by saying it's like a 70s show? No, it's good, so it's like a 50s show. But there are lots of great 50s sitcoms, just they are either unfamiliar to modern viewers or the pacing is something they aren't used to. Honeymooners has similar pacing to more modern shows. That doesn't make it better, just more familiar looking.

Sorry Soloman, it's gotta be I Love Lucy. I never cared for Honeymooners.;)
Ditto.

Lucy never did anything for me,. I recall the husband being the standout character-"LUCY U GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO"-lol

Yeah...Lucy got on my nerves sometimes, but Ricky was awesome.

(I'm not a fan of the Scottish musical episode, so maybe one bad one)...

:lol: I think I'm the only one who liked that episode.

I have always liked I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and Sgt. Bilko.

The Honeymooners is the greatest tv show EVER! PERIOD!

i loved watching it as a kid and i love watching it as an adult and i will love watching it as a senior citizen.
The 39 episodes are priceless.