The Jetsons
The Jetsons is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced from 1985 to 1987. It was Hanna-Barbera's Space Age counterpart to The Flintstones.
While the Flintstones lived in a world which was a comical version of the Stone Age, with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons live in a comical version of the space age, with elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions.
The original had 24 episodes and aired on Sunday nights on ABC beginning on September 23, 1962, with prime time reruns continuing through September 22, 1963. It debuted as the first program broadcast in color on ABC, back in the early 1960s when only a handful of ABC stations were capable of broadcasting in color. In contrast, The Flintstones, while always produced in color, was broadcast in black-and-white for its first two seasons.
The show was originally scheduled opposite Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Dennis the Menace and did not receive much attention. Due to poor ratings, it was cancelled after its first season but was then moved to Saturday mornings, where it went on to be very successful. Following its primetime run, the show aired on Saturday mornings for decades, starting on ABC for the 1963–64 season and then on CBS and NBC. New episodes were produced for syndication from 1985 to 1987. No further specials or episodes of the show were produced after 1989, as the majority of the core cast had died in 1988 and 1989. The 1990 film Jetsons: The Movie served as the series finale to the television show, though it failed to achieve critical and commercial success.
Premise
In the space age, the Jetsons are a family residing in Orbit City. The city's architecture is rendered in the Googie style and all homes and businesses are raised high above the ground on adjustable columns to avoid the pollutions from below. George Jetson lives with his family in the Skypad Apartments: his wife Jane is a homemaker, their teenage daughter Judy attends Orbit High School, and their son Elroy attends Little Dipper School. Housekeeping is performed by a robot maid named Rosie, who handles chores not otherwise rendered trivial by the home's numerous push-button Space Age-envisioned conveniences. The family has a dog named Astro that talks with an initial consonant mutation in which every word begins with an "R", as if speaking with a growl; a similar effect would also be used for Scooby-Doo.George Jetson's work week consists of an hour a day, two days a week. His boss is Cosmo Spacely, the bombastic owner of Spacely Space Sprockets. Spacely has a competitor, Mr. Cogswell, owner of the rival company Cogswell Cogs. Jetson commutes to work in an aerocar with a transparent bubble top. Daily life is leisurely, assisted by numerous labor-saving devices, which occasionally break down with humorous results. Despite this, everyone complains of exhausting hard labor and difficulties living with the remaining inconveniences.
Characters
Voice cast
- George O'Hanlon – George Jetson, Drummer, Alice's Husband, Police Radio, Cat Burglar, Russian Newscaster, Soapy Sam
- Penny Singleton – Jane Jetson, Alice, Zoom Broom
- Daws Butler – Elroy Jetson, Henry Orbit, W.C Cogswell, Traffic Cop, Knuckles Nuclear, J.B., Bank Teller, Molecular Motors Video Announcer, Bank Security Guard #2, Moonstone, Professor Lunar, Mr. Withers, Judge, Chef, Sergeant Moon, Nimbly, Little Boy
- Janet Waldo – Judy Jetson, Celeste Skyler, Miss Brainmocker, Pliers Robot, Robot Cashier, Miss Booster
- Don Messick – Astro the Space Mutt, RUDI, Pet Shop Employee, Police Officer, Mac, Mr. Transitor, Uniblab, Dr. Radius, Delivery Boy, Narrator, Jury-Vac, Delivery Boy, Colonel Countdown, Dr. McGravity, Kenny Countdown, Police Officer #1, Orville, Announcer, William Martin, Professor Ozone, Robot Repairer, Moonstone, Newscaster, Saturn Trash Stasher, Roboto, Wolf, Edgar, Robot Usher, Starbite, IRS Agent #1, Ghost of Christmas Past
- Jean Vander Pyl – Rosey, Mrs. Spacely, Jane's Mother, Agnes, Blanche Cog, Miss Galaxy, Gloria, Knuckles Nuclear's Moll, Alice's Mother, Emily Scope, GiGi Galaxy, Ariel, Doctor's Assistant, Female Nurse
- Mel Blanc – Cosmo Spacely, Jimmy, Moon Garbageman, Herbie, Little Green Bird, Homeless Man, French Newscaster, Commander McMissile, Gridfather
- Frank Welker – Orbitty, Felix, Elroy Jetson Look-alike, Richard Rocketeer, Hunky Moonrock, TV Reporter, Parking Meter, Time Clock, Professor Proteus, Francoise, Robot Dog, Nozzle, Space Bong, Remote Control Cat, IRS Agent #2, Jezebel, Toy Robot Cat, Young Cosmo Spacely
Production
The first season for the series was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. When Warner Bros. Cartoons closed in May 1961, several of its animators, including Gerry Chiniquy and Ken Harris, joined Hanna-Barbera to work on the first season.Morey Amsterdam and Pat Carroll controversy
In 1963, Morey Amsterdam and Pat Carroll each filed $12,000 suits against Hanna-Barbera for breach of contract, claiming they had been cast and signed to the roles of George Jetson and Jane Jetson, respectively. Although their contracts stipulated they would be paid US$500 an episode with a guarantee of twenty-four episodes of work, they recorded only one episode before being replaced. Several sources claimed the change had occurred as a result of sponsor conflict between Amsterdam's commitment to The Dick Van Dyke Show and Carroll's to Make Room for Daddy. The case had been closed by early 1965. In a 2013 interview, Pat Carroll indicated that the court had ruled in favor of Hanna-Barbera.Episodes
The Jetsons original aired at primetime on ABC. It was a commercial failure in its first season and was negatively reviewed according to Bob Hathcock. Reruns were aired on CBS in 1963, and NBC from 1964 to 1967. It was brought back to NBC's schedule in 1971, and ongoing when 41 new episodes were ordered.In 1984, Hanna-Barbera began producing new episodes specifically for syndication; by September 1985, the 24 episodes from the first season were combined with 41 new episodes and began airing in morning or late afternoon time slots in 80 U.S. media markets, including the 30 largest. The 41 new episodes were produced at a cost of $300,000 each, and featured all of the voice actors from the 1962–1963 show. During 1987, 10 additional "season 3" episodes were also made available for syndication.
