Explore 1960s TV Shows

On the Buses is a British comedy series created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential in a bus depot as a setting. The comedy partnership turned to a friend, Frank Muir, Head of Entertainment at London Weekend Television, who loved the idea; the show was accepted and despite a poor critical reception became a hit with viewers.

A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.

"Hammy Hamster," created by CBC film editors David Ellison and Paul Sutherland in 1959, initially turned down by CBC, found success with the BBC, leading to thirteen episodes. Following international sales, Canada's CTV picked up the series after it won the Canadian Film Awards. The show, known for unique storytelling and effects, featured animal transportation via various means. Although Sutherland voiced many characters, his voice was replaced for UK and European markets. A second colour series, "Hammy Hamster's Adventures On the Riverbank," narrated by Johnny Morris, aired in the 1970s and was sold to 34 countries. The franchise spawned two syndicated sequels, "Hammy Hamster" and "Once Upon a Hamster."

Wacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera that originally aired in 1968. The show is a parody of traditional car races, featuring a variety of eccentric characters and their outlandish vehicles, all racing across different terrains in a madcap competition for first place. The series is centered around a group of 11 racers, each with their own unique vehicle and distinct personality. The main characters include Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley, who are always trying to cheat and sabotage the other competitors, although they never succeed. Other notable racers include Penelope Pitstop, the glamorous but tough driver; the adventurous Red Max; and the lovable duo, the Slag Brothers, who drive a massive, rock-like car.

Toon version of the Archie Comics witch who uses her powers to aide the uncertainty of adolescence.

Lucille Ball's third network sitcom, following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).

Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East Africa.

It's About Time is an American fantasy/science-fiction comedy TV series that aired on CBS for one season of 26 episodes in 1966–1967. The series was created by Sherwood Schwartz, and used sets, props and incidental music from Schwartz's other television series in production at the time, Gilligan's Island.

Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American crime/legal drama series that ran during the 1963-1964 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.

T.H.E. Cat is an American action drama that aired during the 1966-1967 television season on NBC, co-sponsored by R.J. Reynolds and Lever Brothers. The series was created by Harry Julian Fink, the creator of Dirty Harry . Robert Loggia starred as the title character, Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat. T. H. E. Cat is a forerunner of television characters such as The Equalizer, who skirt the edges of the law and bring skills from earlier careers on behalf of those needing more help than the police can offer. The series preceded the 1968-1970 ABC television series It Takes a Thief, which was also about a cat burglar who used his skills for good.

Thriller is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of self-contained, macabre weird-horror and morbid, hitchockian crime stories, in some of which he also starred.

After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.

Coronet Blue is an American TV series that ran on CBS from May 29, 1967, to September 4, 1967. It starred Frank Converse as Michael Alden, an amnesiac in search of his identity, with Brian Bedford his co-star. The show's 13 episodes were filmed in 1965 and were originally intended to be shown during the 1965-66 television season, but CBS put the show on hiatus when they reversed an earlier decision to cancel the drama Slattery's People. The network had plans to show Coronet Blue the following year, with CBS head of programming Michael Dann saying that, "there still is enormous enthusiasm" for it, but it would take another full year until the network aired it as a summer replacement. It proved moderately popular and developed a cult following. According to Converse, CBS wanted to renew it but by then Converse had signed to do another series for ABC, N.Y.P.D., which premiered the day after the last airing of Coronet Blue. Due to a number of pre-emptions, only 11 of the 13 episodes were shown during the initial run. The theme song was performed by R&B singer Lenny Welch.

Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. It was unprecedented in daytime television when ghosts were introduced about six months after it began. The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins appeared a year into its run. Dark Shadows also featured werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles; indeed, as actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor. Major writers besides Art Wallace included Malcolm Marmorstein, Sam Hall, Gordon Russell, and Violet Welles.

The Bob Newhart Show is an American comedy variety show starring comedian Bob Newhart. It originally ran from October 1961 through June 1962 on NBC, airing on Wednesday nights at 10pm Eastern time, immediately following Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall. The variety show was sponsored by Kraft Foods's Sealtest Dairy division. The show was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor in 1962. It was also nominated for the Writing Achievement in Comedy Award for Roland Kibbee, Bob Newhart, Don Hinkley, Milt Rosen, Ernest Chambers, Dean Hargrove, Robert Kaufman, Norm Liebmann, Charles Sherman, Howard Snyder and Larry Siegel, but they lost to Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show. The show also won a Peabody Award in 1961.

Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965 to April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971 as part of the "rural purge" by CBS. The sitcom has been in syndication and is available in DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling country-folk-rock band looking for their big break amid madcap encounters with a variety of people straight out of TV and movie central casting, with full knowledge that their existence is part of a weekly television series.

Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show stars Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, and Edward Platt. Henry said they created the show by request of Daniel Melnick, who was a partner, along with Leonard Stern and David Susskind, of the show's production company, Talent Associates, to capitalize on "the two biggest things in the entertainment world today"—James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. Brooks said: "It's an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy." This is the only Mel Brooks production to feature a laugh track. The success of the show eventually spawned the follow-up films The Nude Bomb and Get Smart, Again!, as well as a 1995 revival series and a 2008 film remake. In 2010, TV Guide ranked Get Smart's opening title sequence at No. 2 on its list of TV's Top 10 Credits Sequences, as selected by readers.

Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.

The Dick Van Dyke Show centers around the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie. The plots generally revolve around problems at work, where Rob got into various comedic jams with fellow writers Buddy Sorrell, Sally Rogers and producer Mel Cooley.

Chronicles the melancholically funny lives of the Clangers, a flutey-voiced family of woolen, knitted aliens living below the surface of a knobbly little planet far out in space. Their misadventures brought them into contact with such unlikely creatures as the Soup Dragon, the Froglets, the Iron Chicken and the Glow Buzzers.

An aardvark tries to catch one ant without success.

George of the Jungle is an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV network ABC. The half-hour program was distributed for many years by Worldvision Enterprises, currently part of CBS Television Distribution. Â Each Full Episode was a compilation of 3 mini episodes from 3 different shows: George of the Jungle; Tom Slick; Super Chicken -Each voiced by the same actors.

The bite of a radioactive spider transforms a teen into a superhero.