Pop Culture Flashback: Meet George Jetson (Sept. 23)

Although like look very retro today, a very modern family entered our living rooms on this day in 1962: The Jetsons. The primetime show was ABC’s first TV show to air in color but surprisingly, it wasn’t a hit for the network. You might also be surprised to learn who was originally cast to voice Mr. and Mrs. Jetson.

1962 – ‘The Jetsons’ Fly into Town

The Jetsons family posing for a picture — *The Jetsons (ABC via TVDB)*

It was a big Sunday night when The Jetsons debuted on ABC. It was the network’s first TV show to be presented in color. Lots of bright, shiny colors. Created by Hanna-Barbera, The Jetson family included George Jetson, Jane his wife, daughter Judy, and son Elroy living in Orbit City 100 years into the future. The family also owned Astro the dog and Rosie the robot who served as their maid.

George and Jane Jetson have very pleasant voices thanks to George O’Hanlon and Penny Singleton. However, they were not the ones originally planned for the parts. Morey Amsterdam (The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Pat Carroll (the voice of Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid) had been chosen to voice the characters and get paid $500 each for 24 episodes. However, they only recorded one episode before being replaced.

The Jetsons only ran for one season on ABC. Despite our love for the show now, it was a commercial failure for the network. Reruns of the show were moved to Saturday mornings on CBS for one season and then moved to NBC the following year. In 1985, brand new episodes (complete with the show’s original voices) were created to mix in with the old ones and were shown in syndication through 1987.

The Jetsons theme song is almost as iconic at the cartoon itself. A music video was made of the song in 1985 coinciding with the release of TeeVee Tunes’ Television’s Greatest Hits, Vol. I album. But the song began being played on radio stations all across the country too.

In 1990, the space-age family made its way to the big screen for Jetsons: The Movie. Since then, there have been talks about bringing the family back for a revival many times for both TV and the movie theaters. The most recent rumor is for a live action version starring Jim Carrey. The movie would be written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

2009 – The Debut of ‘Modern Family’

The cast of Modern Family — The cast of *Modern Family (ABC)*

For some, the “mockumentary” TV show, Modern Family had been a surprise hit. Debuting on this day in 2009, the comedy features an older man white man married to a much younger Colombian woman, a gay white couple with an adopted Vietnamese daughter and a more traditional family, but all three units are related to each other. They weren’t a perfect family and that was the point. They were like many of our families only more extreme. With so much potential to be controversial, the show managed to stay true to its comedy genre and not be offensive.

Creators of the show, Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, came up with the idea for the series while sharing stories of their own “modern families.” After 11 seasons, the show aired its last episode on April 8, 2020. During its run, Modern Family won 22 Emmy Awards and six Writers Guild of America Awards.