Broadcast history
Following its prime time cancellation, ABC placed reruns of The Jetsons on its Saturday morning schedule for the 1963–1964 season. The program would spend the next two decades on Saturday mornings, with subsequent runs on CBS and NBC. The Jetsons began airing in syndication in September 1976, and these runs continued after the program returned to NBC's Saturday morning schedule. Along with fellow Hanna-Barbera production Jonny Quest and Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes shorts, The Jetsons is one of the few series to have aired on each of the Big Three television networks in the United States.The Jetsons were also aired on MeTV
Theme song
The series' theme song, by composer Hoyt Curtin, became a pop hit in 1986.Science fiction themes
Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman considers that the series shares its main science fiction theme with Funderful Suburbia, a Modern Madcaps animated short. Both feature people involved in space colonization. However, there is a key difference in the nature of the colonization: in Funderful Suburbia, humans colonize outer space in order to escape the problems of planet Earth, while the Jetsons live in a place where space colonization is already established. Life in outer space is depicted as a fact of life, and the reasons behind humanity's takeover of outer space are never explained.Lehman argues that the series offers no explanation for its science fiction premise and does not directly satirize the social problems of any era. The setting is combined with standard sitcom elements, which serve as the series' main focus.
Smithsonian's Matt Novak, in an article called "Why The Show Still Matters" asserts, "Today The Jetsons stands as the single most important piece of 20th century futurism."
Novak continues, "It's easy for some people to dismiss The Jetsons as just a TV show, and a lowly cartoon at that. But this little show—for better and for worse—has had a profound impact on the way that Americans think and talk about the future."
Reception
After the announcement of the fall 1962 network television schedule Time magazine characterized The Jetsons as one of several new situation comedies that was "stretching further than ever for their situations"; after all the season's new shows had premiered—a season "responding to Minow's exhortations"—the magazine called the series "silly and unpretentious, corny and clever, now and then quite funny." Almost all of the new sitcoms disappeared at the end of the season; only The Beverly Hillbillies would be renewed for new episodes in 1963–64, while The Jetsons would continue in Saturday morning reruns, eventually leading to its 1980s revival.Thirty years later, Time wrote: "In an age of working mothers, single parents and gay matrimony, George Jetson and his clan already seem quaint even to the baby boomers who grew up with them." In contrast, economist Jeffrey A. Tucker wrote in 2011 that The Jetsons is "distinguished in science-fiction lore by
the fact that it is a rare attempt in this genre that actually succeeds in predicting the future." Apart from flying cars, which are as yet unfeasible in the real world, much of the technology of The Jetsons has become commonplace: people now communicate via video chat on flat screens; domestic robots such as the Roomba are widespread, and various high-tech devices are used for leisure. Tucker notes that The Jetsons depicts neither a grim dystopia nor an idyllic utopia, but rather a world where capitalism and entrepreneurship still exist and technology has not changed fundamental elements of human nature.
In 2017, Devon Maloney from The Verge described the show as a "bone-chilling dystopia", stating how a reboot-comic book revealed that an environmental apocalypse caused humans to seek refuge in aerial cities. Maloney also notes the lack of people of color in the show and theorizes how discrimination against impoverished groups and developing countries could've taken place, stating "though long held up as the quintessential utopia, The Jetsons is a perfect dystopia, built on the corpses of a billions-strong underclass deemed unworthy of a life in the clouds."