Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver is a live-action comedy television series. The show ran and lasted from October 4, 1957 to June 20, 1963.

Summary
The show follows a young, naive little boy named Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) and his misadventures with his friends, family and older brother, Wally (Tony Dow).

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The show has some great kicks at humour.
 * 2) An amazing representation of how life was like during the 1950s and 1960s.
 * 3) Likable and interesting characters, especially the main protagonist, Beaver Cleaver, his school friends, his parents, his older brother, Wally, and his brother’s best friend, Eddie.
 * 4) Many of the episodes have great morals.
 * 5) Much like I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners, this is one of the most memorable and popular early 1950s television shows.
 * 6) A good use of a laugh track.
 * 7) The Cleavers can be very relatable and accurate as a normal suburban cookie cutter family.
 * 8) Incredibly catchy instrumental theme music.
 * 9) Many unforgettable moments in each and everyone of the episodes, like the episode, In the Soup, where Beaver gets trapped inside a large teacup.
 * 10) The pacing is very well done.
 * 11) The black-and-white cinematography is a nice touch, mainly due to being shot in the 50s and 60s.
 * 12) The brotherly relationship between Beaver and Wally is very heartwarming and realistic.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) One character, Eddie Haskell (played by the late Ken Osmand), can be quite unlikeable most of the time.
 * 2) It can be pretty cheesy, but that's something that can be said about most shows from the 1950s due to The Television Codes.
 * 3) Some of the things in the show are considered clichéd nowadays. For example, the character, Lumpy Rutherford, is the stereotypical dumb jock.