Something as simple as a tree

[frani]

See that's why the show is so great. No huge plot contrivances, no double sex entendres, just a kid who likes his tree and goes and gets it. Beautiful. And the way Judy reads her "hunk" of poem at the end is hysterical.

[BrandonS]

Yes, one of the big attractions of this show is that they find their humor in situations we all can identify with, rather than always going for the easy, cheap laugh. And another is that they glorify ethics and wholesomeness rather than glorifying the reverse. And then, of course, the great writing and acting don't hurt.

[boechsner]

Indeed, one of the best sitcoms ever made. It's so obvious why it's one of the only sitcoms that started in the 1950's that can still be seen regularly, with the exception of I Love Lucy.

[Mijada]

That episode about the tree was really cute.

[JaneTVFan]

Originally posted by frani
See that's why the show is so great. No huge plot contrivances, no double sex entendres, just a kid who likes his tree and goes and gets it. Beautiful. And the way Judy reads her "hunk" of poem at the end is hysterical.

You summed it up pretty well. I just recently started watching this show again and have been so surprised how well it holds up. I attribute that to its brilliant and realistic writing and acting. All the characters, right down to Judy Hensler, remind us of people we've known in our own lives. The way Beaver and Wally behave and react to situations is exactly what you would expect of real kids. It's all so true to life, unlike silly contrived junk that came along later, like The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, shows that reeked of phoniness (except for the early episodes of Happy Days, before cartoonish Fonzie became the dominant character on that show).

[JaneTVFan]

Originally posted by JaneTVFan


You summed it up pretty well. I just recently started watching this show again and have been so surprised how well it holds up. I attribute that to its brilliant and realistic writing and acting. All the characters, right down to Judy Hensler, remind us of people we've known in our own lives. The way Beaver and Wally behave and react to situations is exactly what you would expect of real kids. It's all so true to life, unlike silly contrived junk that came along later, like The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, shows that reeked of phoniness (except for the early episodes of Happy Days, before cartoonish Fonzie became the dominant character on that show).

And let me add that this show is truly funny. The writers had to have had kids because the lines they wrote for Beaver and Wally were true to what kids would actually say. I hate how later shows would have kids saying things just to get a laugh. The Brady Bunch, for example, always had the kids saying super corny joke lines, things no kid would really say. It's bad enough that those lines were so stupid they weren't funny. But what's worse is they were unrealistic things kids wouldn't say. And then in the '80s and beyond, like on The Cosby Show, sitcom writers began this stupid practice of giving adult lines to kids. Apparently they think it's cute to have little kids saying sophisticated adult things. Personally, I don't think that's the least bit cute because it's plain artificial and unbelievable. But LITB always remained real.